Klarinet Archive - Posting 001138.txt from 1998/07

From: gene keyes <gene@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Fiddler on the Roof
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 01:24:34 -0400

At 12:50 AM 7/27/98 -0600, you wrote:
>I have yet another question concerning Fiddler. One the bottle dance solo
>(you know, the really cool and fun solo...), my director suggests playing
>it as written. I realize the cadenza leading up the beginning of the
>dance should be played as written with liberties on the tempo (with
>respect to the onstage performers, of course), and the first time through
>the solo should be played as written with a few embellishments, but I was
>thinking that more ad lib played should be used the second time through
>the main bottle dance theme. I know I'm not great at improv, but I also
>have some ideas of what could fit in the style. Should I do as the
>director suggests, should I improv freely, or should I try and find a good
>balance point between the two? In the two recordings of the dance
>section I've heard, the soloist improvs quite a bit. Thanks for your
>time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>Nasally... err, thankfully,
>
>Joshua M. Coleman
>http://web.nmsu.edu/~joshcole
>
>"Every man dies... not every man really lives."
> -- William Wallace, Braveheart
>
>
>
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>
>
>hi Joshua...............I played that book on B'way for the full run of
"Fiddler" I've never seen the rental parts....but I assume the
embellishments are the one that I wrote into the original part. The
original copy had only a melody line. This type of music should not be
improvisational in the sense that you play on the changes. Changes should
take place in the ornamentaion leaving the basic melody line fairly in
tact.......I don't know what the two recordings you refer to are. I did the
original cast recording back in 1964 (wow..it doesn't seem like 34 yrs)
The slow part of the bottle dance is almost exactly the same as the show
book (with the ornamentations written in) The fast part did involve some
additional upper register trills and screaming on Eb clar.....but this was
in addition to the basic melody line which is being played by the brass at
that point.

The original cast recording did not include the Bottle Dance because of
space limitations...it had been recorded with the cast album but not
released. With the coming of compact discs......the extra space allowed
for the addition of several track....one of course was the "Bottle
Dance"....the other , I believe was "The Rumor" The original book
contained a great deal of Eb..........I understand that this was eliminated
inthe rental version...there was also a couple of tunes on
flute.........they were all cut from the show during the break-in period
and the only flute that remained was about 16 bars in Sunrise
Sunset......Eventually, I just transposed those bars to
Clarinet.............anyway, I hope this has been some help..........gk

"The girl that can't dance says the band can't play"
Yiddish Proverb

Gene Keyes
gene@-----.net

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