Klarinet Archive - Posting 000482.txt from 1998/05

From: Jack Kissinger <kissingerjn@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: [kl] A clarinets
Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 15:21:53 -0400

I took my daughter to a concert by one of the better local "community" orchestras
here a month or so ago. One of the pieces on the program was the Wieniewski
Second Violin Concerto, performed by a guest soloist from the St. Louis Symphony.
During the opening tutti, there is a fairly long clarinet solo and, you guessed
it, the orchestra's principle clarinetist played it (untransposed) on the wrong
clarinet. He later explained that the cue telling him which instrument to use was
rather small and he missed it. After a couple of notes, he got this look on his
face, like "What is wrong with this instrument?" and several of the nearby
orchestra members turned and looked at him as if he had just done something
extremely unpleasant -- which, of course he had. Someone finally told him that he
was using the wrong instrument. Needless to say, at intermission, he was
extremely embarassed over his error and I don't think the conductor was amused.
Of course, I have to wonder how often he had practiced the piece and how often the
orchestra had rehearsed it. This was the first time I'd ever seen that happen
(though there is a wonderful story in the archives about a prominent English
clarinetist who only needed his Bb for a pit job and managed to show up with the
upper joint from his Bb and the lower joint from his A).

Oh yes, after that little problem, the soloist played beautifully and I really
don't think most of the audience even noticed the mistake ( it was Wieniewski
after all ;^) ).

Best regards,
Jack Kissinger
St. Louis

C E Field wrote:

> Karen, I speak from limited experience but...
>
> I have played both Buffet R13 and Selmer Series 9 A clarinets. The tone is
> WONDERFULLY deep and rich on both of the instruments I have used. An A
> clarinet, as you may know, is just a couple inches longer than the Bb
> clarinet. The fingerings are the same. You can use your existing Bb
> mouthpiece. Switching from A to Bb and vice-versa during a performance is not
> a big deal...you just move the mouthpiece from one to the other. Keeping track
> of which clarinet you SHOULD be using on any particular page can be a bit
> tricky if there are many changes back and forth ;-) But getting used to
> playing an A clarinet itself takes all of about 5 minutes.
>
> Cindy
>
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