Posted by Rick Denney on March 24, 2003 at 01:46:35:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Tuba Tyrant posted by Tracy on March 23, 2003 at 19:36:54:
I actually regretted my comment about professionalism from the first second after hitting the submit button. My own response on seeing what I'd submitted was, you mean being professional is not being committed to the group? Of course it should.
I keyed on your final phrase: "if you quit then he wins." This reflects an attitude rather buried in your post, but worn on the sleeve of many young players coming into a community group. For them, shaking up the duffers and maybe running a few off is winning. Too much of that can tear a group apart, because the newcomers often use a technical performance yardstick that isn't appropriate in a community volunteer group.
You show up in a community band, and think the other member of your section is insufferable. It is true that he may be insufferable, and everyone is just waiting for him to get transferred to another city. But that person may also be the one who prints up the programs, hauls music stands, sits on the board of directors dealing with a bunch of the b.s. that comes with running a tax-deductible charity, solicits donations from the neighbors, and spends hours and hours a week trying to learn parts that are a bit beyond him.
Here's why I included my final remark: To some people, being professional means demonstrating superiority and "leadership." Believe me, I've played in high-quality, mostly amateur groups with professional players (or, more often, young frustrated pro wannabes) who had much more desire to control than any of the duffers. The appropriate attitude for a newcomer is therefore servant attitude. Instead of auditioning the group to see what they can do for you, you ought to think about seeing what you can offer the group. It may be that they don't need what you have to meet their objectives.
An example: I was the tuba player for the Community Symphony in Austin, and had been for some years. About 20 minutes before rehearsal, we were downstairs under the rehearsal room finishing up a board meeting, when I heard tuba sounds coming from upstairs. My first reaction was to go into full defense mode. And, yes, my reaction was partly driven by the fact that he was a better player than I. A group interested solely in performance would have booted me out and invited him in. He might have joined, gotten tired of the group in three months and scooted. Or, he might have joined and sat in the back row causing trouble all the time. He might not have wanted to do any extra work at all. So, the conductor informed him that the tuba position was filled but if he would leave his name and number, they'd get in touch if it became empty. The tuba player they had (me)wasn't all that great, but he contributed, didn't get in the way, always exercised good musical taste, knew the literature, sat on the board, printed the programs, filed the tax forms for... well, you get the idea.
People play in community groups because they love it. It isn't a matter of being professional--they aren't professionals and don't care about being professionals. It's a matter of being committed. My mistake in my previous post was forgetting that those two should be the same thing.
Rick "not always impressed by the professionalism of professionals" Denney