Klarinet Archive - Posting 000206.txt from 1997/03

From: Takashi Kawai <kawai@-----.JP>
Subj: Re: duets
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 21:09:56 -0500

Kathi A wrote:

> Did you ever notice that practicing a duet without the other clarinettist
> isn't quite as fun? I always feel I'm missing so much. Once I made a
> recording of myself playing the second part just to replay it while I
> practiced the first part. I only get to play my duets with my clarinet
> teacher once a week. Any suggestions? TIA

It's a nice idea, not to bother your friends. I've tried this
when I played a recorder in my childhood.

From my experience, I would mention there are some problems
to do this:

1. It may be difficult to have accurate rests, (especially for
several bars length), affordable tempo and dynamics without
other players.
2. The recorded music is less flexible than the real playing;
the tempo and dynamics are fixed. So, you may feel as you are
"accompanying" the recorded music.

Mark's idea (to make a MIDI sequence and use it as accompaniment)
is better and more flexible; since you can modify the MIDI data,
you can change the tempo, the dynamics, and so on. (can you imagine
you could do the same things on the recordings on the tape,
as easily as you can do it for the MIDI sequence?)

Despite of these problems, I think it is a useful alternative.
Happy playing!!

All the best,
Takashi Kawai