Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2011-03-22 15:29
I'm starting this thread so as not to hijack the "Why oboe?" thread, after Robin's question about so many of us having less-than-positive feelings about playing the clarinet.
It's not that I hate the clarinet, per se. In fact, I think it is a lovely instrument, with a remarkable tonal and expressive range. I just hate it for me. I didn't like anything about it, seriously. But I wanted desperately to play an instrument, and that's what I was given, so that's what I played. (This was all the way back in the mid-1950s, BTW -- a different time, with different expectations and standards.)
Part of the problem, I am sure, was the indifferent tutelage we were given at the elementary and high school level. I never heard an excellent clarinetist in person. There was no such thing as "lessons" in the milieu in which I grew up -- during my entire school career (before college), I only ever knew of ONE person who had instrumental lessons. Likewise, we did no theory more than what was required to play the notes. I have long been in awe of the British and Canadian music education system, with its "Grades" and exams and structured achievements. I would have loved to have been able to participate in something like that as a youngster. (And maybe even as an oldster -- they don't allow old folks, do they?)
So, it's not just gratuitous animosity that I feel toward the clarinet. From the gut level, it wasn't the instrument for me. Oboe is just so much more fun!
Susan
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