Klarinet Archive - Posting 000595.txt from 2002/09

From: Bear Woodson <bearwoodson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] formalizing ideas, the "right" instrument, etc.
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 01:30:47 -0400

Hello, Klarinet List.

> Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 16:17:46 -0700
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> From: Oliver Seely <oseely@-----.edu>
>
> Yeah, Bear. Where are you when you're
> needed the most! 8-)

I have been swamped for days, and just read the
last several Klarinet Digests. Unlike Meyerbeer I
always acknowledge the Expertise of Performers
when writing my sonatas and concertos. I often
work with a Dedicatee, and ask a lot of questions
to find out what works best on horn, viola, harp,
percussion, etc. There are all kinds of crucial de-
tails that are never in the orchestration books!

But in many cases, the Dedicatee would sud-
denly pull the rug out from underneath me, with
some fact that they withheld. For example, I wrote
my Trumpet Sonata carefully, to lay well on the
Standard Bb Trumpet. Only after the whole work
was done, did the Dedicatee tell me that he ONLY
plays a C Trumpet, but is fluent with transposing.
He made it clear then, that the newest trend in top
players is to use a C Trumpet all the time.
(*frustration!* *confusion!*)

Since I didn't want to burden future players by
forcing them to transpose highly chromatic music,
and since I am my own Publisher, I simply put all
4 movements of the Trumpet's Part in Bb, followed
by all 4 movements in C, bound in one book!

For my "Fanfare for the Fallen Heroes of the
9-11 Attack", which I am transcribing for Brass
with Percussion, and Wind Ensemble, I am told
I may have to print 3 Keyed Versions for Horns /
Mellophones / Tenor Horns (F, Eb and Bb) in
each book. I'll be working with a local Tuba / Band
Professor on these, so I hope to also get me familiar
with Alto Eb Clarinet, before I begin work on the
Clarinet Sextet in the coming months.

I want to thank those thoughtful people who
have sent Band Scoring advice, but it will be best
for me to sit and ask questions of someone in
person. (I have a LOT to learn about Band Instru-
ments!) But at least I've never had a player change
to a cold wind instrument during a performance.
Each wind player uses that one instrument for the
entire work in all my existing works.

Bear Woodson
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
"Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net>

"The 'X-Files' is just a stupid TV Fiction, written by
juvenile, paranoid Humans. I know this, because the
Space Aliens have told me so." - Bear Woodson, (2000)

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