Klarinet Archive - Posting 000522.txt from 1999/07

From: "Mr. Sheim" <fsheim@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Poulenc Sonata for 2 clarinets
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 19:09:01 -0400

At 03:29 PM 7/16/99 +0100, you wrote:
>On Thu, 15 Jul 1999 19:53:06 -0400, fsheim@-----.com said:
>
>> Well, since I saw the performance of the Poulenc Sonata for two
>> clarinets performed in Ostend, I thought I would pull out my copy and
>> give it a go. Not bad, except for a part I never was able to cut at
>> the correct tempo. It is the 32nd note figure in the third movement
>> that appears for the last time in the next to the last measure.
>> Regular fingerings just don't work for me. Can anybody suggest some
>> alternates for the e-f#-b that fly? Also the A part's c-d-g.
>
>Might depend on your instrument, Fred, and I don't know about flying,
>but how about:
>
>e/f#/b (overblown throat Bb)/(add 2 top trill keys)/(normal)
>
>I find that one works very well.
>
>c/d/g (normal)/(overblown open g)/(normal)
>
> or, (normal)/(2nd trill key down from top)/(normal)
>
>I've usually used the open one, but the second one works too.
>
>The open one helps you play with a rather rowdy quality that suits the
>piece, in my view. (Rather like the 'cross' high b/d thirds in the
>Nielsen concerto.)
>
>Apropos regular/fake fingerings, there's an effect I once noticed that
>has been useful to me to recall. It's that, when you've practiced a
>passage using a fake fingering for a bit, you sometimes find that the
>regular fingering has got a lot more tractable. So looking for fake
>fingerings can actually help with the regular ones!
>
>I don't really know the explanation for this. But fake fingerings often
>make more obvious demands on flexibility of tongue position and
>embouchure, so it seems plausible that we learn to vary those more
>effectively, and when we return to the regular fingering we reap the
>benefits of that.
>
>Added evidence for this is that I often find that the solution to a
>'difficult' passage begins when I become aware that the uneven response
>of the instrument is not the unevenness that the structure of the
>passage calls for, and what I therefore subconsciously want to hear.
>Suppressing the 'too brilliant' note, or encouraging the 'too dull'
>note, so that the underlying patterns are represented tonally, usually
>makes what seemed like a fingering difficulty turn out not to be a
>fingering difficulty after all. Rather, it's a control problem that may
>involve subtle changes of diaphragm-action, tongue-position or
>embouchure (or combinations of these), and will yield to a simple 3-note
>exercise.
>
>With this realisation, the whole problem lightens up and often
>goes away entirely.
>
>Tony
>--
> _________ Tony Pay
> |ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
> | |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
> tel/fax 01865 553339
>
>...The early bird catches the worm...but the second mouse gets the cheese.
>
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>

Thank you very much for your suggestion. It indeed works, but feels a bit
awkward for me. I seem to have to reach too far for the f#3 after hitting
the 2 upper trill keys. But all is not lost! Your suggestion caused me to
experiment with other overtones and I found this:

e/f#/b (overblown g3)/(overblown Bb3 with side key)/normal

This leaves the right middle finger in place to get the top line f#.

Fred (fsheim@-----.com)

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