Klarinet Archive - Posting 000610.txt from 1995/05

From: Rich Copeland <RichC611@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Weird keys
Date: Sun, 21 May 1995 05:43:03 -0400

This discussion has caused me to wonder why I don't have
trouble with "weird" keys. At one point in my musical development,
they just stopped bothering me. I consider myself as anything
but a "professional", although I went up through a masters
degree in music with concentrated clarinet study therewith.
I have to conclude that it was the "rudiments". My clarinet
teacher in undergraduate years was Joseph Gigliotti(father of
Anthony), who insisted that each of his students play entirely
through the first five exercises in the Klose book daily, and at
every lesson! This involved chromatic scales, diatonic scales,
scales in thirds, arpeggios, and something I will call "broken
arpeggios" for lack of a better term. Each of these exercises
was arranged according to the circle of fifths, starting and ending
with C major. All major and minor keys were covered.
Hence, I got exposed to F# major five times daily, although
only for 30-40 measures. Mr. Gigliotti insisted on a fairly slow
tempo. No speeding through the "easy" keys and then slowing
down for the "difficult" ones.
We undergraduates considered this to be torture, a waste of
time, etc. But as I look back now, I realize that this procedure
helped me to feel "comfortable" in any key. Most of what I play
today is concert band work, and many of the difficult clarinet
passages are just things that could have been lifted directly out
of the "rudiments".
So, if anyone reading this is having trouble with "weird keys",
my advice is to practice your rudiments....