September 7, 2009

Noted: A Two-Timing Clarinetist

Tom Story, Arizona State U.

Robert S. Spring, a professor of music at Arizona State University, plays two clarinets at the same time.

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Tom Story, Arizona State U.

Robert S. Spring, a professor of music at Arizona State University, plays two clarinets at the same time.

By Austin Wright

Concertgoers will get a twofer this month when Robert S. Spring takes the stage at Arizona State University.

Mr. Spring, a professor in the university's Herberger Institute School of Music, will play two clarinets at once, a feat that required months of training and left the veteran clarinetist with brand-new calluses on his long-hardened lips.

"It's easy to become a museum piece as a musician," says Mr. Spring, who is 54. "My desire is not to be the tenured professor who