Klarinet Archive - Posting 000267.txt from 1997/06

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: Improvisation & A Clarinet Sound, Related Topics? (very long)
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 18:49:53 -0400

Ed's very long post on the subject is below. I spent several
days with it, going over its details, reading and rereading it.
It's worth another read if you missed it the first time round.

I particularly enjoyed the post because it does not say (as many
do on this and other lists) that "You are wrong and I am right"
but instead says "Let me tell you my perspective on this matter."

So I pondered on Ed's perspective and find that it is not one
with which I have a fundamental disagreement. To net it out,
clarinet switching at player choice is not high on his list
of critical things. And that's OK with me.

Bottom line is that we don't have an issue here, just two people
looking at something from different directions. It is not a
zero-sum game in which only one of us can be right and the other
must, therefore, lose.

In effect, I think it to be important to use the instrument
specified by the composer and Ed doesn't see it in the same
intensity. To a certain degree it is a lot like enjoying
asparagus. Some do. Some don't.

What can I say beyond this?

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.88
> Subj: RE: Improvisation & A Clarinet Sound, Related Topics? (very long)

> On Mon, 16 Jun 1997, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:
>
> > Now it is my turn to ask a question of you: give me a number of
> > reasons why you feel the substitution of a clarinet of one pitch
> > for a clarinet of another is sound musical practice.
>
> Fair question, and I will try to answer it, even though I have to take
> note of the fact that you have not yet addressed my question as to whether
> or not the question of sonic palette belongs properly to the domain of
> performance practice.
>
> I think I am correct in interpreting your position on the question of
> which clarinet to use as follows. For you, if the part says that the
> composer wrote it for A or Bb or C clarinet, or for K-flat clarinet or
> anything else for that matter, that is what you feel obligated to use. For
> you, that is an absolute. Your choice of what instrument to use begins
> with and is guided by that basic predetermination. And, why not? That
> position is certainly easily justifiable. But, if an occasion arises
> where it might be preferable to use another instrument for technical
> reasons, you will be less likely to do so than might some other
> clarinetist who has placed the matter of "sonic palette" somewhere lower
> in the panoply of issues with which the musician has to contend.
>
> I hope that is a fair characterization of your viewpoint. I, on the other
> hand, come at this question from a different perspective. For me, the
> overriding and controlling factor is musical intent. I hope I can justify
> being called an "interpretative artist." To me, that means that I must be
> more than an automaton, dutifully performing within narrow bounds every
> "jot and tittle" of the score to the extent that I am able to determine
> them. Rather, I have to address the question of what were the composer's
> intentions with regard to musical expression, and have to try to figure
> out how to best re-create those intentions within the limitations of the
> conditions under which I perform.
>
> Now, that opens up an entire realm of additional problems for me as a
> performer. It means that while I have to have respect for the score, I
> have to go a lot further than that. I am not allowed to change such
> fundamental factors as the rhythm, the pitches or other technical factors.
> However, I not only can, but _must_, within that context, try to interpret
> the music in such a way as to convey to the listener the musical
> intentions of the composer. So, a certain note may be played slightly
> longer or shorter, or louder or softer, or with greater or lesser emphasis
> than indicated by the score in order to produce a _musical_ entity, rather
> than a mechanical one. Nothing in the scores of any of the great
> composers indicates that we can or should do this. However, if we do not,
> the result is a sterile, inexpressive, matter-of-fact reading of a score.
> Just as you have suggested that Mozart, among other composers, intended
> that there should be certain improvisatory elements in a performance, so
> must he have assumed that performers would do more than slavishly follow
> the dictates of the score, especially given the limitations of musical
> notation.
>
> Written music, after all, is inadequate to show the way that great
> performers play. It is at best an approximation of what musicians do and
> what composers intend that they do. The extent to which the written score
> is inadequate varies according to the era, the musical style, and the
> degree of fastidiousness of the composer. We know that Baroque composers
> seldom indicated in their scores what articulations the performer should
> use. Yet, I think we can be sure that they did not intend that we should
> just articulate every note, and much less that we should always articulate
> in the same manner. These composers assumed that the performer would
