Klarinet Archive - Posting 000089.txt from 2001/03

From: MVinquist@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Sight Reading and More [Long]
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 11:59:14 -0500

Tony Jones asked for help finding a book on clarinet sight reading: "Sight=20
reading and technique for students and performers on clarinet" by Norman=20
Barker, and any other tips.

The place to start looking for out-of-print books is Advanced Book Exchange,=
=20
which searches dozens of used book sources. Their web address is=20
<www.abebooks.com/>. Unfortunately, I just tried there, and a title search=20
on "sight reading" didn't bring find the Barker book. However, it showed 28=
=20
titles on the subject, some of which you should find interesting. Also, =20
there's certainly a copy in at least one music library. Go to your local=20
reference librarian, who can find the book and arrange an old-fashioned=20
snail-mail interlibrary loan.

I learned sight reading by doing it. My high school orchestra conductor was=
=20
the principal clarinetist in the local symphony. During lunch hour, he woul=
d=20
bring out the Bandsman's Folios -- 5 books which had all the 1st clarinet=20
parts from the Goldman Band's orchestral transcriptions. He would tear=20
through them, and I would tag along, falling behind, dropping out and jumpin=
g=20
back in. It taught me to read notes in groups, to hear the underlying=20
harmony and know what notes were possible, and to keep going no matter what.

The original the Bandsman's Folios are long out of print, but I think a 2=20
volume selection is available. Gary Van Cott's service (a Sneezy sponsor)=20
undoubtedly has them.

ANALOGY TO LEARNING TO READ
<<<*** Flame Warning*** -- Theories of "reading acquisition" are the subject=
=20
of near-religious wars. This is ONLY what I remember, how I do it and what=20=
I=20
think.>>>

When you were in the first grade, you learned to read individual letters. A=
t=20
the same time, you learned to recognize whole words. When you came to a new=
=20
word, you learned to sound out the letters and put them together to learn a=20
new word or recognize one you hadn't seen in writing before. Later, you=20
learned to read in whole words. Then you learned to read groups of words. =20
Then you learned that when you get a sentence started, there's a predictable=
=20
order of elements. (Later, you learn that a subject is followed by a verb.)=
=20
Thus, you know what sort of word or group is coming next. Learning to read=20
music -- to sight read what you haven't seen before -- involves the same=20
process. You learn to read notes, then groups of notes, then harmonic=20
patterns.

APPLICATION TO MUSIC READING AND CLARINET TECHNIQUE

Learning clarinet technique is a series of simplifications.=20

Note/Fingering/Finger Movement

As an absolute beginner, when you see a chalumeau C (first ledger line below=
=20
the staff), you recognize the note, remember the fingering (left thumb + 3=20
fingers) and put down those fingers. If the next note is chalumeau D (just=20
below the staff), you again recognize it, connect it with the fingering (lef=
t=20
thumb + 2 fingers) and put down those fingers.=20

Note/Finger Movement

Your first simplification is to drop the middle step. You recognize the C an=
d=20
put down the correct fingers, and then recognize the D and put down the=20
correct fingers. When I was a beginner (many, many years ago), it took me=20
about a month to start doing this.=20

Finger Movement

The second simplification is to drop the first step. You see the =E2=80=9CC=20=
shape=E2=80=9D=20
or @-----. You associate=
the shape with=20
the physical sensation of playing the note. You make the recognition/finger=20
movement process a single step, which you do without having to think about=20
it. When I started playing, nobody told me about this, and it took 7 or 8=20
months before I made the connection. I remember the moment clearly -- I saw=20=
a=20
clarion G (on top of the staff) and realized that I could drop everything in=
=20
between and just make the =E2=80=9CG feel=E2=80=9D (left thumb + register ke=
y + 3 fingers).=20
Then I realized I could do the same with top-line F, and so on, and I was of=
f=20
to the races.=20

Spaces Between Notes

The third simplification is to shift from reading the notes to reading the=20
spaces between the notes. That is, you see chalumeau C followed by chalumeau=
=20
D, and you play the =E2=80=9CC feel=E2=80=9D followed by the feel of what it=
takes to get to=20
the next note -- the =E2=80=9CC-to-D feel=E2=80=9D of raising your left ring=
finger.=20

