Posted by Jay Bertolet on April 18, 1999 at 08:23:50:
In Reply to: Re: colleges posted by Orchestral-schmorchestral on April 15, 1999 at 22:09:22:
Good advice! Good, that is, if you're advising on how not to be successful in the field. Your statements concerning "orchestral tuba playing" lead me to believe that you probably followed your own advice, thus wasting enough time to ensure you didn't make it in the performance field. If you spend alot of time practicing "library sciences" or "Yoga meditation", you might just become numb enough to not realize you're completely miserable.
Common sense, anybody? If you're deciding on potential instructors and you choose one who isn't an "artistically successful player", what kind of training will you receive? Keep in mind that every college teacher had to PLAY an audition as part of the job interview and that not every "artistically and commercially successful" player has been recorded. Me personally, I always look for instruction from someone who does/has done what I'm trying to learn. From such an instructor, you will probably learn that "excerpts" alone will get you nowhere, especially if your exposure to Mahler 6 or Prokofiev 5 or just about any other piece of music is no more than "about two minutes long".
Considering the rigors of a playing career, I can say from first hand experience that the money stinks, the hours are hard, you have to work with alot of jerks, and you're never sure that your job will be there tomorrow. I can also say, without reservation, that it is a most rewarding career and I wouldn't want to do any other. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment you get after a night of making people feel. Or maybe I'm just faking it...