h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I really enjoyed reading this entry, and I thought I'd share that first. It sure beat reading someone else's entry (which was NOT edited) about how anyone who likes classical music or listens to it is either boring or trying to impress people, but I digress . . .

I am in my mid-twenties now, but as a very young child, I was partially deaf. I had four sets of tubes put in my ears by age three. I learned to sing before I learned to speak in full sentences. So, I've sung longer than anything else, but it's not what I'm trained to do. I even took two years of piano (which I hope to pick up again sometime in the future). However, the instrument I am on my 14th year of playing, in ensembles and soloistically, is the B-flat clarinet.

When I first started Band in sixth grade [yes, I'm American]--a week late, I might add--I decided I'd rather play in band that orchestra (which is humorous, as I love playing the clarinet in orchestra whenever I can!)--we started out on recorders. We played these for six weeks, and I'm sure my family counted the days on their calendars! Finally, we had our Recorders concert (we had played Song Flutes when I was in 4th grade, but never had a concert with all of us!), and we took our music tests. These tested our music theory skills and let us put, at the top, our number one and number two choices for instruments we wished to play. Quite foolishly, based on listening to 8th graders (who we, the sixth graders, were in such awe of), I thought I really wanted to play the trombone (1st choice) and the bassoon (2nd choice--I meant, baritone, but it hardly matters now!). Luckily for me today, I failed my first time (I immediately came home, in 6th grader style, wanting to quit), and my mother took one look at my choices (particularly trombone) and instantly vetoed the idea. She wanted me to study harder for my next test (for the life of me, I have no idea how I failed!) and to choose an instrument where I wouldn't have to guess the notes and one that a little girl (I was scrawny!) wouldn't struggle to haul onto a school bus everyday. The clarinet was the only instrument she could think of and feeling quite peeved at my mother, that's what I put on my test. I still thank her today.

Since this entry is becoming quite long, I'll say one of the toughest challenges I've had as a clarinetist would probably be when I had 5 hours of jaw surgery (with wisdom teeth extraction thrown in!) the summer of 1999, during my undergraduate years. I had the surgery as I suffered (though, unless you were an oral surgeon, it wasn't greatly obvious) an overbite and an openbite. My orthodontist and my clarinet teacher had been at war for years, one (guess who?) insisting I quit the clarinet, the other saying my clarinet was doing nothing to my bite or my teeth--only an incorrect embrochure would do that (and frankly, my clarinet teacher would have definitely gotten on my case if I had an incorrect embrochure!). My oral surgeon said I could continue to play, but it was SO hard. I had no feeling in my lips and most of my face for some time, and for any clarinetists (or any wind intrumentalists) out there, you know how hard it is to regain your stamina and your embrochure! Anyway, how did y'all (yes, I'm from the South) choose the instrument(s) you play (or if you sing, why do you still sing?) and why? Do you have story? I hope you enjoyed mine.


Marian

Hey Marian,

I'll bet the person who made that comment about classical music would think again if he realised just how many classical peices made up the mood music for all his favorite films!

Marcus

Too true! Classical music is everywhere . . . in movies, in cartoons, in commercials, in television programs . . . it even inspires and/or is used in popular music. "All By Myself" by Harry Nielsson (I think that's how you spell his name!) used a theme from Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, second movement (Rach's 2nd and 3rd piano concertos are my fave pieces of classical music, that's how I know!), and Sting, in his song "Russians" used a theme from a piece by another Russian composer (which starts with a "P" but I don't dare spell it for fear of butchering the name!). Generally, classical music, much like being a librarian, is horribly stereotyped due to horrible ignorance. Sadly, if you a search using the words "classical music", I'm sure you'll find the offending article.

Marcus, why do you love music and are you a musician yourself? Do you like classical music and/or do you like other kinds of music, and if so, what kinds? To everyone else, feel free to post here with whatever you like--this doesn't have to be a two-person conversation! Thanks, Marcus, however, for being the first to reply to my message!


Marian

Marian, thanks for telling us the story of how you started playing clarinet. I would probably be a lot better if I stuck to one instrument like you. Instead I keep switching around, and although I can play clarinet, saxophone, tin whistle, recorder, mandolin and guitar, I'm not great at any of them. I don't think you need worry about people looking down on classical music. There are plenty of people who like it!

Thank you, Gnomon! Actually, I think it's commendable that you've learned so many instruments. I sing for fun (and I have in choirs--I think of it as my second instrument), and I can play a touch of piano, but you have tried your hand at many instruments. They say, "Jack of all trades, master of none", but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. I think variety is what makes life interesting, and the best part is, should you decide to focus on one instrument, you have several to choose from!

My 2nd cousins, John and Betty, both played many instruments when they were younger (and still do today). In fact, although they are not professionals, many professionals know many different instruments. I say, switch around as much as you like until you find one or discover one is really suited for you, then focus on it if you want. If you decide to just learn a little of each, I'm sure you have other talents with which to focus upon.

Let me know what kinds of musical ensembles you play in and/or how you learned all these different instruments! Thanks for the support in classical music . . . it's odd that some folks don't realize that people (like myself) who enjoy classical music (Rachmaninoff, for instance) also enjoy many other kinds of music. For instance, I love Latin and Swing music (as that's the kind of dancing I do), as well as Radiohead and the like. Music is simply awesome!


Marian

Hi Marian,

it's nice to talk to someone having that profound interest in music ...

