I went to Juilliard as a clarinet major, and somewhere between the beginning and the end, I stopped playing it. I asked myself who was I reaching... I just fell out of love with it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I started off playing the clarinet, after I was inspired by listening to my dad's Benny Goodman records.
Then when I was in grammar school I played the clarinet, and then, after clarinet I played the flute in college orchestra - besides singing in the college chorus and things like that.
I started on the clarinet. I was going to a music school - my mother took me - and the guy said, 'What do you want to play?' I said the drums, and my mother said, 'No, you don't. You don't want to play the drums.' So I said, 'Maybe the trumpet would be cool.' And my mother said, 'I don't think so.' And then the clarinet was handed to me.
I went to study some orchestration stuff because I got so inspired working with all the orchestras.
It couldn't have been more nerdy or bizarre, playing the clarinet. But I studied classical clarinet, went to the high school for music and art in New York City, and then found the guitar and the mandolin after it.
I always felt a love for music, but I never got my nerve up enough to try a musical instrument in school.
About 13-14 years ago, I went back to my alma mater, Fairfax High School, and ran into the music teacher. She invited me to come speak to the kids about the viability of a music career. When I went into the room where I used to play every day in a big orchestra, they had nothing!
I'm a little musically inclined; I play the clarinet and the saxophone.
I got in the school band and the school choir. It all hit me like a ton of bricks, everything just came out. I played percussion for a while, and stayed after school forever just tinkering around with different things, the clarinets and the violins.
The clarinet chose me more than I chose the clarinet.