Klarinet Archive - Posting 000648.txt from 1995/05

From: John Baetens <JSBtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: weird keys
Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 00:47:38 -0400

Rich Copeland, after reading the discussions about keys,
wonders why he doesn't have trouble with "weird" keys.
Maybe it's because he has a masters degree in music with
concentrated clarinet study.

One thing we all have to realize is that with something as
global as the Internet, on a mailing list with a topic as general
as clarinet, we are going to get input from people with a great
variance in background on the instrument.

I was the one who started this thread by asking why stage show
composers write in such weird keys. My formal training in
the clarinet ended in high school. Even though I was !st chair off
and on in a high school band that was very competitive, I chose not
to pursue music in college. As the years went by, I became less
and less active in music. Now that my daughter is in the high
school band (same band, incidently), I once more became
interested in playing and got out my old clarinet. One of the
reasons I joined this list was to keep my interest active and to
keep me playing.
So far it has worked. I am amazed at how much I have learned
just by reading messages from musicians with so much more
experience as me. When you are practicing on your own, selecting
your own music, the temptation is there to pick out music
that makes you sound as good as you can, instead of music
that will help you learn. This usually translates into picking out
pieces in easy keys that has the most difficult technique that one
can handle. After all, I am doing this mostly for my own enjoyment.
But Rich's message, along with others on this thread, made me
realize that to really get the most out of the instrument, I should
go back to the basics.
I am not familiar with the Klose books, but I still have my Rubank
books from Junior High School. I seem to remember that the
Advanced I and II books had scales and arpeggio exercises, that
between the two books, covered all the major and minor scales.
Would it be a good idea to go back to these lessons, or would
the Klose book be better?