Klarinet Archive - Posting 000587.txt from 1997/07

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: mute for clarinet
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 16:57:43 -0400

Years ago we played a work by Hilding Rosenberg, a swedish composer.
The work had a section for clarinet that called for a mute. I remember
buying some cardboard and fashinoing a cone out of it and cutting holes
in it to allow the hands to manipulate the keys. I think the solo was
in the low register and I guess the composer wanted the "subtone" effect
of the mute.
We tried the same effect once in the TSO for the clarinet solo at the
beginning of the fifth movement, which is supposed to start sounding far
away and getting closer.
That solo is for a C clarinet. Going back to the discussion of some
weeks ago about the various colors of clarinets, its hard for a
transposed part on the Bb to sound as soft as a C clarinet. I think that
Berlioz knew the sound he wanted to get.
As far as practising in hotels, I never had any problems with guests
complaining (of course I did'nt practise for hours).
Bellison wrote somewhere that on trips he just sat with the instrument
and practised the fingers.
AG