Klarinet Archive - Posting 000122.txt from 1994/01

From: Jay Heiser <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Introduction/Question ("I'm not flat as all that!")
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 12:27:08 -0500

-->From sco.sco.com!vtbit.cc.vt.edu!vccscent.bitnet!klarinet Thu Jan 20 11:04:50
1994
-->Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 10:50:13 -0500
-->Reply-To: Klarinet - Clarinettist's Network
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->Sender: Klarinet - Clarinettist's Network
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->From: Anne Vacca <AVACCA1%ITHACA.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->Subject: Re: Introduction/Question (don't turn down a chance to play a
--> show!)
-->To: Multiple recipients of list KLARINET
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->Message-ID: <9401200820.aa25862@-----.COM>
-->
-->Well- I haven't actually played Brigadoon yet..
--> I have played some other shows and it was really a great experience!
-->I try to play in the pit of the communtiy theatre every summer! It is really
-->a lot of fun.
--> One thing that you will have to get used to, however....
--> Many vocal songs tend to be in the keys of E, B, A, F#. I'm
-->not sure why (maybe those are good keys for the voice).. But they mean
-->that the clarinetist is playing in keys with _A LOT_ of sharps. It
-->takes a while to get used to. BUt the experience is wonderful.

This is an interesting question for me. I've never really paid a lot of
attention to whether there were more sharps or flats -- there will invariably
be a bunch of either.

A show has to make do with a certain amount of music and stretch it out over
a long period of time (vamp & reprise are two biggies). To make it musically
interesting, both instrumentation and key are varied.

Here's my theory on why show music is more heavily weighted towards sharps:
1) the composer has virtually no control over what key a song
will end up in. The original musical director and singer fight
it out and the arranger does whatever he can get away with

2) wind players tend to use flat keys while guitar players prefer
sharp keys. It is much more awkward to play rythm guitar in a
flat key than it is for a wind player to play in sharp keys.

3) more arrangers play guitar than play wind instruments, and naturally
gravitate towards sharp keys when they have a choice.

One of the fun things about shows is that you get both the experience of
accompanying the vocalists, and also the opportunity to perform instrumental
numbers (ouverture, etc). Show music can have the most awkward trills,
tremelos & accompaniment patterns. It can be a real challenge to figure
out new fake fingerings. In a way, it would almost seem like 'cheating'
to me to play on an A clarinet to simplify the fingerings (I have been
tempted to look for a Db picc, though). I hesitate to use the term
'fake it', but ........ Sometimes you just don't have time
to take the book home and woodshed every difficult phrase. The choice
is to either not play, or to simplify the part. OK, so we fake it.
======================================
Its still chilly.