My situation is somehow similar to Gnomon's: The only instrument I really have learned to play (with teacher and lessons, that's what I mean by saying "really") is the piano. That's why I still think that the piano is *THE* instrument to start with (if it is possible to name one single instrument at all. I have a string understanding for those who doubt that). After four years of intensive piano lessons, I walked into a music store to get some piano music (AFAIR it was Beethoven's "pathetique" sonata) and there was that bass guitar hanging on the wall and whispering "take me ... i will always be your friend ... i will never let you down ... take me ... i have chosen you, your the ONE"). I couldn't resist, and only a couple of weeks later I stopped being an aspiring piano player and started to be an aspiring bassist. That's what I still am, basically. As I wanted to be able to play along at the campfires, I bought myself a guitar (every musical household should have at least one guitar) and started strumming along. When we started to perform with a musical theater, there was desperate need of someone who would play tuba. I was available, had the tuba skills in my genes (Grandpa played tuba in a marching band, and he always said "the bass is the soul of music), and some weeks later I had taken the first tuba hurdles. Just for fun, I had bought an old double bass from a friends father (he had stored it away for more than 20 years), did some work on it (breaking the neck out and setting it straight again), and some weeks later I could add the double bass to the list of instruments that I could, well, let's say, "handle".

I never could play in a classical orchestra, and I admire everybody who can. On the other hand, for me there's no significant difference between the tuba, double bass and bass guitar. Of course, the bass guitar is the most agile to play, whereas the tuba is the thing to choose if it has to be loud without electricity. And somehow it's really funny to see the startled looks of the crowd if you play with a soul band, a tune like James Brown's "Cold Sweat" is called and you pick up your tuba instead of the bass. I regularily need an oxygen tent afterwards, but it's worth it ...

Jeremy

Hiya Jeremy,

Thank you for your response to my post! As I wrote to Gnomon, I think variety is what keeps it interesting. Certainly, for music lovers, and you seem to be one, I feel there's an appeal to learning different instruments . . . you have the music basics down, but you have to learn to adapt yourself to another way of playing and sometimes a different clef all together. In your case, Jeremy, the fact that you play the tuba would allow you to play in a band, orchestra (it's not all classical music!) or a brass ensemble and learning how to play guitar and bass guitar would allow you to play in a rock band or accompany someone who was singing (or accompany yourself!). I'm sure I'm leaving out other group music possibilities, and of course, you can always play solo. Playing the clarinet allows me to be able to play in a band, an orchestra, a wind quintet, etc. My point being is that as much as music is a musical (obviously) opportunity for me, it's also a social opportunity. Musicians understand each other!

Gnomon said (or his personal page said, I can't recall which!) that he is from Ireland--where are you from? I know how music is taught in America and what kinds of opportunities there are here, but I would be interested in learning about music in other countries. I do know that, as a clarinetist, I could not play with other clarinetists in Europe, as the clarinets over there are made differently than the clarinets made here. I know this because when I was an undergraduate in college, one of the clarinetists in my section in band studied abroad for a year in Germany, and she couldn't play because her clarinet didn't play the same way as the clarinets made over there. I don't know why--I just remember that! Anyway, if either you, Jeremy, or Gnomon, or Marcus, or anyone else wants to teach this American about music in other countries (how it's taught, what kinds of groups people play in, what music is most popular, etc.), I would love to learn!


Marian

Marian, in most of Europe orchestras tune to A=442 Hz instead of A=440 Hz. This would mean your clarinet would be very slightly flat, but the difference is only 8 cents, one twelfth of a semitone, so you'd hardly notice it. With good technique you would probably be able to bring it up the extra 2 Hz.

In Germany and Austria, clarinets are constructed differently. They have a different fingering system (called Oehler) and they sound different. Many professional German orchestras forbid the Boehm system instruments because they don't match the sound of the German clarinets. But you could certainly play your American clarinet anywhere else in Europe. (German orchestras have a lot of other rules as well, many of them arbitrary. One I saw a few years back insisted on all members wearing patent leather shoes - those black shiny ones).

Music tuition in Ireland is practically non-existent. State-run schools do not normally teach music at all. Interested parents get their children to learn instruments by sending them to private tuition. There are probably about six children's orchestras and twenty marching bands in the whole country (a country with four million people). On the other hand, there is a vibrant traditional Irish music scene.

Gnomon,

My family is part-Irish and part-Scotch . . . I would to know more about traditional Irish music! It sounds, from what you wrote, that young people don't have as many opportunities to be involved in music as they do over here, though people in America seem to be trying to get rid of music education over here as well. Apparently, to them, music is a frill that kids in school don't need . . . that's the constant battle over here, and it seems the arts (drama, music, art, etc.) are always the first to be cut in the schools. As a musician, I can honestly say not having had the exposure I've had to music would be devastating . . . it's not just a release, it's something I to do. Sometimes I wonder . . . where do people think the musicians, artists, actors, and such of this world come from? Chances are, they were either inspired in school or trained in school . . . not always, of course. I find it interesting how much drama (movies, plays, films, musicals, etc.), art (paintings, sculptures, sketches, etc.), and music (rock, classical, pop, blues, country, jazz, etc.) are valued, yet people in America seem to be missing the point that they should be valued at a young age as well.

I could rant for a while on this topic, but I'll keep it to that. What are your thoughts, Gnomon, or anyone who has read these posts? I'll be interested to see what people have to post. Hope you have a good day, Gnomon!


Marian