Don Menza on learning orchestration.

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Don Menza discusses the importance of learning jazz history.

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Don Menza on playing the clarinet.

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Q: “So many of the younger players start with late Coltrane, you know. They don’t go back and hear the beginning, which is still the truth…”

A: “I fight about this all the time and they say, "Well, shouldn't we be, you know, like why tradition? Why should we have to go back and do this and why should we do that?" I said, "Look, there is a certain vocabulary, I think, that everybody should learn. Before you learn to talk, you learn to read, you learn to write, you have to learn the alphabet, you have to ... before you can pick up that pen and write a beautiful novel, you have to have liked some control over what you're doing. You have to listen to everybody. You just can't be closed." They say, "Yeah, but shouldn't you be learning to do your own thing?" Sure, but you should have like a fairly good base as a cornerstone to build on.”