Professionalism is what maintains excellent working relationships between musicians.

With no excuses always be on time, prepared and ready to play.

Rehearsals are for learning, balancing and perfecting the performance of the music, not for practicing your part.

Know the content of your part as well as the context or role that your line plays in the music and play accordingly.

Never be without a pencil and have your own copy of the full score.

Prior to rehearsal write in measure numbers on your part at the beginning of each printed line and at critical musical junctures to minimize delays.

Do not hold back in rehearsal, but play out as if in performance.

Listen carefully, sensitively and patiently to what your partners are saying both musically and verbally.

Be able to support any and every musical suggestion you may make with a reason in the score.

Above all, be polite and politic in all of your remarks and actions.

Career

Since everyone has strengths and weaknesses, you must bolster your deficiencies but lead with your strong qualities. This is true in the matters of style, technique, performance personality, the literature you play and the type of career you choose.

One of the keys to success in today's professional world of classical music is specialization. Obtain the skills necessary to succeed in the extremely competitive world of the business of music. Seek out your place and make your contribution, for any and every contribution is important.

Read: What Happens After Graduation? The Classical Musician and the Music Business

It is a full-time occupation to truly master any one of the following professions: soloist; principal clarinetist, second clarinetist, Bass or E-flat clarinetist in either symphony, opera or ballet; chamber musician; university/college professor; private teacher; freelancer/doubler/commercial recording studio artist; bandsman; clarinet maker; repairman; mouthpiece maker; reed manufacturer; accessories manufacturer (ligatures, reed cases, etc.); acoustician; clinician; historian; editor or researcher.

It is a completely different matter to prepare for, obtain or create, and then to sustain a local, regional, national or international career.

Each has its price and rewards.

The world of the professional performance of music is ruthlessly impersonal in the matter of you and your instrument's capabilities.

But know that ultimately the only person you are or can be in competition with is yourself. Shedding jealousy and pettiness, rise to the top of your profession by increasing your own ability. Ever ready, be prepared for any opportunity or chance.

And so it follows that even if you can play the clarinet extremely well, it does not mean you should have or will have a career playing the clarinet. For it is a far different matter to rely on paying your bills--much less supporting a family and/or promoting a career--solely by the quality of sound that comes out of your bell.

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