Klarinet Archive - Posting 000896.txt from 1997/02

From: Nathaniel F Johnson <clarinat@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Upsetting situation
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 04:40:03 -0500

On Tue, 25 Feb 1997 09:02:34 -0400 R Tennenbaum <rtenn@-----.com>
writes:
I think that Ken's question is valid and I'm sorry to see him getting a
bad rap for asking honest questions. Bonade put out a book of his own
interperetations of the odd-numbered Rose etudes (the original etudes,
with phrasing marks added). My own teacher suggested this as an
interesting book to look through. There's not much difference between
looking through the book of someone else's interperetation of teh etudes
and listening to a recording of them. Besides, listening to other
clarinettists play ANYTHING is a learning experience, and I'm sure that
Ken's teacher would agree with that statement. If it's okay to listen to
(and learn from) a recording of a master clarinettist playing...say the
Mozart, then why would it not be the same for the Rose?

As I said in a posting recently, Ken's excitement and curiosity are
admirable, especially at his age. This is a forum for discussing all
aspects of the clarinet. Although some of Ken's questions would seem to
be more appropriately asked in the studio, there may very well be
reasons, of which we are unaware, that asking them in the studio is
unfeasible. The last thing that we need to do in this forum is to
chastize a young clarinettist for being inquisitive. There is enough
venom on the list lately (what with the religion and "how much opinion
vs. how much fact" discussions. Let's not add to it, okay?

P.S. Ken: You don't need to call me Mr. Johnson. That's my father, not
me. (Although he is also a clarinettist). Perhaps you saw my sig line
and thought that I was faculty at UNC. Alas, I am just a lowly grad
student. You can refer to me by Nathaniel, or just N@-----.

Nathaniel Johnson
Conductor / Clarinettist
All-Around Good Guy
University of Northern Colorado

>...For instance, you also asked
>about recordings of the Rose Etudes. For all I know there may be
>dozens of these (although I doubt it, since I don't believe record
>companies in general are rushing to produce disks of unaccompanied
>clarinet performances of pleasant-sounding exercises of virtually no
>musical interest except as pedagogical studies) but the point is, if
>you're having a hard time figuring out a phrase in Rose, why don't
>you just ask your teacher about it?
>
>Rafe Tennenbaum
>http://www.quicklink.com/~rtenn
>