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Why Armed Service Personnel make the best Clarinet Players

Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-02-23 19:57

I could spend pages talking about the fine and amazingly talented men and women in our armed forces who, as part of their core duties, play with some of our nation’s top military bands (and one symphony I believe). The competition for such positions is intense, and from a pool of people who were no less passionate about making a career in performing music, as serving their country. I thank them for sacrificing, or willingness to sacrifice their lives so I can have freedom: military musicians or non-military musicians alike.

But that said, the above has nothing to do with what I want to talk about, anymore than this is some “July 4th” based clarinet post; much as one might be appropriate on any day, (or Veteran’s Day.)

Instead, I want to talk about how many of the attributes of a good soldier, perhaps one that never picked up an instrument, are those that dovetail so well with the study of clarinet. I’m not saying every person who puts on “the uniform,” is “destined for Julian Bliss(ness),” just that looking at what soldiers do and endure can be useful in understand the attributes one needs to have to make the instrument sing.

* Clarinet is hard, and requires making sacrifices. To continue to advance, long, distraction free attention to drill and rehearsal is necessary. Military commanders have found that soldier’s in battle conditions tend to perform closer to how they should with training that is repetitive and similar to war, sound familiar?

* Military life is hard, and complaining is generally frowned upon. It is not that the military chain of command is blind to the needs of a soldier during specific times such as personal family loss, but rather, that the enlistee knew what they were signing up for would be more meaningful than easy. Accordingly, while issues with clarinet maintenance that affect play should be addressed, we, the instrument, and our reeds all give us obstacles that we’re expected to accept as challenges to overcome, not cause to surrender or assign blame.

* People in the military tend to specialize in certain areas of service life in their careers. While cross training and the ability of a soldier to know and take over the responsibilities of another is always looked positively upon (the “doubler musician”) the military knows that the training involved in any one discipline (e.g. Navy nuclear propulsion or clarinet) is so intense that soldiers, like serious musicians “can’t have it all.” You can have interests in other areas, but “the clarinet is a jealous mistress.” Similar, the clarinet may allow you some other passions, but it requires too much of your time to be a “paratrooper, flight surgeon, and communications expert” all in one.

* The military is very team centric. The team and its mission matters more than any single member. Members of a team not only respect their teammates, they may literally depend upon them for their lives. Analogously, the clarinetist rarely plays alone. Whether it’s with a pianist, or an ensemble, or a conductor and his/her orchestra, integration with that team is key. All musicians are expected to be on a common core mission where personality nuances and hidden agendas, particularly those that affect the mission, are not acceptable. Don’t expect, unless you play oboe, for fellow musicians to tune to you.

* You don’t go into the military or study the clarinet to get rich. Yes, some clarinetists make it big, and between performance, teaching, and endorsements do quite nicely for themselves. Similarly, some in the military often get wealthy as defense contractors, or consultants, or “becoming technical advisers on CNN,” or even just eventually use the things they’ve learned in the military at reasonable well paying private sector jobs. But for the vast majority, “serving,” be it the instrument or country, was the goal; not being the best, most well known, or the richest.

* Soldiers and clarinetists make peace with imperfection. Reeds change, military orders change. Adaptation is necessary. The equipment they use may be “less than new," not top of the line, or in great shape.” It may further be compromised by the rigors of a mission, and yet within reason, improvising and carrying on is paramount.

* Clarinetists follow the wisdom of their teachers as soldiers due their commanders. They don’t tell their Sergeant, “why don’t you do 60 pushups?” nor does it matter if the Sergeant could in fact do them. They do know that the Sergeant once upon a time could do 300 pushups, and/or knows what it takes to build a soldier, having trained many recruits, and having been taught the wisdom of doing so through the collection of information over centuries of trial and error. By analogy, good clarinetists know the “maestro/a” is never wrong, unless he or she says they are.

* People in the military know that their training is ongoing, that it only seems to get tougher, and that the honor of being called “marksman” does not come after one day of shooting, or even 400 days of shooting.

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I imagine most of us, present company included, could find many more parallels and differences between these two groups. But perhaps the best morale of the story here is that virtuosity in play comes, I think, as a result of 1) people with some degree of innate advanced skill set, that far, far, more importantly I think, meets, 2) early in their lives, an uncompromising tenacity, focus, determination and willingness to be trained.

Off my soapbox.

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