Klarinet Archive - Posting 000213.txt from 1996/03

From: Bill Fogle <bfogle@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Simple Instruments (was Cleveland Teacher)
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 16:38:00 -0500

Sure. I think about it alot because I play piano and clarinet at about
equal skill levels. While I have pondered the question, I never found an
answer. Piano is more demanding technically, and I believe that statement
to be something more than an opinion. However, I do not think that makes
it "harder" necessarily. I alternate playing both, and *have* found the
following to be true: clarinet enhances my piano experience, but not
vice-versa. I can take musical thought and expression from the clarinet
to the keyboard to create that "singing tone" so talked about among
pianists. The act of playing piano contributes only sightreading strength
to my clarinet practice. I love both equally.
``````````````````````````
Bill Fogle
Washington, DC
bfogle@-----.edu
``````````````````````````
Hi, Claudia (and others on this list) --

I am having an ongoing discussion with my wife, who is a pianist,
regarding the relative difficulties of our respective instruments.
She recently stated that she thought the clarinet was a harder
instrument to play than the piano. I brought up the issue of the
multiple musical lines, but she countered with the sometimes awkward
finger movements in some musical lines, the constant battle with
reeds, the need to be able to play two, three or more instruments
(B-flat, A, E-flat, bass) in one session, etc.

Are there others out there with thoughts on this subject?

Jeff Chan
(Jeff.Chan@-----.com)

On Wed, 6 Mar, Claudia wrote to the Network:

>My mother is a knowledgeable classical music listener. She took
>piano lessons as a girl and resumed them for a while recently,
>finally giving up because she found the technical challenges of
>multiple musical lines too frustrating.
snip
>My mother has been thinking about trying a simpler instrument, and
>she has picked--guess what--the clarinet!