Klarinet Archive - Posting 000331.txt from 2003/06

From: Bill Stivers <stiversb@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Mood of keys, and a delurk...
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 11:57:38 -0400

Regarding the present threads on the "feel" of keys, and the emotional
background of the subject, I'm wondering if anyone could point me to a
good reference to pre equal temprament sources on information about
what the various keys were perceived by their then listeners in what
emotional terms. What mood was Eb minor supposed to evoke, versus D
minor, or D major, etc...

I'm a great fan of music of the baroque era, and have noodled around
some on replicas of oboes from the time period, much to my physical
pain- it'd be interesting to know what the contexts were for their
assignments of emotion when considering modern interpretation of music
of that time period.

By the way- I've lurked for quite a while- may as well de-lurk myself;
My name is Bill Stivers- I'm a resident of lovely, sunny, sometimes
muggy, foggy Santa Cruz, California. I work for a tech company on the
Other Side of The Hill in Santa Clara, but recently have made the
life-changing decision to flip off the corporate world, and am going
back to school in the hopes of pulling off a music ed major. Doing
both work and music study at the same time is grueling, but I'm finding
that I live for the pain. Probably good, considering the state of
music in the US. :/

I attended Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville, Kentucky for a
time, before spending some time at the University of Kentucky, then San
Jose State University, and have worked in the computer industry for the
past nine years. Formerly a violinist, I was introduced to the wonders
of the clarinet in techniques classes in my high school, and was
somewhat active when attending UK, in off-campus musical pursuits.
Though I see myself as a woodwind generalist, particularly favoring the
bassoon and contrabassoon, I feel like the clarinet, with its
expressiveness, beauty of tone, and unique quirkiness was the best
choice for me to make as my primary instrument, climbing, tooth and
claw, back into school. Plus, the knowledge I gained from working on
bassoon reeds, and my technological bent, means that I can apply some
of my excess energy to bettering my single-reed adjustment and making
techniques.

Enough spam for now, though. I really respect and admire a lot of the
people that I see here, posting on list- particularly to Dan. Though
it feels so unnatural to spell it that way, you've won me onto the
"Partitta" bandwagon. The list sometimes gets contentious and
stressful, but I like the way things, just about every time, come
'round right. I will be posting some additional questions sporadically
over the next few days- I need some bass clarinet advice, some cane
advice, and particularly, some teacher advice- anyone with information
about clarinet teachers in the Santa Cruz or San Jose areas is
encouraged to contact me off-list, and some other things, but I figured
best to be the gentleman, make myself known, and thank you all for the
privilege of your presence, and the sharing of your generous pool of
knowledge.

Thanks!

--Bill

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