Groups of Finger Movements

Advanced players build technique by learning various scale and chord=20
patterns, all as groups of finger movements from one note to the next, and=20
then from one-note-to-the-next-to-the-next-to-the-next. Your goal is to be=20
able to recognize, say, an ascending scale and start your fingers on that=20
sequence of movements. While your fingers are playing the scale, you eyes ar=
e=20
looking ahead to recognize the next pattern.=20

Different Fingering Patterns for Different Scales

As you learn to do this, you will recognize patterns (such as middle line B=20
followed by third space C in a C major ascending scale) where your little=20
finger will be on the B key and the next movement will be to lift it while=20
having the other little finger on the C key. In this pattern, the most=20
efficient way to play it is to put both little fingers down when you play th=
e=20
B, so that all you have to do for the C is raise one finger. You learn to=20
play the C scale that way.=20

However, when you=E2=80=99re playing, say, the ascending scale in D major (w=
here B is=20
followed by C#), you waste motion and force a clumsy jump if you put down=20
both little fingers for the B and then have to jump to the C# key. What you=20
learn for that pattern is to play the B with just one little finger, while=20
placing the other over the C# key to be ready to make the exchange when you=20
make the B-to-C# movement.=20

Importance of Practicing Scales

When you =E2=80=9Cburn=E2=80=9D these patterns into your brain and muscle me=
mory, you need=20
to use the most efficient patterns, requiring the smallest amount of effort=20
and finger movement. Where there are alternate fingerings, you have to get=20
used to doing it both ways. Of course you will have a "standard" way of=20
fingering, but you have to "burn" both ways so that either way feels natural=
.=20

You will seldom see entire musical compositions written in extreme keys, but=
=20
tonal music often modulates through these keys, so you must have them "in=20
your fingers." The Debussy Premiere Rapsodie has spots that start around th=
e=20
circle of fifths a second time, with notation in 8 and even 9 flats. The=20
Francaix Concerto is in the key of B throughout.

HARMONIC CONTEXT

Chords

Tonal music has a vocabulary of chords. The arpeggio sequences in Baermann=20
Part 3 get these into your fingers. When you get to these patterns while=20
sight reading, you recognize them and play them as a whole.

Chord Sequences

Tonal music also has a vocabulary of chord sequences. You learn these by=20
studying music theory and harmony and playing tonal music. Unfortunately,=20
there are no clarinet method books that address this explicitly. Keyboard=20
players learn it by studying basso continuo. For wind players playing=20
classical music, the closest approach is jazz instruction books that lay out=
=20
common sequences of harmonies and the vocabulary of jazz improvisations that=
=20
fit with these sequences. (Clarinetists like Benny Goodman, Gary Gray and=20
Bill Blount, who are bi-musical in classical and jazz, have, to my ear, an=20
extra dimension to their classical playing -- a strong awareness of harmonic=
=20
context and movement.)

I came at this by performing lots of old music. I've sung Gregorian chant=20
and medieval, renaissance and baroque music, and I play renaissance and=20
baroque recorder and flute as much as I do clarinet. I have also worked my=20
way through late renaissance, baroque and early classical treatises that lay=
=20
out suggested patterns of ornamentation and variations on a theme. Some of=20
them are:

Simpson: The Division Viol
Ortiz: Tratto de Glossas
Ganassi: Opera Intitula Fontegara
van Eyck : Dur Fluyten Lust-hof
Quantz: On Playing the Flute
C.P.E. Bach: Klavier method
Leopold Mozart: Violin method
Telemann: Methodical Sonatas
Hindemith: Elementary Training for Musicians (anything but -- most is=20
extremely advanced)

When I play a baroque recorder sonata I haven't seen before, I'm only half=20
sight reading. The harmonies and sequences of harmonies are so familiar tha=
t=20
I know pretty much what's coming next. When I see a "chord shape" in the=20
notes, I know what it's likely to be and what it's unlikely to be, so the=20
amount of note-by-note (and even group-by-group) reading I have to do is=20
small. And if I see a shape that looks out of context, I know that somethin=
g=20
unexpected is going to happen harmonically. This sort of thing also works i=
n=20
the Brahms Sonatas, and even the Hindemith Sonata.

SYNTHESIS

All of this is for the practice room. When you play the Mozart Concerto, th=
e=20
entire thing is one giant learned set of finger movements and harmonic=20
sequences. Only by doing it this way can you have the process of playing the=
=20
instrument become part of your body, so that you can concentrate on the=20
beauty, elegance and nobility of the music. =20

Ken Shaw

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