Klarinet Archive - Posting 000096.txt from 2004/10

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinet popularity was:
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 11:59:44 -0400

Uh oh, now I'm really going to start ranting.

I learned to play jazz playing 4th trumpet in a jazz band on clarinet as a
junior in high school. The following year I took up saxophone and played
lead alto (and, if you had asked me at the time, I played really well.
Ahem.). I would never have become a professional player if my junior high
school band director had said "sorry, clarinets don't play in jazz bands".
And we all know how common this is. Jazz opened an entirely new world for
me as a musician.

My first exposure to recorded jazz, and not many people who went to high
school in the late 80s early 90s can say this, was Benny Goodman. I
couldn't understand why in two years of jazz band playing I was only once
given a true clarinet part (on a stock arrangement that I'm convinced was
terrible from the moment it was created).

I later realized that there just weren't many charts available to band
directors that contained serious clarinet parts. I began to play in
professional big bands and got to play the clarinet all the time. Mostly on
unpublished transcriptions or beat up copies of arrangements from the 40s
that no band director would be able to purchase.

So my band director had an excuse, at least in this case.

Things have changed immensely in the last 10 years. Many of Benny Goodman's
hits are now available in professional quality transcriptions. Duke
Ellington's music is literally being given away to high schools and we all
know how much Ellington loved the clarinet. Modern composers such as
Toshiko Akiyoshi, Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Holman and many others are all using
clarinets in their composition/arrangements (check out Bill Holman's bass
clarinet feature arrangement of "The Peacocks"). All of this music is
available in professional quality published editions for anyone to purchase.

It is now common to find music for younger jazz bands that contains
extremely flexible instrumentation. Parts for flute, clarinet, baritone
horn, and pretty much any other instrument you can imagine.

There's absolutely no excuse to leave clarinet players out of school jazz
bands except ignorance.

-Adam

PS: One of the more thrilling musical experiences in my life was going to
the Yale Music Library and getting to look through the Benny Goodman
archives. All of his band music is there, I was able to hold Benny's own
parts in my hands. I dream of going back one day, purchasing copies of the
archives, getting the publishing rights and publishing all that great music
featuring clarinet. Right after I win the lottery and days are lengthened
to 36 hours. Sigh.

At 10:12 AM 10/5/2004 -0500, R. Williams wrote:
>Although I'm coming to this discussion late, one thing I keep hearing in
>regards to the situation in the US is the lack of opportunities in HS for
>clarinet players outside concert band or specifically the lack of
>clarinets in HS Jazz Band/ensembles.

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