Klarinet Archive - Posting 000196.txt from 2008/05

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] fibonacci
Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 07:54:14 -0400

Rien Stein wrote,
>>One of my pupils wants to take her B-level examination,
>>and among the pieces I suggested to her were the Donizetti
>>etude and the first part of Andriessen's Rococo concerto.
>>These however are C-level, according to those who set
>>examination standards.
>>
>>BTW, this girl actually achieved already a high playing level,
>>and she will be able to pass the test with these pieces and
>>the other pieces she will have to play, it is with "theoretical"
>>items she still has problems, lik being able to differentiate a
>>mayor from a minor third or sixth, or telling wether a certain
>>played minor scale is harmonic or melodic.
>>
>>What this intro has to do with the list? Not very much. But I
>>promised you to tell you how I experienced your "Fibonacci".
>>
>>It was even easier than I thought! I played it prima vista, and
>>thought it an easy knacker.
>>
>>Then I gave it to the girl I mentioned above, and she
>>played it nearly faultlessly at first sight. On clarinet, I
>>admit that is true, but I think that means its difficulty is
>>much less than you estimated. You wrote that you
>>thought it was on professional level, because of the alto
>>register, but even a mediocre amateur nowadays can
>>play those notes, at least as high up as the f, f-sharp
>>and g in this register, four ledger lines above the stave.

Rien, thanks very much for this comment and for including the information
about what pieces your student plays--that's a helpful comparison. I'm not
surprised a good student would have no problems with "Fibonacci's Dance" on
soprano clarinet (a useful experiment, and thanks for going to the trouble,
although I'll put the Curse of the Rotted Reeds on anybody who ever plays
that piece on soprano clarinet in public, btw!)--but I'm curious whether
students playing *bass* clarinet would find the piece this easy. However,
because of your comments about your own ease in sight-reading the piece on
bass, I just logged onto my sibeliusmusic.com page and changed the estimated
level of "Fibonacci's Dance" from difficult down to medium. (Now I suspect
other people will complain that it's too difficult. Oh well.)

Thanks again--

Lelia Loban
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban

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