How many classical musicians on here? 🎶

former orchestral clarinetist back in my late teens and early 20s, performed with a few canadian orchestras (winnipeg, nova scotia, montreal) and conductors (kent nagano among others).

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How cool! Clarinetists are good people. What was it like playing for Nagano?

really interesting. he conducts like a choral director, so no baton typically and just his hands which takes some getting used to. otherwise soft spoken yet intense, quite picky.

I don’t remember the whole program but I was playing principal on Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and there’s a passage where the clarinet peaks out of the texture with a high E. I played it perfectly in rehearsal and he acknowledged me which was quite rewarding at the time. I would have been 18-19 y/o or so at the time.

hifi

That makes sense. I don’t know how anyone survives the audition circuit year after year! So many of my friends have gone through it and it’s rough. And I’m with you on the teaching full-time thing. I wish there were a better way for performers.

not anymore sadly. I played between 2-8hr/day pretty religiously between ages 13-21, devoted my whole life to it. got frustrated in my early 20s as I entered the audition circuit and foresaw the 10-20yr struggle ahead of me before I’d land a position in an orchestra. I was also too stubborn to compromise and pursue teaching full-time instead, even though I did some on the side.

so, ultimately decided to leave it behind because it was infeasible as a career and quite difficult to casually pursue as a hobby without time to practice a few hours daily. also simple pragmatic concerns like not being able to play at home in an apartment due to the noise.

music is still a part of my life, mostly through /hifi which lets me listen to music (including classical) at home in a very satisfying way. not sure if I will end up picking up an instrument again, wouldn’t surprise me. more likely during retirement than my working years though.

I like those picky types. It makes the compliments all the more special. What a great experience! You still play?