This discussion reminds me of something said to a group of us by one of our teachers. In the late 1940s, as a horn performance major, my woodwind ensemble was being coached by the recently retired principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Fernand Gillet. (I learned more about music from him than perhaps any other teacher I had studied with.) We were talking about orchestra musicians practicing on stage before the performance began. He said that one evening, a woman came up to him and said, "Mr. Gillet, before each concert, I see and hear the musicians on stage practicing the solos and other parts they're going to be playing that night. However, I've never seen you do that. Why don't you?" He said that he replied, "Madame, if I know that music, I don't need to practice it. And if I don't - this is no time to find out."
Words of wisdom, perhaps, from a world-class musician. Ed Glick -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Hans Pizka Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 11:21 AM To: The Horn List Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Any Ensemble Pet Peeve Sandra, you not understood my message completely. Nothing to be said against practising excerpts, BUT NEVER TO TORTURE THE NERVES OF THE COLLEAGUES WITH MERE NOISE MAKING. That is unprofessional absolutely. If you feel being insulted, well, that´s your problem. I never used our dressing room to warm up or to practise any solo. I went one story lower to the operas cellar. There I could play loud without disturbing anybody. If other colleagues joined me doing the same, well, I did not disturb them & they did not disturb me. But never in the dressing room, never on stage, never near the stage, never in the audience. If there is a concert, there is a rehearsal before. This is the time to try out the hall. Things are different if you are a soloist for a horn concerto. There you have to arrive at the hall long before the orchestra so you can try out the best position on stage, so you can position yourself to avoid bad reflection or absorption of your playing. You must not to point how intelligent or wise I might be and that you have not experienced playing with world class orchestras. This is incorrect absolutely. For me, just facts count. Nothing else. Same with conductors: I preferred tyrrants with superb & exciting results before friendly, lame "pinslers" (you find it in the dictionary) who cannot move any audience nor any orchestra. A last word to you, Sandra, and other colleagues in similar situations: if it comes to the facts from professional musicians life, you seem not able to bear that truth, so you try (unsuccessfully) playing the "nasty card of being insulted". You wrongly imply that I have egotistical intentions. For what ? I am after the end of my playing career, even I do some solo playing, but without money & just for fund rising for social projects. And, if you cannot believe the truth, it is just YOUR PROBLEM, not mine. ############################################################################### Am 06.04.2011 um 15:29 schrieb [email protected]: > Hello Hans: > > Do you set out to be insulting...and overly egotistical...or does that just > come naturally to you? > > I'm not nearly as 'professional' as you in that I've not played in the > amazingly fabulous orchestras you have (NO saracasm intended OR implied in > that last sentence...). > > There are many decisions in my life others can and have taken exception > to...though I find it odd that the fact that I derive benefit from playing > passages in our hall is one of them. > > Is the benefit I gain due to a severe lack of confidence, such that I must > attempt to impress my colleagues by bothering them? Well...who cares? If > that is what I must do to succeed, why would you care? > > I read most of your posts. You're a supremely intelligent and wise master of > the horn. But I've seen this before with you...an arrogance that borders on > the same kind of attempt to impress others with which you castigate me, and > anyone else who 'practices' anywhere but at home. > > As they say in medicine: Physician...heal thyself. Just so in these boards. > Perhaps we all should look in the mirror prior to taking quite so much joy > in cutting someone else 'down to size'. > > Sandra Clark > Toledo Ohio > > --- [email protected] wrote: > > From: Hans Pizka <[email protected]> > To: The Horn List <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Any Ensemble Pet Peeve > Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:58:43 +0200 > > Hello Sandra, > > why is it necessary to try out the halls´s respond to loud playing ? > > Exactly that is what divides professionals - I mean real professionals - from > semi pro & amateurs. One has to develop the ability to respond to the halls > acoustics spontaneously. > > Of what use should it be, playing loud in an empty hall, when the acoustic > properties > will change anyway & often dramatically when the hall is full with the > audience. > > We experienced that once on our first Japan tour with a concert that started > with > Richard Strauss´ "Don Juan", Sawallisch conducting it 1974. The rehearsal in > the > Kosei nenkin kaikan was superb, but when we began the concert that evening, > we > received a big shock, but for a fraction of a second only, as we changed our > sound emission according to the circumstances within a fraction of a second > also. > > That´s it !!!! > > PS: I know why so many players play all the excerpts over & over before the > rehearsal or the performance. Guess ?? Just to impress the other players. But > when it comes to these solos, the same players are shitless scared anyway. > > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/hpizka%40me.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/glick%40unt.edu _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
