The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2021-03-13 19:19
"Let's start with equipment. I'm sure this has happened to most of us: you are about to upgrade/get a new clarinet and the first brand that comes up in the conversation is Buffet. And then you spend the majority of the talk thinking about Buffet."
IMHO this school of thought is less so today than it was in years past. There are other very competent competing brands (Selmer, Backun, Yamaha, to name a few) and the materials out of which a professional clarinet are being made are being forced into non-wood alternatives by dwindling supply. I hear great things about the consistency of Yamaha's wares and the lack of same in Buffet's. Of course these are wide generalizations that even if true, are mostly relevant only in the difficulty in finding your instrument: it's not as if we are constantly assigned new instruments like pianists. Having played Buffet, were I in the market for a new instrument I think, for me, Yamaha would be the brand to beat.
I also feel this way about reeds. Years ago is was Vandoren, period. Today, while I still use Vandoren reeds I also use Brad Behn's two reed products, Pilgerstoffer, Leuthner, and some others.
"One of my friends at a summer festival told me a story about his teacher (who shall not be named but is pretty famous). He was telling me that his teacher would criticize Ricardo Morales for being a "disgrace" to the clarinet world, that his playing mechanics are 'different and wrong....' "
There are tried and true methods for teaching the instrument (e.g. fingers curved and close) that are what they are not because they are universal truths like "gravity," but because they are the approaches most likely to not thwart a player from advancing or facing repetitive motion injuries. They make sense to be taught, but the bottom line for the truly virtuosic is that which can be heard, not seen.
"Then comes interpretation. I'm sure all of us in a masterclass have been told or heard to 'play it this way' or 'this is the only 'correct' way to play this composer."
Participation in a Master Class involves you, with an open mind, taking away from the session the tips that you feel can most benefit you, not obeying the instructor's thoughts with religious fervor.
"I also wonder about competitions and auditions. Obviously a winner would be the one who plays the best. But what exactly makes someone the "best"? Is it the player who played the composers in the most "correct" way or is it the player who found their inner voice and interpretation in the pieces? For me, the latter."
Where possible, know your audience. Play the pieces in a way that least differs from the way the clarinetists on the panel do. [Famous] musicians can have big egos. In part, such things develop as defense mechanisms IMHO to the very reality you touch upon about how in art, "everyone's a critique."
"I personally hate the fact that a lot teachers frame a "playing box" and that you can only play inside it."
While some teachers are more flexible than others, their lack of flexibility doesn't prevent you from exercising yours and studying with numerous teachers.
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McDonalds Eater |
2021-03-13 05:53 |
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Fuzzy |
2021-03-13 06:55 |
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Matt74 |
2021-03-13 12:42 |
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Re: About "standardization" new |
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SecondTry |
2021-03-13 19:19 |
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kdk |
2021-03-13 19:57 |
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Paul Aviles |
2021-03-13 20:33 |
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brycon |
2021-03-13 21:38 |
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