Klarinet Archive - Posting 000901.txt from 1998/05

From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Loud community bands (was intonation)
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:05:23 -0400

Tim Roberts wrote:
> However, I have a couple
> of players who, like saxophonists, have only one volume: "ff". This drives me
> nuts. I memorize music easily, so I have a tendency to look ahead in the
> music quite a ways. I start to cringe 10 bars before we come to a "p"
> section, because I KNOW there will be two players blasting out at full volume.
> I've tried shushing, and calling out "THAT'S PIANO", but that only helps
> temporarily.
We have that problem too, although that is one we are gradually
beating back - the conductor is currently having to stop several
times a rehearsal and make the instruments currently carrying the
melody play (at regular volume) and while reminding everyone "this is
what you should be hearing". If we start getting out of hand again,
she just asks us if we can whatever instrument should be dominating
at that moment. It is working. We have also rearranged the band for
concerts, sitting much less curved than we have been. It really
seems to help.

> Overall, however, the community band is one of the joys of my life. We've
> considered making T-shirts which say "I Live For Tuesday Nights."
Ditto here - to the point that I belong to two different bands!

>
> We're doing a concert on the 31st where I will play the solo in the beautiful
> 2nd movement of the Holst 2nd Suite in F. It seems to me this solo just cries
> out for a little vibrato; it's slow and emotional, in a very singing style. I
> know vibrato is an extremely controversial topic, but I wonder if there is any
> factual insight as to its appropriateness in this particular piece. The solo
> was originally written for English horn, was it not? Wouldn't the English
> horn have played it with vibrato?

When we played it, it was marked for the oboe and cued in the
clarinet. He used vibrato.
Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
2105 Independence Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64124
email: dikarius@-----.EDU

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