Klarinet Archive - Posting 000663.txt from 2003/02

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Shepherd on the Rock
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 12:09:41 -0500

On Fri, 21 Feb 2003 11:55:14 -0800, deal5@-----.net said:

> Elgenubi@-----.com wrote:
>
> > [In the Shepherd on the Rock,] would it be unheard of to try to
> > breath somewhere in the 13 bars starting 15 bars before the end
> > (measure 235)? If so, where?
>
> ...the best place to breathe is the fifth bar from the end, after the
> 1/8 note B natural.
>
> This in no way hurts the phrase musically.

I'm afraid I disagree. I think it's inadvisable to breathe anywhere
after the beginning of the sixteenths until the passage stops three bars
from the end. If you breathe where you suggest, you have to do so
supremely well if you are not to spoil the wonderful rhythmic effect by
breaking up the ascending scale. (After all, that scale only has an
eighth note at the beginning to make it 'add up'.)

And notice, the descending scale in bars 4 and 5 from the end (245/6)
mirrors the ascending scale in bars 12 and 13 from the end (237/8). All
of those bars are in one (or even in 'a half', in the clarinet part:-),
and the 6 bars between go, 4 bars in two, 1 bar in one, 1 bar in four
(worth while slurring this last in pairs, too).

However, if you want, you can save yourself two bars much less
dangerously by snatching a top-up breath at the beginning of the
passage, between the half-note top D# and the beginning of the
sixteenths. You want to do a diminuendo on the D# anyway, and play the
descending scale lightly, to avoid swamping the soprano's words. So
it's not at all unnatural musically to begin again on the E (strongly,
but lightening) after your diminuendo D# and a snatched breath.

I've said this before, but 'snatching a breath', just like 'applying an
accent' is best done whilst playing with maximum support. For an
accent, you relax the diaphragm for a moment, and the already flexed
abdominal muscles create the sudden push. For a snatched breath, you
relax the other part of the opposition (the abdominal muscles) for a
moment, and the already flexed diaphragm draws in the maximum amount of
air.

Actually, I don't find that the passage *is* particularly taxing from
the breathing point of view. What happens if you play with less air
passing through the instrument? The sound needs to be 'not resonant' in
any case for maximum effect at that speed and given that it's staccato.
You may find that it's less tricky than you think to play it all in one
breath.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
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