 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2008-01-27 18:17
I spent a snowy day yesterday at Eastern Washington University for their second annual day-long symposium on clarinetting. Only 14 of us (mostly students) paid $20 for the great day and got much more than our money's worth! Participants ranged from 12 to 68 years old.
After registration, juice, coffee and pastry, he day opened with an hour long rehearsal of the clarinet choir, working on a the Minuetto from a Mozart string4, Kv 134b.
During a break, most of visited the Amend Music booth. They brought a van load of Buffet, Selmer and LeBlanc clarinets, accessories and music --participants could run off with a student, upgrade or pro instrument for a try-out. There was plenty of advice for the students on mouthpiece selection, etc.
The next event was a 1-1/2 hour master class with Maxine Ramey, professor of clarinet at the University of Montana at Missoula. She is truly a master of the master class! She made rapid improvements with every brave soul who went on stage to show the status of their readiness to perform. She dealt with Stamitz, one of those French competition pieces, and most of the Brahms 2nd sonata. The things she offered were generally those that we all seem to forget: airstream, support, embouchure, fingerings --and RHYTHM.
In every case, she significantly advanced the player's performance quality. In one case (the opening of the 3rd movement of the 2nd Brahms sonata), she suggested playing the dotted 1/16th -1/32nd pattern according to the phrase: "Are you happy? Are you happy?" It works wonderfully.
After lunch, Prof. Todd DelGiudice Professor of Clarinet and Sax spent an hour on improvisation. He wrote out the modes associated with Bb Major concert (C for us) and used Volume 24 of the Jamie Ambersold CD accompaniment as reference music. Then, using notes selected from the modes, he played a call to which we, the students, replied. A very effective, possibly addicting, way to get "into" improvisation. (We asked him to give us a class on vibrato next year!)
Next, Dr. Jim Schoepflin, Professor of clarinet (emeritus) from the University of Eastern Washington spent an hour showing us how to prepare the Weber Concertina for competition (and other) performances. He went through the entire 11-minute long piece explaining the requirements of each section --and he had a ready volunteer step up and demonstrate his points. Very useful --since many of the Concertina's challenges are universal (so it makes a great screen for auditioning).
Then, clarinetist and music historian Prof Jane Ellsworth brought out her collection of chaleumeaux and early clarinets (3-key, 6-key) for a demonstration. And, she had wonderful demonstration tracks by Colin Lawson of a dove-like Vivaldi piece --and the Concertino on a 10-key clarinet. Prof Schoeplfiin passed Mr. Lawson to the next competitive level based on his audition tape.
THEN, we went to the recital hall to listen to some impressive performances.
Prof DelGiudice played 3 variations of the Hillandale Waltzes by Victor Babin --accompanied by the EWU Wind Ensemble. This is an impressive group in its own right, and we were all grateful for their Saturday support. The Hillendale Waltzes are reviewed in the current issue if the ICA journal. Good stuff. DelJiudice and the Ensemble is scheduled to play the whole set of variations later this semsester.
Next came two pieces by the faculty quartet: DelGiudice, Ellsworth, Schoeplflin, and senior clarinet student, Ms. Heather Childers. They took on the Allegro Giocoso by Seymour Garab, using 4Bb clarinets --leaving me with a real need to listen to the rest of the piece. This was followed up with Dr. Schoeplflin switching to his Low C bass to play the Allegro from Alfred Uhl,s Divertimento. Very cool, too.
This session was capped with Prof Todd playing a continuation of his improvisation lesson with friends on drums and string bass. Shows the great amount of (addictive) work needed to move from our earlier classroom session to the performance stage!
Dr Maxine Ramey teamed with Dr. Jane Ellsworth to play the Felix Mendelssohn Op. 114 Concertpiece No. 2 in D minor with Pianist Jody Graves completing the trio. This is a great, highly interactive piece with substantial solo work from each clarinetist. Ramey has a Buffet with a handful of extra keys (visible around the music stands), and Ellsworth plays a cocobollo Rossi. They have completely different setups and sound beautifully different. This difference in tone character (to my mind) adds brilliance to the performance.
There was an extended discussion of the propriety of allowing individualism in tone quality in clarinet ensembles, and it was unanimously agreed that it beats sameness!
Dr. Ramey returned to the stage to do an unaccompanied work: Capriccio (1940) by Heinrich Sutermeister. She showed a calm demeanor while playing this complex and interesting work.
For an absolutely amazing demonstration of contemporary clarinet music, Dr. Ramey performed two pieces with electronic accompaniment.
The first of these was Al.Music.Ballistix by Nikola Resonavic. This is a telling commentary on modern life --juxtaposing a pastoral sheepherder's problems with his latest laptop computer and internet connection against Macedonian dance music. Dr. Ramey spread her music over 6 music stands and moved along the music while the recorded accompaniment based upon things as diverse as modems dialing and voice samples: "Please enter your password followed by the # (pound, not sharp) sign). You had to be there.
Dr. Ramey's finale was Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa by Phillip Bimstein. The recorded accompaniment this time was gleaned from the wilds of Zion Park and included frogs, coyotes, dripping water and other natural sounds. The composer had "cleaned" up the "noises" to make a coherent, musical sequence; and Dr. Ramey played her part of the ensemble with the same facility that one expects in a compact chamber performance. Truly Great Stuff.
The day ended with the students taking the stage to perform the Mozart Minuetto.
And then we drove home in a raging snow and rain storm.
Quite a day. A bargain! A worthwhile drive --even in bad weather. I'll be back at Clarinexus next year, and hope to see some of your BB friends there. Meantime, search UTube for some performance clips. Some are up from Clarinexus 2007, and video cameras were watching yesterday.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Mark G Simon
Date: 2008-01-27 20:00
"--participants could run off with a student"
Well that sounds like an intriguing conference indeed, depending upon the student, of course.
Clarinetist, composer, arranger of music for clarinet ensemble
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Author: Ryan K
Date: 2008-01-27 20:56
My question is how were they able to fund it, or why would the be interested to fund the festival again if only 14 people showed up. If it happens again, I would love to attend. It sounds like its worth a long drive.
Ryan Karr
Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2008-01-27 23:55
why dont they have these small workshops in los angeles?
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2008-01-28 15:29
Bill28099,
Of course, you are correct in that Dr. Schoepflin is from the Pullman campus, not Cheney. My bad; my apologies.
Ryan,
The music department allows a small budget for the workshop. Last year, they spent part of their budget bringing Jeanette Jonquil (principal, Vancouver, BC symphony, and fierce auditioner along with the clarinetists from the Spokane Symphony). This year, the budget was used for Schoepflin and Ramey.
The University also produces two other workshops --also budget constrained: BASSOONarama (March 8 this year) and CELLObration (was Jan 5 this year). Each one-day, and budget limited.
C2thew,
I think that some of the faculty at EWU are very motivated and go the extra miles to make these workshops happen. In the face of tenure competition, I wonder when the Tootarama, TRUMPlaster, FIDDLEdiddle, ... will show up on the music school calendar.
Mark,
Again, my bad, the term "student" was intended to be an adjective applied to "clarinet." (And I used to think that I could write clearly.)
All,
The first of the modern pieces is Alt.Music.Balistix, not Al. ...bill28099 wrote:
> Bob, a correction.......Dr. Schoepflin is Professor of clarinet
> (emeritus) from Washington State University. He is a great
> teacher besides being a really nice guy.
> http://libarts.wsu.edu/musicandtheatre/Bios_Faculty/Schoepflin.htm
>
Bob Phillips
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