 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: DNBoone
Date: 2011-09-09 21:01
Saw this a few days ago....I don't play in a professional orchestra but...
#5. Several students here use Beta Blockers...as well as other drugs...why wouldn't professionals?
#4 I see pianists, clarinetists, trumpet players, and flute players get injuries quite often. I haven't heard of anyone dying though.
#3 I can't speak directly about orchestras being sexist, but I have heard other professionals speak about it that I have studied with.
#2 I would say for a lot of people there is no money in it. Out of all the graduates, how many will actually go on to make $80,000+ a year just playing? I know I won't.
#1 I know several students who after 3 years, or even 2, start to be miserable in their degree and switch degrees. I have had several teachers and know other who hate playing certain gigs, but they continue to do so because it pays.
Bb R13, what is so ignorant about the article?
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Author: Bb R13 greenline
Date: 2011-09-09 21:33
most of the examples are exagerated out of proportion, no one has ever died from playing an instrument, the majority of auditions now are not sexist they even have screens so they can not tell who you are, and the part about solos while everyone else has tonal stuff isnt true a lot more than one person gets a solo. i guess ignorant wouldnt be the word but it was definately exagerated
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-09-09 23:47
Ummm. . . Cracked is a humor magazine. Their stuff contains a grain of truth and a ton of snark.
Ken Shaw
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Author: DNBoone
Date: 2011-09-10 02:20
R13, Check out this thread
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=355632&t=355632
As well as the article it refers to. Others claim racism and sexism is alive and thriving in the orchestral world.
And yes, it contains tons of snark, and like I said I don't have first hand knowledge but the people who do that I talk to seem to believe everything in the article goes on, excepting death.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-09-10 04:21
To answer DNs statements.
#5. Several students here use Beta Blockers...as well as other drugs...why wouldn't professionals?
Many professionals do use beta blockers, maybe not a majority but many do, especially for auditions.
#4 I see pianists, clarinetists, trumpet players, and flute players get injuries quite often. I haven't heard of anyone dying though.
In my 49 years as a professional symphony player I've never heard anyone dying from playing in an orchestra. Many get injuries on their hands and arms or lips but dying, never heard of it.
h
#3 I can't speak directly about orchestras being sexist, but I have heard other professionals speak about it that I have studied with.
American orchestra's are not sexist today. Most of our orchestra's today are a third to half female and although the majority of women play stings and flute there are a great many in the other w w sections as well as french horn and some in the other brass sections and percussion and many are principals. The Philly orchestra has a women tuba player, actually a young girl. She got the job several years ago at the age of about 19 or 20.
#2 I would say for a lot of people there is no money in it. Out of all the graduates, how many will actually go on to make $80,000+ a year just playing? I know I won't.
This is true, most students graduating today will never make a living playing in a professional orchestra, especially clarinet players. There are far to many players and far too few jobs. An example, we have a principal bassoon opening now and we have close to 90 applicants for that job. There was a time we would have been lucky to have 25-30. There are ten times as many clarinet players as bassoon players, do the math. But there are other ways to make a living playing and teaching their instrument, not many making 80 K though, actually very few.
#1 I know several students who after 3 years, or even 2, start to be miserable in their degree and switch degrees. I have had several teachers and know other who hate playing certain gigs, but they continue to do so because it pays.
I've taught at Towson University in Baltimore for 33 years and the Peabody Conservatory for 19 years. In all those years I've had very few students change majors. I'd say maybe 5 percent tops and many of those were in education and decided they didn't want to teach in public school. At Peabody I only remember having one student that quit after 4 weeks to transfer to an academic university and changed majors. I honestly can't remember another student doing that. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: DNBoone
Date: 2011-09-10 05:38
Good to know about students not changing majors much. It seems a lot here do. I might ask the advisors if they have a statistic on how many actually do. Seems like many more than 5%.
Thanks for the great replys, as always you are a wealth of knowledge.
Post Edited (2011-09-10 05:39)
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2011-09-10 13:41
Regarding dying from playing a musical instrument:
A long time ago, chest dropsy (now called pleurisy) was a common ailment for wind players. It was the cause of death for horn player Giovanni Punto (Johann Wenzel (Jan Václav) Stich). http://www.mozartforum.com/Contemporary%20Pages/Giovanni_Punto_Contemp.htm
This is almost unheard of today.
As far as I know, Himie Voxman is still performing, and he's well into his 90s!
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-09-10 14:15
On the other hand, Caruso suffered a throat hemorrhage that quickly ended his career and led to infections that eventually killed him. Of course he was a *very* heavy smoker, but the hemorrhage was almost undoubtedly due to the physical stress of singing.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-09-10 15:32
It may be more than a 5% dropout in many schools, especially Universities where it's so easy to change majors to another discipline. I'm just going from my experiences. ESP
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2011-09-10 17:04
I think everyone will enjoy the following passage from "Oboe" by Leon Goosens and Edwin Roxburgh (one of the Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides):
During my honeymoon in Austria, the conductor Furtwangler asked my wife, "Is your husband still playing the oboe?" He was most surprised when he learnt that I was indeed. "Oh, most of my players give up when they're 35 to 40," he replied, "the strain is too much." This tells us a great deal about the strain exerted on most players earlier in this century [20th] who used hard reeds to establish a good tone. Generally, the French and English sound was more wooden than we hear today, and many oboists had shorter careers as a consequence of over-exertion while playing. [p. 52]
Post Edited (2011-09-10 17:05)
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