Klarinet Archive - Posting 000684.txt from 2001/10

From: "Robert Moody" <LetsReason@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] If you are interested
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 12:35:01 -0400

<<I can hear that you're less comfortable here. But it does sound like a
reed thing, as you said to start with. Perhaps you were just unlucky.>>

I think I was rather unlucky. The reed had never shown that attribute of
wanting to close and chirp. It continued to retain that attribute after the
performance and I never figured out what happened to make it change.

You go on to talk about picking the right reed and I agree 100%. One thing
I cannot run from is my irresponsibility of not having another reed to use,
on the stage. I now regularly carry a couple of other "tried-n-true" reeds
in a case in my tuxedo jacket pocket. In symphony performances, I have
always brought my Selmer 10-reed case and water on stage. I'm not sure why
I did not do this for my recital.

In any case, I hope I have learned from it.

Again, thanks for your comments-definite food for thought.

Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Pay" <Tony@-----.uk>
Subject: Re: [kl] If you are interested

> On Sat, 20 Oct 2001 17:13:15 -0400, LetsReason@-----.com said:
>
> > You and I know the value of the piece, but often groups I have
> > encountered at the collegiate level are so into playing their own
> > standard rep. that when a solo instrument comes to ask them to play a
> > piece, they have approached it as asking them to "accompany" you. They
> > were extremely open and all of them were familiar with the place of
> > the Brahms Quintet in the general rep. of both the clarinet and string
> > quartet lit. I totally approached playing (this was my first time) as
> > a member of a chamber group where all parts were equal. I looked upon
> > myself as merely another member of the group, but with a unique color
> > to add.
>
> Yes. I agree with you that the Brahms Quintet has this nature. A very
> great deal of how the performance goes depends on the quality of the
> leader of the quartet, and the quality of their relationship with the
> clarinet player. (Your relationship with the other string players is
> important too, but that with the first violin is the most important.)
>
> Other quintets *are* less satisfying for the quartet, of course. I once
> played the Weber Quintet in concert with the Vermeer Quartet, led by
> Shmuel Ashkenasi, and at one point he said, "This is a terrible piece!
> Most of the time we've got nothing to play; and when we have, we sound
> like shit!"
>
> > I placed another, shorter, snipit of the Brahms (second movement, from
> > that performance) up for my friend Mark (who was briefly a summer
> > student of mine who is now doing his DMA in Florida with Kowalsky).
> > He wanted to hear some of the "harder" stuff.
>
> I can hear that you're less comfortable here. But it does sound like a
> reed thing, as you said to start with. Perhaps you were just unlucky.
>
> On the other hand, it's up to you to choose reeds that work:-) Your
> playing is at a high level, but I sometimes reflect that the students I
> have who play less well could be characterised as those who don't choose
> the best reeds. That's a bit convoluted, but if the flexibility of
> their address to the instrument were improved, or their idea of what was
> musically acceptable changed, then they'd naturally choose reeds that
> were more workable. Sometimes if I find them a better reed, they
> improve, but that doesn't help them to find the next good one for
> themselves.
>
> The second bit doesn't apply to you -- you have a clear musical idea
> of what you want, I'd judge -- but might the first bit be what your
> critical friend was on about? There's a strong and IMO good tradition
> of basing clarinet sound on the chalumeau register rather than the
> clarinet register, so that the instrument is thought of 'from the bottom
> up' rather than 'from the top down'. Because a lot of the best tunes
> are in the clarinet register, we can tend to think too much in the
> second way. You probably know that, but perhaps I detected a hint in
> your second clip that it might be worth concentrating on.
>
> The Israeli clarinet player Yona Ettlinger used to insist that all his
> beginning students at the Guildhall play nothing but long notes in the
> chalumeau for weeks on end. (Some said months, but perhaps they were
> exaggerating.) I don't do that myself, but it bears thinking about.
>
> Tony
> --
> _________ Tony Pay
> |ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
> | |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN artist: http://www.gmn.com
> tel/fax 01865 553339
>
> ... Make Headlines..use a corduroy pillow....
>
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>
>

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