Klarinet Archive - Posting 000249.txt from 2002/04

From: "Terry B" <tbroyles99@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] A few newbie questions
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 20:48:37 -0500

>
> First, congrats and condolences to your daughter on having had to deal
> with
> the usual case of a band director who allows him or herself to get a
badly
> imbalanced band, then starts forcing students to change instruments
> because
> how his or her band sounds is more important than the happiness or
musical
> progress of the student. As a private teacher, I deal with more than
my
> share of these cases. I hope such band directors end up in the same
circle
> of hell where the ones who dictate what mouthpiece and reed their
students
> will use go.

My daughter's private instructor was a bit annoyed as well, as we were
just getting started with him. I did some research on the French horn,
including speaking to my son's Seattle Youth Symphony conductor. He was
very enthusiastic about her giving the horn a shot, as he felt good horn
players are much harder to find than good clarinet players. I left the
choice up to her, just insisting that she give the horn her best as long
as she was playing it in school.

The "pair" being alluded to is one in Bb (the usual band
> instrument) and one in the key of A. With these two instruments, one
can
> cover most of the orchestral literature(particularly if one is willing
to
> let our heroine, authenticity, be run over by the 5:45 express only
when
> the
> gun of necessity is held to our heads, but that's another debate for
> another
> time). I know our local youth orchestra pretty much gets by with the
> clarinets always on Bb because many youngsters don't own both. But if
she
> plays in college, especially as a major, she will indeed need both at
some
> point.

So I guess I get a 4-5 year break before I have to worry about the
"pair" of clarinets. :)

Thanks for the response!!

Terry B

>
> Transposition. Oy. We have an ongoing debate about this. I wish Mark
would
> set up a list called klarinet/transposition/composer's intentions. But
the
> long and short of it is that the skill to do so is a good thing, and
most
> serious clarinetists can at least read a concert pitch score (such as
a
> hymnal) on a Bb instrument. There are of course other transpositions
that
> could come up - play an A part on a Bb, vice versa, reading bass clef
if
> you
> play bass clarinet is a necesssity sooner or later -- I would agree
that
> the
> *ideal* thing is to play the parts on the instrument the composer
picked,
> if
> indeed one was picked. Whether this is always humanly possible,
> economically
> feasible, or even makes any difference are questions that you will be
> exposed to a variety of opinions on if you stick around long enough.
>
>
> >From: "Terry B" <tbroyles99@-----.com>
> >Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> >To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> >Subject: [kl] A few newbie questions
> >Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 18:08:17 -0800
> >
> >Greetings to the list!
> >
> >I should first introduce myself; I am not a musician by any
definition
> >of the word. I am the father of two very talented teenagers whom are.
My
> >son is 15, a trumpet player, in 10th grade, plays in his high school
> >jazz band, (at 6:30am!) and the wind ensemble. He is also in one of
the
> >Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras.
> >My daughter just turned 13, in 7th grade, has played piano for about
4
> >years and started clarinet for a while in 6th grade. She started to
take
> >clarinet serious and receive private lessons at the beginning of this
> >school year. There was a bit of confusion for the first semester, as
at
> >the insistence of her band teacher, she showed up at home with a
French
> >horn. Seems her 7th grade band had 11 clarinets, and no horns. As my
> >daughter was about 9th chair, but has a great music background, her
> >teacher thought she would make a great French horn player. She spent
the
> >first semester playing French horn in a beginning band class and
> >clarinet in 7th grade band. At home, she would practice her horn,
> >clarinet, and piano, every day, 7 days a week. At the end of the
> >semester she announced she was done with the horn. She was up to 4th
> >chair clarinet in her band class, and besides, the horn was dorky and
> >had boring music parts, (her words) :) She now plays piano in her
jazz
> >band class and is ready to bump off 3rd chair clarinet on their next
> >chair test. I subscribed to this list to try to learn more about
> >clarinets for my daughter.
> >
> >If anyone has made it this far thru my ramblings, I have come up with
a
> >couple of questions since reading the posts the last week or so.
> >
> >I have seen several mentions have people having "a set of Buffets" or
"a
> >pair of Selmers" Do serious clarinet players need to have more than
one?
> >I asking this partly to prepare myself for when the time comes and
she
> >says she needs a "pair" of Buffet R13's for college. I've seen the
> >prices of "serious" clarinets and it makes the price of my son's Bach
> >Stradivarius trumpet look like chicken feed. Are these "pairs" the
same
> >or different keys?
> >
> >My next question has to do with the recent thread on transposing. I
must
> >be missing something here, as both of my kids transpose "on the fly".
> >While most parents like to think their kids are the brightest in the
> >world, I am under no such illusion. :) They both play in church,
using a
> >piano hymnal, and transpose as they play. They also play at home, my
> >daughter on the piano and my son on trumpet, and he will just read
her
> >piano music, transpose, and play along. I may be misunderstanding the
> >thread, as it seems many musicians cannot or don't transpose?
> >
> >I'm sure I will come up with more questions later, but this message
has
> >ended up way too long.
> >
> >Thanks to all for some very informative posts.
> >
> >Terry B
> >The very proud father of Michael & Christina
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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