 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: eugene
Date: 2000-03-04 04:39
I'm getting the concerto ready for a spring concert with a piano player that our concert band puts on every year last year I did the Weber concertino.Ihave problems with the three bars that go acgcfcecccgcacgcfcecccgcacgcacgcfc any ideas on how to get this knuclebuster smooth so my fingers don't get tripped up it would be a major coup if I could pull it off considering I have no college education
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-03-04 14:37
Lots of very slow practice until you have it smooth. Then very gradual work on bringing it up to tempo. Make sure that you are smooth at each tempo before going on to the next.
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Author: Ray Swing
Date: 2000-03-04 15:13
I agree with your assessment of those 3 bars and as one amateur to another, I offer the following:
Practice them to the point where your fingers, embouchure and “ear” have them memorized such that those three bars become automatic; thus, no thinking involved.
It also helps to have your clarinet set up to the point where the action of the keys is very responsive and the pad closures are perfect.
Good Luck with the Mozart.
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Author: Nick Conner
Date: 2000-03-05 05:54
Hey, I just finished playing this piece for contest. I agree with the GO SLOW (almost excruciatingly slow). Also, concentrate on the notes between the middle C's (agfecga...) and on. Don't worry about the middle C, let your air do it for you. Make sure all your lower notes speak, and rely on your lip and support to hit the C's. This helped me. Make sure that you keep your pitches focused and in tune, also.
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2000-03-06 00:37
I agree with everyone above. I would add that _daily_ practice on this specific problem with a metronome is important, consistant daily practice so that it becomes part of you. I did this 20 years ago. While most will forgo this section and take it down an octave, I did not. I thought (at that time) if Marcellus did it, so can I. You can too. But devote time each practice session to that specific section. You may want to use dotted rhythms in your paractice to help quicken the reflexes of getting to and from the upper "C". Dotted rhythms are great for learning many things. Work these with a metronome as you would the passage normally. Then when it's learned at one speed, switch the rhythm in reverse so the "odd" notes have to be short instead of the even. Learn it that way and then, when you can go one way and the other at that first speed, only then should you move the metronome up a notch. Eventually, everything can be mastered, fingerwise.
Good luck in your perseverance in doing this work.
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Author: Sara
Date: 2000-03-06 03:57
I'm about to perform the concerto on Monday, my private teacher never told me anything about being able to take dificult passages down an octave. I wish he would have it would have made somethings so much easier. The only thing he told me I could do was to waver some of the articulations on some of the runs in rondo but not that run in the midle with all those flats in it. How come my teacher didn't open up that option to me?
Sara
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-03-06 05:06
Sara, they are talking about a very specific passage near the end of the rondo where there is a group of measures (about 3) that contain 16 notes jumping back and forth between the low and middle registers. In reality, unless you have a basset clarinet, you cannot take it down an octave as this would take the part down to the C below the lowest E of the standard clarinet. On the other hand, if you have a basset clarinet to play it on, it is supposed to be played all in the lower octave. Some editions of the concerto will show these notes as played in the lower octave (i.e. basset clarinet) and some will show them only as they would need to be played on the standard clarinet.
For many years, the basset clarinet was out of favor and many recordings were made on standard clarinets with these notes played crossing back and forth between the registers. Today the basset clarinet is returning to favor among the soloists and recordings are being made where the those notes are played in the low octave.
Other passages in the rondo should be played in the octave they are written in. There is no particular advantage to changing them as they really aren't any easier.
This is probably why your teacher never mentioned it. The only passages transposed are those that would require the extended range of the basset clarinet. It is not a standard practice to transpose other passages.
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Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2000-03-06 18:10
Sara --
You would be surprised how many people play that passage down an octave. When I played with a tight embouchure I had to do so. Then when I learned to use the airstream I could play it as written, although no one ever confused my rendition of that passage with Marcellus.
As Dee correctly points out, you cannot play the passage as written down an octave on a B flat or A clarinet. You have to change a few notes, so it goes like this: acgcfcecfcgcacgcfce.
Hope I got that right. If not, someone please correct it!
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Author: Sara
Date: 2000-03-07 02:37
Oh well I just performed The entire piece about two and 1/2 hours ago, and if I do say so myself, that was one of the best preformances of that piece I've ever done. That spot in the rondo, didn't give me any trouble, but that's after hours of practice time and extremely slow runs working it up to speed and still trying to keep a nice tone quality. And I've never been so proud, when I got a standing ovation at the end. Even my private teacher was just bursting with happiness for me and my preformance and I had a great time playing it too.
Sara
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Author: Marci
Date: 2000-03-10 00:42
Also, you can consider tightening the spring underneath the register key, helping the action of the key and making it easier to respond.
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Author: Leigh
Date: 2000-03-14 02:52
Ha, at first a saw all the letters in the first post and was like huH?? then in the next few emails i knew exactly what it meant. I played it last year and didn't take it down an octave, that must have been the hardest thing i ever had to play, such a pain in the butt!!
its cool though to listen how easy the pros make it sound on the recordings
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