> articulate in the manner which was acceptable in that time and place.
> Today, we don't know as much about what those conventions were, and some
> musicians have made a lifetime study of trying to rediscover them. Yet,
> the theories that devolve from these pursuits are almost always more rigid
> and inflexible than were the practices which they intend to restore.
>
> On the other hand, some modern composers have tried to make their scores
> more explicit with regard to musical requirements on the composer. Among
> the composers whose music is often performed and who fall within this
> category are such examples as Hindemith and Stravinsky. Yet even in the
> instance of such composers, there is room for interpretation and for
> questions as to what their actual intent was concerning many musical
> factors. Going still further were some of the avant-garde composers, who
> in some cases had to supply written explanations with their music which
> were more extensive than the scores themselves. Usually, this was the
> result of an attempt to explain exactly to the performers what they should
> do, and to limit or eliminate the factor of individualistic interpretation
> of the music. Even in such an extreme example, the requirement that the
> performers should bring some of their musical experience and sensibilities
> to the performance, while lessened, is not completely eliminated.
>
> Now, let me attempt to bring this to a more practical level. In fairness,
> let me state that while the clarinet was my first instrument, it is not
> now my primary one. I am a woodwind doubler, with bassoon as my principal
> performing medium. For many years, I have sat in orchestras right next to
> the clarinet section, and observed clarinetists changing instruments,
> sometimes but not always according to the dictates of the score.
> Ordinarily, I do not think about which instrument they may be playing at a
> given moment. If I concentrate on it, I can tell which one they are
> playing, but to do so is a rather convoluted process. I have to listen to
> what note the clarinet is playing, then listen to what notes the other
> woodwind instruments are playing, and determine what the transposition is
> between these two. For example, if the oboist, flutist or bassoonist is
> playing an A, I have to listen to the clarinet to see whether he/she is
> playing a B or a C in order to tell which clarinet is being used. This is
> the case whether I am sitting in the orchestra or am in the audience. So,
> the conclusion I have reached from this, admittedly possibly an
> insupportable one, is that there are other factors that are more central
> to the question of how the composer's musical intentions are being
> conveyed.
>
> On a still more mundane level, when I judge band and orchestra contests, I
> have often found it necessary to make a comment like, "If it is in the
> score, I ought to be able to hear it." The converse of this statement
> would be, "If I can't hear which instrument is being used, other than
> through a difficult process such as outlined above, then that must not be
> an extremely critical factor in the determination of how successfully the
> basic musical intentions of the score are being carried out.
>
> Now, obviously, you can easily say that my ears are just not good enough,
> and that I ought to be able to tell purely from the tone quality of the
> instrument which clarinet is being played. Taking that reasoning further,
> if I can't tell that, then I may just not be critical enough with regard
> to respecting the score. If that is the case, I have to accept your
> censure.
>
> However, to me, to understand, experience and appreciate a musical work
> and/or a musical performance does not depend to a great degree on which
> clarinet a performer has chosen to use. When I listen to the music of
> Mozart, or Bach, or Shostakovich, or any other composer, I want to get out
> of the music as much as I can of what the composer wanted to put into it.
> That is a highly subjective process, and each of us brings to it the
> totality of our musical sensibilities. What a musical work means will be
> different for every listener, so we each have to decide which perceptual
> factors are critical for our understanding of the music, and what the
> balance of importance between them is.
>
> So, as far as I am concerned, if a clarinetist wants to play in one sharp
> on the A clarinet rather than in the six sharps on the Bb which the
> composer indicated, that will not be a major concern to me. More
> important will be, how satisfying is the player's basic tone quality, how
> expressively does he/she play, how effective is the performer in conveying
> what I perceive to be the intentions of the performer, etc.
>
> Ed Lacy
> *****************************************************************
> Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
> Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
> Evansville, IN 47722
> el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
> *****************************************************************
>
>
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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
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