Klarinet Archive - Posting 000130.txt from 2002/11

From: "rien stein" <rstein@-----.nl>
Subj: [kl] Dan, I am amazed
Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 18:33:50 -0500

Dan Leeson wrote"

<<
As for Karl's comment about string players complaining about complicated
keys, that is one of the few blessings for clarinet players. No matter
how complicated the concert key gets, we can always simplify our
problems by changing clarinets.
>>

Haven't you always advocated the point of view that one should always use
the instrument prescribed by the composer, no matter how complicated that
would make playing? In Dutch we would ask you whether you had fallen off
your beliefs?

But also, it is not true. One of the pieces I always enjoyed very much,
though it took me twenty years to master it satisfactorily, the "Rhapsody on
Dutch folk songs" by Geza Frid, uses all scales between "four sharps" and
"five flats" (I cannot say between E major and G major, as occasionally
minor keys are used, and many incidentals occur in it). It was written for
B-flat clarinet
and piano. The longest rest the clarinet in this piece is two measures --
certainly not long enough to change instrument.

And then: what is the point? shouldn't any competent player, even an
amateur, be skilled in all keys? I never pretended to be a competent player,
but I have worked intensely on Stievenard and other methods, and I daresay
the point for me is rather whether it is a major or minor key, rather than
the number of sharps or flats. But I know from the orchestras I played and
play in,
that most amateurs prefer what a Dutch classically schooled pianist used to
call the "beer key", C major. For professional players the key certainly may
make no difference.

But where not all the different pitches for the clarinet invented to make
playing easier? Most people do not her the difference between A and B-flat
soprano. Many people don't hear the difference between say B-flat soprano
and basset horn or alto. They do hear the difference between a violin and a
cello (not between violin and alto). They hear the difference between
soprano and tenor saxophone. Or a hobo and an English horn. This proves
somsthing, but I am not sure what.

Greetings

Rien

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