89: Five Questions for Michael Webster
With Michael Webster
1. What makes an artist a great collaborator when you work together for the first time?
The many other Young Concert Artists that I've run into over the years have always been, first of all, prepared with scores handy. It's so important to know the, the work and to have an opinion about it so that when you enter a chamber music collaboration, you're sharing opinions and I think it's really important not to try to override a rehearsal with your own opinion, but rather to be open to the opinions of others. I've had times, for example, when I entered a collaboration and didn't really like the ideas that somebody else had, but I thought, well, I'll give them a try and then two days later I did like them, and maybe I gave them some ideas that they didn't like, and somehow we managed to collaborate. But being prepared and knowing the repertoire and also being friendly and engaging is really important. You can't feel like you're the whole show. You have to be ready to share your music making.
2. When do you say yes and when do you say no regarding work?
I would say, say yes. there was one time that I said no, that I regretted it. I had met Aaron Copland, and I had played the Copland Clarinet Concerto with him, with the Rochester Philharmonic and, a couple of other times. And I was offered an opportunity to play on a soundtrack for a movie, which featured the Copland Clarinet Concerto. But-- it would-- they didn't offer, I don't know whether they offered any money at all. And I would have had to travel from Rochester to New York City. I would have had to take time off from my job, and financially it was it was not a good thing to do.
But as I look back on it, I probably should have taken the financial loss in order to get that, larger degree of exposure as a clarinetist. But mostly I have said yes because, when you say no, you might not have a second chance.
I guess I can say that with a little caveat, which is that if you say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and you say too many yeses, then you can get overburdened and you can try to fit too much in. You can try to practice too much in one day because you have too much repertoire to cover in a short time. So you have to take care of your health. So if you feel that saying yes is going to put you in a status of being anxious or being unprepared, that's the time to say no.
3. Outside of performing well, what's the most important thing you can do to help grow a career or stabilize a career?
Take care of your health. Take care of your emotional health. Take care of your physical health. Being a musician is demanding.
All Young Concert Artists know that because we've all put in many, many hours to attain the skill level necessary to become a Young Concert Artist, but especially when there are many demands put upon you as you as your career takes off, it's very important to maintain your health.
4. What advice can you offer to young musicians, who are looking to grow over the course of their careers?
Yeah, I would say, keep the doors open. Don't be focused straight ahead.
I know that the typical Young Concert Artist is looking for a, let's say, a solo career or a chamber music career, but maybe your life isn't meant to go that way. It turns out my life was not meant to go that way. When I was with YCA, I also became principal clarinetist of the Rochester Philharmonic the same year, in 1968, it was, an important year for me. And then it was somewhat difficult to juggle being in the orchestra and doing YCA. But somehow, between the subscription concerts, I was able to get a week off here and a week off there. So right from the early going, I had an orchestral career, I had a recital career, and I had a chamber music career, and those served me very well.
I was also always interested in education. I started teaching at the age of 17 or maybe 18, when I was a freshman at the Eastman School. Somebody knocked on my door of the dorm. It was a Saturday morning. I was totally asleep and said, my roommate's hung over and can't go teach this morning. Are you a clarinet player? And I said yes. So I went and taught and 40 years later, one of the kids that I taught came up to me and said, you're the reason I play the clarinet today. So teaching has been a thread that's gone through my life from that very first day until, until this moment.
And then, how shall I, how shall I go next? I'll, I'll say I fell in love. I fell in love with Leone Buyse, who at that time was a member of the San Francisco Symphony. And then she moved to Boston and became a member of the Boston Symphony.
And I just saw Marcus Thompson's photo in your photo gallery. Marcus said, Michael, why don't you come audition for a professorship at MIT? Because Marcus taught there, and I believe he still does unless he's retired recently. So I interviewed at MIT for a whole day, and they dropped the professorship. But at the end of the day, I went to BU on the same side on the north side of the Charles River, had a very brief interview, and they hired me to teach one day's worth of clarinet at BU. And that got my foot in the door in Boston.
And I wanted to have more, more work to do in Boston. And so Leone's former high school band director, whose name is Frank Battisti, he's still alive and well at the age of 92 and still coming up with great ideas, said, we have an opening for a conductor of the younger wind ensemble at New England Conservatory. Would you like to interview for that position? And I said, sure I would, and I had never really conducted much at all. I conducted a little bit, but I took the interview and then they hired me. And that led to 4 or 5 years of conducting a wind ensemble at NEC.
And then when Leone decided to leave the Boston Symphony and go to Ann Arbor, I took on the Michigan Youth Symphony, and that was my first orchestra. So that added another facet to my career. And when we moved to Houston, Texas, in the fall of 1997,I took over the Houston Youth Symphony. And I've been doing that with great joy for the last 26 years. And I view that as being maybe even more of a teaching job than it is a conducting job, because I have these wonderful teenagers who play so extraordinarily well, and it helps keep me young.
5. Any lasting advice you’d like to share?
Well, the summary would be yes, go, go for every chance you get.
But also trust your mentors. Your mentors are looking out for you. Trust your audience. Your audience is looking out for you. I remember one time that somebody told me that some famous clarinetist was going to be in the audience. I can't even remember who it was. And I got very nervous thinking, oh my God, I'm playing for this famous clarinet player. And I got nervous, and I played through the recital and I got through the recital fine, but I was more nervous than usual. And then I learned that he hadn't shown up.
So, trust your audience. Your audience is there-- they want to hear you play well. You're getting all these wonderful vibes from your audience. I think that's the best way-- If you have any vestige of, of stage fright, throw it away and view the audience as being your best friends because they are. They are your best friends. They're there not to criticize you, they're there to enjoy your playing. And believe me, if you make a little mistake, they're not going to care. They are going to want to hear you make a musical statement. And if you do, they've done their job and you've done your job.