Will you keep playing the clarinet?

 

Oh yeah, I'll still play. I'll put more of a focus on my klezmer [Jewish folk music].  Maybe I'll just write down more arrangements, increase the repertoire, and play more gigs. I especially enjoy playing klezmer concerts as opposed to playing for a wedding or a bar mitzvah. I don't consider what I do to be a party band, I consider it more of a concert experience.

 

Are there some things you feel you have done that have contributed to your longevity as a principal clarinetist in an orchestra? In particular, is there any career advice you can give to budding young clarinet players?

 

I think you have to maintain a constant curiosity about your instrument and about the music you're playing, otherwise you can get bored. And it's easy to get bored if you do a lot of the same things over and over. But for me, I think I've had a constant curiosity about what can I do to make things better for myself as far as my playing, as far as the equipment I use. Experimenting...all successful musicians do this. Always questioning - how can I improve, how can I make it better.  Being a good musician goes hand-in-hand with having an ability to solve problems, because playing an instrument well really is about knowing how to solve problems. If you're a good problem solver and you have that curiosity about trying this or that... trying something different... “maybe I can do it better if I do it this way”... I think that helps maintain your interest and helps with executing the music. You agree?

 

I do, and I've noticed over the years, as part of that curiosity, that you like to go to the International Clarinet Conferences. How often have you attended those?

 

Almost every year.

 

Wow, that’s a lot of conferences.

 

Well, it's a learning experience going to those events. You hear some fabulous playing, and I think a lot of people may not admit this, but whenever you hear another player you're kind of measuring yourself against that player, whether you admit it or not. You kind of want to see how you stack up. Definitely a learning experience...those conferences cover just about every aspect of playing.

 

They also have a lot of equipment on display.

 

A lot of equipment… it's like being in a candy store. A clarinet candy store!

 

Speaking of clarinet candy, I noticed that, like any good clarinetist, you have a ton of old reeds lying around here in your studio. What are you planning on doing with them?

 

I'm going to make reed jewelry!  Reed necklaces, reed bracelets. (chuckles)

 

Are you going to miss that part of playing the clarinet?

 

No…No. I think for any clarinet player, maybe any reed player, one of the biggest frustrations about playing the instrument is being so dependent on the reed. I mean, you hear this all the time, players saying:  “Oh God, I don't have a good reed”. So not having to worry about that is really going to be a pleasure.

 

I'm so jealous!

 

I mean, I'll still concern myself about reeds but not to the same extent... I won't have that pressure of playing in the orchestra... always being on top of the reeds. One of my teachers made a comment to me one time, which I'll never forget. He said that you have to learn how to sound good on bad reeds. And that's true. I mean more often than not you're playing on a reed that's got some discomfort, some flaws, but you just have to overcome it and not let the listener know that you're having a problem with the reed.

 

You still have to make it sound easy even though it's not easy.

 

Yes, and I think we've all had the experience of going into a concert thinking you had a good reed and then at some point in the concert something changes. And man...what do you do? You have to get through it... but that can be nerve-racking. I think the quality of the reed has a lot to do with the quality of your nerves.

 

After 31 years of playing clarinet next to you, I know that even in the most stressful moments of playing in an orchestra you seem to keep your cool. But having said that, there still must be some particular pieces of music that make you nervous.

 

There are some pieces that, when I look at the repertoire that we're going to do at the beginning of the season, if I see a particular piece in the line-up I say “Oh no!” I do not look forward to playing the Ginastera: Variaciones Concertantes, for example. That's something that can give you an upset stomach.  And there are things in the repertoire that, thank God, I have never played, and have no desire to! Some tough things that have just never come up... Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Le Coq d’Or. I’ve never done that and am perfectly happy keeping it that way! And there are some things that are not technically difficult but just, you know, musically difficult that I stress over. I'm thinking of Respighi: Pines of Rome, for example.  You have to be so careful about making those wide intervals sound beautiful and easy, which they're not. I think they're the same things that any clarinet player stresses over. That's why they're audition pieces!

 

Great, we’ll make sure to schedule those pieces next season for the new principal clarinetist! (laughter)