Richard, the main problem is the "EGO" of many players, no matter if professional, amateur or student. Right.
If one plays in the section, he or she HAS to SUBORDINATE (so to speak ASSIST) to the principal. Otherwise no good result can achieved. And, it does not matter, what the single player thinks about his playing or playing qualities. The only important judging comes from the other players, from the listeners. If one is flat or sharp, even the principal, he or she MUST listen to the other players, if they complain. If the principal makes a lot of mistakes, he or she will be the subject to nice or less nice comments by the other players, but not if there are very few mistakes regarded as little accidents only. And the principal, who allready admitted committing mistakes more or less, must not wonder if section players produce bad comments, like using a saw on the principal´s chair. That´s life. A real principal, - and not a himself thought principal - , does not care much about these nasty comments & has his or her own "means of revenge" like leading the nasty player on "thin ice" musically. "suum cuique" as we say in old Latin. Let this nasty player "break his or her neck" the next time with an unison passage, where you waterempty your horn, leaving him or her playing alone. That works very well, as the conductor might notice the particular players weakness. But be careful in your judgement about the abilities of the "nasty player". He or she might take advatage of this opportunity & present himself or herself as the better fitting future principal & you will be lost. All depends now upon absolute objective judgement on the principal´s side. ============================================================ =================================================== -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 3:27 PM To: horn@music.memphis.edu Subject: [Hornlist] Mutual respect Ah this topic is interesting to me: disrespect in the section First of all I have a couple of stories: In my six years in Sacramento Symphony full time we had a very good horn section that was often praised as the best section in the orchestra. This section really worked well together and I felt everybody had some say in how things went or were played. The first horn is still the spokes person for the section and as fourth horn I dont think there were more than ten times in six years that I spoke to the conductor in a rehearsal. I would ask the first Horn & He would take care of it as he saw fit. A nice working relationship with Mutual respect. _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
