Klarinet Archive - Posting 000131.txt from 2002/11

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Dan, I am amazed
Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 19:06:56 -0500

rien stein wrote:
> 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
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>

Rien, my position is still the same, but I thought that it was an
interesting point of view to make. That is, for those who don't care on
which clarinet a work is played, we do have that ability to lower the
water rather than raise the bridge. I don't do it, and I am opposed to
the solution, but I don't run the world.

And this reminds me of a joke. Two men are speaking. One has bought a
custom made suit from the other who is the tailor. The buyer says, "How
long until my suit is ready?"

The tailor says, "Five weeks."

"Five weeks!!," complains the buyer. It took God only 6 days to create
the universe."

The tailor replies, "And look what a lousy job he did."

--
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**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
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