Klarinet Archive - Posting 000302.txt from 1997/09

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Well, here we go again
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 10:49:30 -0400

Don Yungkurth has said, "...if you want to play in an orchestra,
you had better own an A and be able to transpose C parts. I think
that discussions in the past on Klarinet would tend to support
the view that professionals transpose as necessary, C parts on
Bb as well as A on Bb and Bb on A now and then."

This subject and its status causes me to think that we ought to
have a KLARINET equivalent of the American Civil Liberties
UNION. The purpose of the ACLU is to focus on the meaning
of the constitution and the bill of rights. That this is
necessary is both clear and unambiguous. Without constant
watching, democracies turn into dictatorships, almost overnight.
Fundamental rights get trampled onand the interpretation of
what constitutes the rights of people gets smashed to hell.
So we have such a group in the ACLUand they constantly
remind us what the constitution and bill of rights say as
different organizations attempt to change, dilute, and subvert
the text and its meaning.

So what does this have to do with C, B-flat, and A clarinets?

It is a matter of perspective and of something called the
"orchestral palette of sound."

Like studying geometry, we have to lay out the basic
principles:

(1) unless strong evidence is given to the contrary,
I presume that the composer of a composition is in
the best position to tell the performer what he
wants. Thus, I presume that a clarinetist being
directed by the composer to perform on a clarinet
of a certain ptich, is being told by the composer
to perform on a clarinet of a certain pitch and for
a reason that, perhaps, neither s/he, nor you, nor
I will ever know. All we know for certain is what
the composer said. We don't know what the composer
meant. It is a national game for the performer to
say, "what s/he REALLY meant is ..." But the fact
is that we don't know. We guess, speculate,
conjecture, and fudge. We only know what is written.
It is a problem in performance notation. The
composer says, "Use this" and we have no way to find
out "Why?".

(2) performers presume that directions to them
may be interpreted differently in certain respects,
and these different interpretations have no
consequences. Don infers that the practice of
clarinet substitution (C on B-flat, A on B-flat,
B-flat on A, etc.) has no negative consequences.
That is to say, though the composer may have
requested a clarinet of a certain pitch, there are
almost an infinite number of reasons why these
clear, explicit, and unambiguous communications
from a composer may be ignored. Or at least we
have talked ourselves into that position for the
last century.

(3) the influence of a particular instrument on
the orchestral palette of sound is important, but
not critical when other factors combine to
require the performer to make substitutions of
this nature.

So it is natural that when the question arises about the necessity
to learn to transpose (a requirement that I fully recognize),
the KLARINET equivalent of the ACLU is off doing something else
and does not have an opportunity to remind everyone that
clarinet substitution is an abbertation, often done without
consideration of the consequences involved, demonstrable of
a monumental arrogance on the part of clarinet players who
do not give sufficient consideration to their actions, and,
finally, not what was asked of the performer by the composer.
To be blunt, it is the equivalent of suggesting that the
composer does not know what the hell he is talking about, so
we're going to do it the way it needs to be done.

There is an alternative to transposition, namely the owning
of clarinets pitched in C, B-flat, and A. The argument
that clarinet substitution is necessary because of
peculiarities in the part writing is now offered as
justification for doing anything. In some cases, players
do everything on one instrument so that they do not have to
carry additional instruments. Somehow this strikes me as
disingenuous. Sort of a performance practice dictated by
the weight of load.

There probably are passages so poorly written that changing
clarinets as directed presents logistical and mechanical
problems of a significant nature, but not nearly so many
as we are led to believe.

Frankly, I think the whole environment is out of control.
The matter is influenced by musical taste ("I can't STAND
the sound of the C clarinet, so I don't use it"), cost
("Do you realize how much money I'm going to have to spend
to own all those instruments?), and a genuine ignorance
of the history of clarinet development.

If one is going to play clarinet seriously, one has to come
to grips with this problem eventually; i.e., who is the
boss, me, or the composer?

Don is correct when he said (at an earlier point in his note),
something like, "You don't hear conductors insisting on the
called-for clarinet, do you?" And that's a correctly stated
point, to be sure, but irrelevant to the issue. Conductors
have bigger fish to fry and have fallen into the same
musical trap as clarinet players. No one has ever slammed
them up against a wall and said, "Schmuck!!! Do you know
what the hell it is you are doing?"

Conductors also need a conductorial equivalent of the ACLU.

But who wants to make their musical decisions based on
what conductors don't know? That would be too enormous a
problem to solve.

But has anyone noticed what a thoughtful orchestral clarinet
section plays when the music says, "Clarinet in C"? Like
the Chicago Symphony, for example?

For the newer members of this list, you will now see the
equivalent of the famous vulgar joke about "Where were you
when it hit the fan?" And to which I will respond, as
I have done 4 years ago and 3 years ago and 2 years ago, and
now, "Schmuck!!! Do you know what the hell it is you
are doing?"

It never ends. It just never ends. The minute you relax
your guard, clarinet players go bezerk, invent things, and
thumb their noses at yesterday. On one hand that is a good
characteristic to have. But there are some negative
consequences to it, too. And this clarinet substitution
business is just one of them.

As I said. The environment is out of control

=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================

   
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