Klarinet Archive - Posting 000188.txt from 2005/12

From: Patton Hunnicutt <bass9396@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Nutcracker
Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 19:48:15 -0500

Although we may find the Nutcracker to be cheap and
vulgar, it is our responsibility as musicians to find
something new in it everytime. I happen to like the
piece a great deal, but even with pieces I have played
far too many times I always try to find something good
for the next time around. Think about it this way,
there are thousands of school-aged Bass Clarinetists
who would kill you to be able to play just the Dance
of the Sugar Plum Fairies. Lets not so easily dismiss
an opportunity others would love to have.

Regarding the piece itself, its not that bad. Not
always in the best key, but not too horribly
difficult. Keeping ones musicianship in check is
merely a matter of having fun, IMHO.
--- dnleeson@-----.net>
wrote:
> Let me share with you what may have been on Forest's
mind when he
> wrote "Why?" in response to an inquiry about how
many pages there
> were int he first clarinet part of the Nutcracker
ballet.
>
> I speak only for myself here so please don't think
that I'm
> giving universal truth. But the Nutcracker is music
that I
> learned to hate. I don't think it is pretty, only
superficial.
> It's not music that one can play over and over and
over and still
> find substance in it.
>
> Here in the Bay area of San Francisco, I would play
some 30
> performances of Nutcrackers every Xmas season, 10
here, 12 there,
> a sub or two for another bass clarinetist who was
going crazy,
> etc. Often there were two a day which made the
effort to keep
> one's musicianship at a high standard to be a
Herculean task.
> Once, to occupy my mind, I played the entire ballet
without music
> in front of me.
>
> I'm not sure that I could play any work 30-40
consecutive times a
> season for 25 years and find any substance to it,
but
> particularly the Nutcracker which I, personally,
find to be
> cheap, vulgar music. And playing it over and over
is somewhat
> akin to eating baskets and baskets of cotton candy
that one gets
> at circuses. It's just too sweet.
>
> And it is physically difficult to play the work. We
had one
> ballet master who did not think it was long enough,
so he
> enlarged it to three acts by inserting things from
other
> Tchaikovsky ballets. I would play it and go home to
bed because
> it just made me sick. And there are stage effects
that cause
> things (like dry ice smells) to flow into the pit.
And after each
> performance they put some kind of liquid substance
on the stage
> that also used to kill criminals in some societies.
>
> And one HAS TO play it, either because one is
contractually
> required to do so as part of the season of a larger
series of
> programs that one is anxious to play, or else a
realization that
> if you keep turning down jobs, it is unlikely that
you will be
> called again. Contracters don't want to hear "No"
when they
> call.
>
> All in all, playing Nutcrackers is a contract with
the devil.
> Last year my granddaughter asked me to take her to a
performance.
> I had never seen the piece, only played it. So I
took her and
> gritted my teeth at the tawdry music. I'll punch her
out if she
> asks again.
>
> Dan Leeson
> DNLeeson@-----.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Patton Hunnicutt [mailto:bass9396@-----.com]
> Sent: Sunday, December 25, 2005 5:09 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: RE: [kl] Nutcracker
>
>
> Because one wants to know? I'd tell you but I
> honestly have no idea.
>
> --- Forest Aten <forestaten@-----.net> wrote:
>
> > ??? Why ???
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Gary Truesdail [mailto:gir@-----.net]
> > > Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2005 11:54 PM
> > > To: klarinet@-----.org
> > > Subject: [kl] Nutcracker
> > >
> > > How many pages in the 1st clarinet part for
> > Nutcracker?
> > >
> > > Garyt
> > >
> > >
> >
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> > klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org,
> > > klarinet-digest-unsubscribe@-----.org if you
> > get the digest.
> > klarinet-help@-----.org
> > > Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc.
> > http://www.woodwind.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> > klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org,
> > klarinet-digest-unsubscribe@-----.org if you
get
> > the digest.
> > klarinet-help@-----.org
> > Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc.
> > http://www.woodwind.org
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
> Just $16.99/mo. or less.
> dsl.yahoo.com
>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------
=== Message Truncated ===

Just $16.99/mo. or less.
dsl.yahoo.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org