John of High School Frustration!
I don't usually write to the list, but you've pushed one of my buttons! I'm
assuming that you are playing in a HS band, and band music, as a whole, is
astonishingly bad considering how much money is spent on it each year. I can
only assume that band directors in college get insufficient training to be able
to separate the wheat from the chaff better although it is also possible that
there's virtually nothing worth playing being composed. There is currently a
composer (who shall remain nameless here) who apparently is one of the most
financially successful guys of the moment, but who, if he were in a composition
class of mine, would be failing. His "style" consists of setting up some
pattern that gets repeated 2 or 3 times, then there is a new pattern, and then
another, etc. After stringing unrelated musical material together like buttons
on a string, eventually the piece ends (not finishes, just ends). If you held
one of his scores about 5 feet away from your eyes, you'd see a mass of
parallel motion because he doubles everything, and the wind writing is
generally insipid--these would make you think this might be ok for junior high
bands learning to play together, in tune, etc. But underneath all of this are
these astonishingly complex percussion parts. It's just a waste of valuable
lip for a horn player.
So you have my sympathy. I think you have a few options:
1. See if your director will let you roam through the music library and
suggest some music for the group to work on. Some directors welcome this kind
of input; some don't. Only you will know if this is viable.
2. As someone else has written to you, find every opportunity you can to get
aesthetic satisfaction. Form your own WW or brass quintet or pursue other
chamber music options. Volunteer to play at churches and such to have an
excuse to work on some recital music.
3. Force yourself (this will take an enormous will power on your part) to seek
some internal reward even will playing this dross. For example, set yourself a
goal when playing something filled with whole notes for the horn to try to play
each note with the best tone, the most perfect intonation, the most consisten
articulation from note to note, etc. That is, since you can't get your jollies
from the literature itself, see if you can find them in your own personal
little performance world. It's not much to live on by itself, but it may keep
you from going bonkers, and it will build skills that will set you ahead when
you have the chance to play some real music.
Maybe other listers can suggest more options for you.
Gary Greene
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