Klarinet Archive - Posting 000146.txt from 2001/01

From: Oliver Seely <oliver-seely@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] community bands & clarinetists
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 10:08:02 -0500

I have found all of the points in this thread to be interesting. That
community bands have to disband because of lack of members is truly
lamentable. To that I have no comment.
As to the matter of people with poorer ability playing in front of us
thirds (!) sometimes there is a hidden agenda. There are two good looking
women in the third section and I told them that I REALLY need help with my
technique and might I sit between them so both can help me? Sometimes
there's a shortage of parts so (since I always make an "emergency fair-use
copy for non-profit educational purposes" of everything we play and put it
in my three-ring binder, I'm able to say, "Well, let's sit real close and
we can look on together." Of course they both know me for what I am and
I'm at a loss to explain my behavior except to observe just how sweet it
is! 8-)

O.K. That having been said (I certainly hope that neither of them is on
this list), there really are some things which can be done. A sensitive
(!) conductor can ask various people to play solos, regardless of where
they sit. One day just before a concert I warmed up with the Bolero theme
and our conductor handed it out the next time and told this third clarinet
player to play the solo. That was sweet also. But the sweetest of all was
when he told me ahead of time that he wanted me to play the solo in
Ticelli's "Blue Shades." He gave me several weeks to look it over and as
luck would have it I found the performance file (MP3 or .WAV, I can't
remember now) on the Manhattan Beach Music Company Web page and downloaded
it. So after I got over the feeling that no mortal could play the damn
thing at that speed, I sequenced a skeleton of parts so as to be able to
play along with the MIDI file. I got the vivace section up to around q=110
and that was good enough for him (and no one had the slightest inkling that
the band and I were off by a measure and a half at the end -- so much for
Ticelli!). The first trumpet came over to me afterward and said, "Please
don't tell me that you were sight reading." That was sweet too. Finally,
I'd suggest that you all put your efforts where your mouths are and learn
how to use music notation software. I found the score of the
Rimsky-Korsakov Concerto for Clarinet and Band (you can download it from my
Web page) and sequenced the whole thing for our group. When it was almost
ready to go I slyly asked our conductor if we could sight read it once if I
prepared the parts for everyone. "And who would you like to play the
solo," he countered. "I thought you'd never ask. I offer you a gracious
thanks for asking me to do it." Ah, as they say, the rest is history.

8-)

I have a treat coming up for all you folks later this month. Watch this
space!

My Web page address for our newcomers is
http://webchem.csudh.edu/musicfiles/clarmusi.htm

Oliver

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