ho hum
Okay, I’m sort of ticked off right now.
Today, I was with Marvin in one of the practice rooms, helping him prep for USOMC when someone (I actually don’t know who) walked in and said we sucked. He talked about how he should’ve been a keyboard player, and how he would do so much better of a job playing than us.
I didn’t say anything back, but here are my thoughts:
1. We don’t practice our orchestra music. Honestly. If you are in a school ensemble, think about it - How much do you actually practice your school music? Pretty close to zero, right? Keyboards aren’t any different, we hardly ever practice our music outside of school. We have lessons (that cost money) and pieces that are more fun to play to practice at home.
2. Sight reading is considerably more difficult on a piano then on pretty much any other instrument. We have to read two clefs, and we’re one of the few instruments that can play 2 or more notes constantly. That’s four times as many notes as any wind instrument, and twice as many notes as a string instrument. Even harps, who read two clefs, play less notes because of the limitations of where their hands can be.
3. We’re playing parts that weren’t designed for the piano. A lot of parts that we end up playing were intended for harps or mandolins. Pianists can’t hit four octave E flat glisses and jump straight back into chord progressions. Most of us can’t read guitar notation or accordion fingerings. A lot of what we substitute for what we can’t play is made up with the help of Google.
4. We all auditioned and were chosen. As far as I know, none of us joined because we wanted to feel good about ourselves. We all had to go through an audition process, just like everyone else. IIRC, my year, I auditioned against five other pianists for two spots. I beat out Eric Liu, of all people. Conductors tend to choose the best people, last time I checked.
