Klarinet Archive - Posting 000648.txt from 2003/05

From: Nancy Buckman <eefer@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] FW: [kl] something a little different for marching
Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 01:11:53 -0400

At 05:14 PM 5/26/2003 -0400, you wrote:

>I think I'm going to crawl into that cave that Nancy made awhile ago (or
>was it a hole???)

It was a bomb shelter. I an 52 years old and when I was in high school
(the Dark Ages!) I switched back and forth from trumpet to Eb
clarinet. We once had an arrangement of the Stars and Stripes with 8
eefers and 8 piccs playing the picc parts. We were definitely heard. We
used this arrangement in parades and on the field. We needed hearing
protection, which wasn't even heard of in those days. We had eefer
training twice a week, and believe me, we could make an eefer heard over
anything.

As for Rebecca's right to choose, I stand by her. She may not be able to
choose what group in her school music department that she may play a given
instrument in, but she can certainly choose to play anything she
wishes. If I had listened to a certain director who happened in my path
down the musical hi-way, I would have been banished to the depths of
Siberia and never been allowed to return, only because he personally didn't
like the Eb clarinet and thought it a scourge. Unfortunately for him, a
friend and I goaded him into attending a concert of the U.S. Naval Academy
Band one time. Their Eb player, Steve Fowler was playing Mendelssohn's
Violin Concerto, transcribed for Eb clarinet by one of the band's staff
arrangers. It was magnificent, to say the least. I had never heard any
thing like it and still haven't to this day. He never bothered me
again. In fact, I'm not even sure he is still working with bands, as I
haven't been able to track him down . Never underestimate the colorful
power of an E-flat clarinet. In the hands of a skilled player, it can do
amazing things (for instance, have you ever heard "Rhapsody in Blue" on an
eefer?).

Nancy

Nancy Buckman
Principal Clarinet / Orchestra AACC
eefer@-----.net

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