 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: cfarrell
Date: 2017-05-04 10:47
Question for those of you familiar with this piece:
There is one bar of crazy clarinet articulation in the Ile de France movement - if you've played it you know It's measure 49 & 50, basically several beats of sixteenths articulated at half = 88 (our director takes stuff fast, so he says he's targeting half = 112, but let's say for the sake of the argument that we're looking at a sane tempo used by professional bands like half = 88).
We're an amateur band with a large-ish clarinet section so this just sounds like a mess. Do people have suggesions for what kind of trade-offs might make sense? Having the clarinets lay out while the flutes tackle it with double-tounging doesn't seem to be the answer; losing the clarinet timbre is not great (not to mention it's still hard for the flutes so it's unlikely to be that clean anyway). Just have the couple best players in each section muddle through? This seems like it would be better, but it's still just not playable by amateurs at this speed (in fact, I have professional recordings where this measure is a bit of a mess). Maybe divisi articulation, with everyone doing slur two, tounge two in alternating locations? This seems more promising to me.
Anyway, I'm curious if anyone has suggestions.
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-05-04 11:53
Definitely divisi articulations. Including slur in groups of four.
If that's still too much for some, then they can play eighth notes, short...while the rest play the entire passage.
Lastly maybe alternate...Players A play the first section, Players B the second section with an articulation they can manage (eg, slur two, tongue two).
Hopefully the flutes' double tonguing will help clarify the articulation.
If you can get the right notes in the right place, few are going to notice a slur throw in. It will come off as impressive.
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
Post Edited (2017-05-04 17:51)
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2017-05-04 11:57
I've played this two ways - one slurring the notes in groups of 4. The other as slur 2, tongue 2, which you indicated as an option as well. I can't remember how it is articulated in the score - is it noted as staccato?
In any case, either worked okay, but the slur 2-tongue 2 has more of that Paris brashness to it that Ile de France is supposed to be about.
At breakneck speed, I've never heard this tongued the whole way through, although I'm sure many can/have do(ne) it.
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Author: cfarrell
Date: 2017-05-04 20:01
The parts are marked articulated but not staccato. There is some variation in how the parts are marked in clar 1-3, but it was a bit hard to tell what was original and what was marked in, as the parts are old (I haven't seen the score yet and it's not old enough to be on IMSLP). Anyway, the 1 is almost entirely articulated, and it seems like the 2 and 3 parts seem to have a couple additional slurs but are still mostly articulated. At this speed the difference between articulated and staccato is pretty small.
I had read that this pieces was dedicated to American high school bands, to play as sort of a memoir from the French provinces that American soldiers fought through in WWII. As such it seems odd that there would be this one bit of extraordinarily difficult technique in there, in a piece that is otherwise actually not that technically demanding. So I wondered if Milhaud would have minded if we just slurred the whole thing. It's fast enough that just getting a large-ish clarinet section to play it cleanly in unison will be hard enough without articulating it at all.
Anyway, I like the suggestions for divisi articulation, I think I'm going to try to get the section to do something along those lines.
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-05-04 21:04
CFarrel:
When I couldn't sleep last night (ugh), I looked up the score. It's been too many decades since I've played it. I have no idea what edition I was looking at, but the all the flute/oboe/clarinet 1-3, all seemed to be in unison. It seems like the first two sixteenth notes had a slur, everything else indicted tongued...no staccato.
I know back in the day, I did slur two, tongue two. Everyone else just slurred it.
I bet you'll have it sounding terrific, regardless of the articulation! And no one is going to be any to the wiser.
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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Author: Wes
Date: 2017-05-05 01:03
How about doing some rearranging with Xerox copies and white out, making it playable? Sorry, I haven't seen the music, but good luck!
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