 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-11-21 13:31
DVR akert! PBS ran a special about Woody Allen sometime in the last day or so that's being repeated several times today and also tonight. I haven't watched the program yet, but happened to tune in during the middle of a discussion of his clarinet playing. It looks as if the material about the clarinet is substantial, with clips of him playing, information about his instruments and also other people talking about his playing. I'm going to try to watch the whole program.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: William
Date: 2011-11-21 13:42
I wouldn't stay up to late at night to hear Woody Allen play clarinet.
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2011-11-21 16:23
"I lost all respect for him when he hooked up with his Step-daughter."
You have to separate Woody the reprobate and awful clarinetist from from Woody the comic genius. Sort of like Richard Wagner; despicable human being, yet he wrote glorious music!
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Author: Paul Globus
Date: 2011-11-21 16:58
Woody Allen's claim to fame is hardly his clarinet playing. It's his writing. Music is a hobby that he enjoys and takes seriously.
As for his personal life, I agree with Mr. Bocaner. It has nothing to do with where his real genius lies. He has made (and continues to make) a major creative contribution to the world and he should be judged on that basis. Period.
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Author: Trevor M
Date: 2011-11-21 21:22
Jeez, you guys. I say *any* publicity for clarinet in popular music is good for the instrument. Consider: Steve Martin's not the greatest banjo player if you compare him to the top echelon practitioners on that instrument, but his celebrity and enthusiasm (he just had his own banjo history special on PBS, is why I mention it) have done a lot more for the banjo than a bunch of purists moaning on their message boards.
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Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-11-21 22:15
I appreciate why people wouldn't want to stay up to watch Woody Allen play clarinet. I think you could count me in that number. But it does raise the question of the enjoyment of the clarinet. Are we not a tad over-fixated on excellence in playing? Excellence is, well, excellent and necessarily furthers the development of the instrument. But most people derive pleasures from music that we are only as yet vaguely aware of and it would seem foolish to discount that interest in things other than performance excellence. This is, of course, a forum of musicians and so the appropriate preoccupations come to the fore but it would be silly to get too narrow. After all, if you mention clarinet to most of the people in my world, they would think Acker Bilk and Woody Allen. Take Woody Allen out of the picture and the clarinet has an exceedingly poor public profile. His interest to me is limited (I think he studied with George Lewis, is that right? That would be worth knowing about.) but if he was on tv in my region, I'd be happy for people to be discussing it. But I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2011-11-21 23:05
I like Woody Allen's clarinet playing and I respect his mission to keep Original New Orleans style playing alive. I am one of those persons who believes that there is more than one way to play clarinet.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2011-11-22 01:52
I enjoy Woody playing the clarinet, he shows so much enthusiasm and energy when playing. He obviously enjoys what he is doing. And I'm certarinly entertained by his great back-up band.
Carol
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Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2011-11-22 02:49
pj wrote, "As for his personal life, I agree with Mr. Bocaner. It has nothing to do with where his real genius lies. He has made (and continues to make) a major creative contribution to the world and he should be judged on that basis."
Diana Jean Schemo wrote an essay, published in the New York Times on January 1st, 1995, titled "Between the Art and the Artist Lies the Shadow", subtitled "Touching the Soul, Turning the Stomach". The article examines the question of whether art should be considered independent of the person who created it.
She looks at the question from many angles, at one point wondering, "Perhaps, unlike Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," one should never trouble over the befuddled shaman behind the curtains who fashions our illusions, but thank genius for its gifts and ignore the rest."
It makes for an interesting read.
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/01/weekinreview/ideas-trends-touching-soul-turning-stomach-between-art-artist-lies-shadow.html?
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Author: BobD
Date: 2011-11-22 12:38
Well, as they say, there's always two sides to every story. Woody's sister, Letty, has some positive comments about her brother that are worth reading.
Bob Draznik
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