2024-09-18
Singer offers a memoir about the ups and downs of life as a professional musician.
The author was born in 1949 and grew up in Canoga Park, California. Although his first real passion was baseball, his true calling would be playing the clarinet. When Singer was 12, his family took an extended trip to Europe, and while they were in Vienna, he came under the tutelage of the principal clarinetist in the Vienna Philharmonic, Rudolf Jettel. As the author recalls, “I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was the opportunity of a lifetime.” The “kind but very demanding” instructor helped Singer truly engage with the instrument, and when it was time for the author to return to the United States, his musicianship had grown immensely. Years later, he attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and after graduation, his professional journey took him to many different places; he recorded chamber music, performed at the White House, and, as the title suggests, took the stage at Carnegie Hall. However, he encountered financial struggles while pursuing his passion; he found it very difficult to make ends meet solely as a musician. For a time, he says, he drove a cab in New York City but felt shame about not finding music-related work: “Every time I drove by Carnegie Hall, I was afraid that one of my colleagues might recognize me.” He didn’t have the fortune of a friend who’d landed a long-term gig playing the French horn for the Broadway production of the musicalCats. Eventually, though, Singer landed a teaching job at Montclair State University before finally retiring to the West Coast.
The book ably underscores the hard truth that finding ways to pay the bills is a constant concern for many working musicians. Singer tells of attending auditions throughout the book, pointing out how pursuing leads “to get a great job can turn into another dead end so very quickly.” He effectively details the struggle by noting the strain that it put on his marriage and relating what it was like to drive a car that was “falling apart, as we put off essential repairs in favor of making sure the children always had what they needed.” He also lays out other key aspects of a thriving music career, such as receiving a positive review of a performance; for instance, he recalls when a recital of his was reviewed by theNew York Times, stressing that a bad review “could very well slam the proverbial door shut to any kind of career playing with top artists in town.” Singer ably draws distinctions between playing in an orchestra with a conductor and in a group without one, as the latter requires far more skill from individual musicians: Without someone conducting them, he points out, “many musicians become lost both in the actual music and in the process of interpretation.” His accounts of encounters with figures such as cellist Pablo Casals and soprano Kathleen Battle may also excite dedicated music fans.
An intimate, candid look at the highs and lows of one musician’s artistic pursuit.
