Klarinet Archive - Posting 001152.txt from 1998/07

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Fiddler on the Roof
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 01:24:48 -0400

Regarding the current thread on the wonderful clarinet part to _Fiddler on
the Roof_, I must say it's always great to hear from the source, the
original Broadway clarinetist Gene Keyes.

At 09:07 PM 7/27/98 -0400, gene keyes wrote:
>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'm playing this show now, so I have a couple of comments. First, about
those rental parts. Gene mentioned in a July 6 message (when this thread
was first getting started) that the original first clarinet part was in
Reed III. Now it's Reed II. The rental parts have reduced the
instrumentation (probably assuming that the "color" instruments may not be
available). For future reference, the current rental woodwind books are:

Reed 1. flute, piccolo
Reed 2. 1st B-flat clarinet
Reed 3. 2nd B-flat clarinet, bass clarinet (bass used only twice)
Reed 4. bassoon
Reed 5. oboe, English horn

(It's a bit odd that the numbers of books 4 and 5 aren't reversed.) Notice
that other original instruments (for example, E-flat clarinet and alto
flute) have been eliminated although the conductor's score still indicates
the previous instrumentation. The former "screaming" E-flat parts are
scored in the 1st B-flat clarinet part. At times, I'm tempted to bring in
my E-flat for some of them.

Regarding "the embellishments ... that [you] wrote into the original part,"
Gene, do you still have a copy? No, there are no printed embellishments for
the bottle dance in the rental part, just the melody line. I'm adding some
of the ornamentation that I hear you playing on the original cast
recording. (Even though I had bought the LP when it was first available and
the cassette tape about eleven years ago for use in my car, I recently
bought the CD release to get the extra two tracks that you mentioned.)

This has always been my favorite show. Just substitute Kamenets-Podolsk for
the fictional Anatevka, and it's the story of my grandparents.

Mitch Bassman
Burke, Virginia, USA

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