| PVA's and other matters
When I was a student of Will Scarlett's in the 60's and I thought I wanted to be a orchestral player like he was, I'd come in to every other lesson with some new equiptment change or modification which seemed to be a "huge" improvement at the time. After a while I began to wonder why my playing wasn't maturing as fast as I'd hoped. He explained that each change required a period of adjustment, almost two steps back and one step forward. An improvement in playing level develops with physical conditioning and intellectual(musical) growth NOT equiptment "musical chairs"
I know we all look better in new clothes, but does anyone think Horowitz would have sounded like Billy Joel on a Yamaha instead of a Steinway?
For those of you who doubt my thesis that the player is vastly more important than the instrument, listen to Bernie Glow on the Mosaic reissue of the old Woody Herman recordings. Or better still, try to find an S42L(Faddis Model)and try to play along with some of his records. Wouldn't we all love to be able to do that? Would a PVA help? I don't think so. Would it hurt? No, but, I'd be out a hundred bucks and I'd still play the same. |