 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jack Stewart
Date: 2011-03-14 21:36
I audition in about a month, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The third excerpt is from Rossini's Overture to Semiramide, but I have not quite got it to tempo yet. As a side note, I did the Polovtsian Dances in one take, but the Mendelssohn took many, many takes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cklvGQ7Flsg&feature=channel_video_title
Thanks!
Edit: The tempos recommend in Peter Hadcock's The Working Clarinetist are 100 for Polovtsian and 88 for Midsummer. Are these accurate?
Post Edited (2011-03-15 04:33)
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2011-03-15 00:48
The Polovetsian sounds nice but the tempo is not quite as steady as I would like. Hold the quarter note just a bit longer. Also, play the whole passage. It sounds funny to stop playing where you did; the same goes for the Mendelssohn.
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Author: Jack Stewart
Date: 2011-03-15 01:46
Dave- I agree that it sounds funny, but these are the cuts of the excerpts that I have to audition on.
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Author: mrn
Date: 2011-03-15 22:11
In both of these excerpts you need the downbeats to be more steady and definite.
In the Mendelssohn, in particular, you're letting the goal of clearly articulating every note take precedence over the rhythm, and it's slowing you down. This may sound a little strange, but I think you should reverse your priorities on this excerpt--you should concentrate on staying in tempo first and foremost and then try to get the articulation to be as clean as you can within that rhythmic framework.
Remember that you're not playing a solo--this excerpt is part of an orchestral piece. In fact, it's not even that prominent a part of an orchestral piece--the clarinet is merely an inner voice here, mostly covered up by the flute (at least for most of the excerpt it is). So what's most important is that you stay rhythmically steady so that everyone stays together. That's actually much more important than the articulation here, despite the fact that it's the articulation that everybody has to work on here.
I would use a very light tongue (at this tempo it's not necessary to apply a heavy staccato) and make your downbeats very definite and steady. The main thing is that you (and your tongue) have to *follow* the motion of the music, not the other way around.
In this context (strange as it may sound) it's better to be slightly sloppy and in time than perfectly clean and dragging. (Ideally you want to be clean and in time, too, but if you have to err, err on the side of keeping your rhythm steady, because that's a much bigger problem when you're playing with others).
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