 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Nottelling
Date: 2002-06-09 23:57
hi i'm 15 years old and play above average for my age. what pieces should i be working on? what should someone my age be working on at this time? what would i need to play if i was interested in majoring in clarinet performance? thanks for the input in advance
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Author: susannah
Date: 2002-06-10 01:08
do you have a teacher? If so, ask him/her, as they would have a much more informed knowledge than we would. If you don't have a teacher and are interested in majoring in clarinet performance, my advice would be to get a very good one as soon as possible.
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2002-06-10 16:21
I can't tell your level ("above average" means very different things in different settings) without some idea of what you've already played. But, if you haven't played it already, the Weber Concertino is always a good piece for just about any occasion. If you haven't played many of the big clarinet pieces yet, it's a great place to start. If you have played some concerti or other major pieces, learn it anyway; it's important and also a fun piece.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-06-10 17:29
Nottelling -
Your question has many answers.
If you're good, and serious about the instrument, you should be playing good music all the time. Good music isn't necessarily technically difficult music. I start each practice session with a minute or two (no more) of long tones and a minute or two (no more) playing a simple song -- Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair, Teddy Bears Picnic, and sometimes even Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. As Arnold Jacobs said, music is about wind and song. You need to wake both of them up, and keep them going no matter what else you're doing.
If you're good, and serious about the instrument, you should be working on scales, arpeggios and other technical drills for as long as you can hold your best concentration -- say, the first 20 minutes of your sessions. The "clarinetist's bible" is Part 3 of the Baermann Method, which you should buy right away if you don't already have it. You should work through it with a teacher, who will be able to guide you to material appropriate for you at that particular time and who will listen hard and point out things you need to improve.
There are many etudes, such as those in the Klose, Langenus and Lazarus methods, and independent books such as those by Rose, Jeanjean and Polatchek. Your teacher will choose appropriate ones, but it doesn't matter a lot which ones you start will, since you should work through everything you can find.
Your teacher will also start you on solo music. Once again, you'll learn all the standard pieces eventually, so it doesn't matter much where you start.
You should be playing duets with the best players you can find. This teaches you to play with other people. It also teaches you to split your attention -- half to play your part, half to listen hard and play with the other person as a duo rather than two soloists, and half to remember to keep singing.
If you play better than the other person (which you probably do, if you're a good player), learn to make the best of it. Part of your job as the better player is to help the other person play as well as possible -- to make the best music the two of you can make together. You'll have to do most of the adjusting, which you can do, because you're the better player.
Finally, you should be listening to recordings of the best players. A good place to start is the Marcellus recording of the Mozart Concerto. Listen hard to his wonderful tone and try to play just one phrase the way he does. (It will be a half step higher, since the Mozart Concerto is for Clarinet in A, but don't worry about that.) Sing it the same way Marcellus does.
Listen also to great singers and players of other instruments. Get the CDs of Pablo Casals doing the Bach Suites for Solo Cello. Play one phrase on the recording and do that phrase with the same intensity and personality on the clarinet (which will be anything but easy). Do the same with the great singer John McCormick, and with Lois Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
Keep singing.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Gretchen
Date: 2002-06-13 16:23
Learn the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. It's one of the most important pieces to learn and know well. it's a clarinet standard that you just HAVE to know. It's asked at almost every major audition. Very important piece!!
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