Klarinet Archive - Posting 000930.txt from 2003/02

From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Shepherd on the Rock
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 22:09:13 -0500

My first time performing the SoTR had a bizarre twist to it. I
was nervous beyond my wildest dreams, as this was my first full
recital.

I am short, and have to have chairs short enough for me feet to
reach the ground, so I can balance, otherwise, my feet dangle
and go numb. The chair I had used for ALL fo the rehearsals had
the recording equipment on it to record the recital!

We found another chair of the same type from a classroom. The
usher put it out there, and I asked him to sit on it first. He
said, "Oh it's fine, don't worry." I was too nervous to argue,
and proceeded to go out for the SoTR with the pianist and
soprano.

At first when I sat down and moved a little, the chair made
horrible squeaking sounds. After that, it collapsed with me on
it.

The audio tape has great laughter on it from the audience, and
since my nerves were relieved at this point, a pretty good
recording of SoTR.

Later in the same recital, I played Rachmaninov's Vocalise, and
a teacher at my recital (as he put it) was "resting his eyes"
which I can understand from the relaxing quality of the music
(Brahms tends to put me to sleep, but in a good way...and not
WHILE I am playing, just while I am listening. I don't listen to
Brahms while I drive, if you are wondering.) I had water in my
G# key and let out a blood curdling squeak on a fairly loud
passage with an Ab in it. The particular teacher "resting his
eyes" nearly jumped into the seat next to him at that point.

VERY entertaining recital. May all of my future ones go better
<grin>.

Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - New York City
--- "John P. Varineau" <jvarineau@-----.com> wrote:
> Well, as long as we're sharing Shepherd on the Rock stories .
> . .
>
> My story is a nightmare. Many years ago, a soprano friend of
> mine was
> asked to present a recital at the Pratt Institute in New York.
> She very
> kindly asked me to perform SotR with her. The day of the
> performance,
> Sunday afternoon, it was pouring rain, and unbelievably humid.
> The key
> word here is sticky. Anyway, we showed up to play the recital
> and . . .
> no audience! We waited . . . no audience. Nobody, not even
> the
> committee that hired the soprano to sing the recital . . .
> nobody. What
> to do? We were getting paid. Should we play for nobody and
> collect the
> check (from whom?) and go home? Or should we simply go home?
> We waited
> . . . nobody. Finally two friends of the pianist show up --
> about 40
> minutes late for the recital. Now we were really in a
> quandry. Should we
> perform for them, or just say we did and go home? We decided
> to perform
> for a sum total of two people.
>
> It was a good thing, because when it came time for SotR, it
> was a
> disaster. Remember I said the weather was sticky? It was so
> humid that
> my left hand thumb ring mechanism stuck, thus turning every
> single open G
> in SotR into an F-sharp. Every single one, and those of you
> who have
> played SotR know how many there are. If you want a real laugh
> try
> playing SotR and play an F-sharp for every open G.
>
> Needless to say, the initial shock of the first F-sharp
> completely erased
> any thought of a musical performance. From then on I was
> trying to
> unstick that key while I was playing.
>
> Afterwards, when I told my friends about the experience, they
> assured me
> that it couldn't have been that bad. Then I played the tape I
> made of
> the performance for them It was every bit as bad as I
> described.
>
> I have since had many satisfying (for me) performances of
> SotR.
>
> John Varineau
> Associate Conductor, Grand Rapids Symphony

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more
http://taxes.yahoo.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------