Klarinet Archive - Posting 000020.txt from 1994/02

From: James Langdell <James.Langdell@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Performance practice
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 19:13:20 -0500

Ron Monsen said (I don't know who the "you" is here):
>I agree with you--I use the Kell edition of the canonic duos in my studio
>all the time. I must confess that when I am confronted with what flutist
>and oboe players deal with on a regular basis I do get a bit unsettled.

I'd be interested in hearing more about what unsettles you. Do you mean:

--The particular challanges of playing the flute and oboe repertoire as
notated (flows of notes in a patterns that clarinet players usually
don't encounter).

--The challanges of interpreting and embelishing music from the Baroque
period (approaches to playing music that clarinets were born a little
to late to have done much of).

>We do talk here of performance practice--what about articulation on a single
>reed instrument that for many years and in several countries was played with
>the reed on the upper lip?

After I heard some years ago that the reed-on-top technique
continued to be used by many players in Italy into the 20th century,
I gave it a try (especially since I was then in a folk band playing
some Italian dance music arrangements from around the turn of the
century). I sure learned a lot about how my mouth works through this
exercise!

Apart from learing the performance practice of another time or
place, practicing with the reed-on-top is something any clainet
player could try as a technical exercise to increase tongue flexibility
and finesse.

--James Langdell jamesc@-----.com
Sun Microsystems Mountain View, Calif.