While the band I play in doesn't have that problem, we do have others. Some are chronic problems as related to specific people and would fall into the category of the dancing clarinetist, the foot stomper, the back-seat conductor, or others I'll omit to protect the guilty. These are easy to fix by having a conductor who will approach a specific person directly to address the specific problem. The hard problems to fix are the compromise of the quality of the performance to accommodate the inclusive and social nature of an amateur ensemble made up of people that show up for rehearsal because they want to, not because they have to. Once standards are lowered to forgive things like sub-standard intonation, dynamics, quality of attacks and releases, it takes considerable effort to raise them, especially if doing so is beyond the skill level of people admitted to the ensemble under looser guidelines.
John Baumgart ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Jellison" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 4, 2011 12:12:47 AM Subject: [Hornlist] Amateur Ensemble worst peeve I can't control myself any longer from asking this question, after reading all these suggestions about the irritating clarinet player. The question: What bugs you the most about playing in an amateur ensemble? For me, it is the conductor who is happy to see anyone walk in with a French horn, and welcomes them without auditioning them or questioning them about their playing ability. Often these are ex-trumpet or ex-trombone players, or ex-French horn players just returning to playing and have no embouchure development. Somehow these "hornists" think it is just fine for them to join the horn section when they can't play or can barely play. Why is it that possessing a French horn gives these folks such immediate chutzpah? I have resorted to much complaining to the conductors over this. Regards, Larry _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/john.baumgart%40comcast.net _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
