 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Josh Schultze
Date: 2003-01-10 14:20
I've always wondered why there aren't many young virtuoso clarinetists as there are for other instruments, ie the violin.
Perhaps because violins can be made very small so really young kids can play is one reason. Just walk around Chinatown in NYC on saturday morning and you can see very tiny 5 year olds holding their even tiner violin cases.
I know there is the Kinderklarinette but I have never seen one.
Then there is the issue of pain. So many young kids find blowing the horn to be quite painful. Those sharp fresh teeth have a way of biting into soft lips. This has a way of both discouraging young kids from continuing the clarinet and also prevents those who are somewhat dedicated because the lips can only take so much work before they become fatigued. Think about how your tired your mouth can become after an hour and a half of playing and how you can't simply rest for an hour and continue playing. So strength of the lips determines how long one can play. Whereas other instruments don't have this restriction.
Then there's the set-up and break down time. Some people dismiss this but if I don't have at least a solid hour of time available then I find the play time too short. Let's think of ALL of the set-up time. Brushing the teeth, soaking the reed, greasing the joints, assembling the clarinet, testing the reed, replacing the reed, reattaching the new reed, setting up the music stand, selecting the music. Now we can play. Now the break down routine: squeeging the reed, drying the mouthpiece, swabbing the horn, disassembling the horn, drying the joints, soaking the damp-its, drying the damp-its, putting away the music and the stand.
I know that these are all a part of being a clarinetist. But I'm sure that alot of the information above at the very least reduces the number of young people who play the clarinet.
Just some thoughts
Josh
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Author: RS
Date: 2003-01-10 17:07
Setting up a violin takes time too. There are four strings to tune. The bow-hair has to be tightened. The bow has to be rosined. The shoulder rest needs to be attached. Also, humidifiers are often used and need to be maintained. Rosin builds up on the belly and fingerboard and has to be cleaned off. The strings have to be replaced periodically (not to mention the problem of strings breaking in the middle of a performance). Bows have to be re-haired periodically. As far as the hassle of set-up and maintainance of clarinet vs. violin I call it a draw.
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Author: RS
Date: 2003-01-10 17:26
And I think the main reason why there are no clarinet prodigies is the fact that it takes several years to develope the muscles in the embouchure to produce a high quality sound. The sound of the violin is produced only with the hands. And if a kid is born with the co-ordination and talent he/she will be able to produce a good sound in practically no time flat.
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Author: Ken
Date: 2003-01-10 17:35
Well, strictly from a pro working stance, contemporary supply and demand dictates there are working instruments and non-working instruments. In the orchestra there are 10 to 20 times more violin and viola desks as clarinets. Oboists, bassoonists and probably flautists are the one's who really get the shaft experiencing the fiercest competition and longest lines for an orchestra job. In commercial music, rhythm players get more work because bands with traditional instrumentation always need bass, drummer and piano players ... vocalists and guitarists are more in demand as well. And given the current industry trends, a young, inspiring musician might consider bagging the horn altogether and attending DJ school.
As for set-up, break down time and equipment trappings, I'm sure glad to not be a touring rock drummer with a 22-piece "village" to wrestle with everyday or a synth player and all their gear to lug around ... from that standpoint clarinet players even with all their eccentricities are a fortunate breed. If I could do it over again I'd be a great jazz "Picc player"; all I'd have to worry about is buying and wearing shirts with a top pocket. <;-)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-01-10 17:35
RS wrote:
>
> And I think the main reason why there are no clarinet
> prodigies is the fact that it takes several years to develope
> the muscles in the embouchure to produce a high quality sound.
> The sound of the violin is produced only with the hands. And if
> a kid is born with the co-ordination and talent he/she will be
> able to produce a good sound in practically no time flat.
IMHO you spend the first few years learning how to hold a bow, the next few years learning how to hold the violin, and then a few years more learning how to produce a less-than-horrible vibrato. It's a lot more than just coordination ...
I think the size of the instrument has a lot to do with it (there are very few child piano prodigies for the same reason). You have to have fair size hands to cover the holes correctly, so children tend to start on the larger instruments (or those requiring large hand spans) sooner. Violinists have the small advantage of being able to work on proportionately smaller instruments using the same repertoire as that of the larger instruments.
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Author: RS
Date: 2003-01-10 17:55
The scaled down size of student violins partly explains the existence of very young prodigies. But still, why do we see so many advanced young violinists who have only been playing a very short time? Kids seven eight or nine years old who have only been playing a couple of years but who are already close to virtuoso status. If just the size and wieldability of the instrument was the determining factor you'd think we'd see lots off virtuoso clarinetists in the ten eleven or twelve year old range.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-01-10 18:41
RS wrote:
>
> If just the size and wieldability of the
> instrument was the determining factor you'd think we'd see lots
> off virtuoso clarinetists in the ten eleven or twelve year old
> range.
I think we proportionaly do - one or two a generation vs the 10 or 20/generation of child violin prodigies - which is probably even better than the statistical projections - I'm gussing that there are more than 10X the number of people studying violin vs clarinet.
Then there's the public acceptance of the repertoire; violin has a much longer history of virtuostic repertoire and generally a higher acceptance as a solo instrument. Clarinet is a relatively young instrument with (compared to violin) a rather small list of solo pieces.
Of course, you could be a violist and "get no respect" ...
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2003-01-11 00:57
I play both clarinet and violin. Violin is HARD. It is very difficult to get a truly good sound out of a string instrument (hence the fear of "screechy violinists") and then be able to play the large variety of bowing styles. In addition, 1st violin parts are often the most technically demanding parts in the orchestra. String people as a whole get no respect from band people.
Not all violinists that start at 4 or 5 are prodigies. In fact, you generally have to start that early in order to have a sufficient command of the instrument by your college-audition year. Most of the clarinetists in my youth orchestra started around 9 or 10, but almost all of the violinists started at 5 or 6. I'm sure part of this is the difficulty of the instrument but part of it is also competition. Once a bunch of people start early, you have to start just as early as them or they are way ahead of you. And there are a lot of violinists.
Is violin harder than clarinet? I'm not sure about the instrument itself; I don't think it's a valid comparison. However, the level of competition for violinists and difficulty of the repertoire does demand a more advanced player, I think. I will say that clarinet came fairly easily to me and violin is much more difficult.
About the child prodigies? Well, violin's one of the most traditionally soloistic instruments and has a very showy repertoire. It's generally begun at an early age. Neither of those things can be said of the clarinet.
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Author: Andy
Date: 2003-01-11 03:34
Is everyone fogetting Julian Bliss? The kid is about 13 and is an absolute guru player. I saw him do a concert of the Beethoven Sextet at the Royal Academy of Music in November and he blew me (and the entire RAM clarinet class) with his wonderful technical and musical control. I don't reawlly want to go into why there are so few prodigies, but Julian is proof that it is possible on clarinet
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2003-01-11 06:14
Mark wrote:
"I'm gussing that there are more than 10X the number of people studying violin vs clarinet."
I think there were roughly the same number of clarinet players and violin players at my highschool. I always thought that was because a pretty good clarinet cost less than a pretty good violin.
I just searched "Violin" and then "clarinet" on eBay. Not too scientific a sample since the search includes charms, little statues, music, CDs etc. Nonetheless, there were approximately three times as many "Violin" items as "clarinet" ones.
Maybe we should start a new thread asking "how old were you when you first started playing and how many years have you played". It would be interesting to see if the starting age has changed over time.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2003-01-11 07:54
Have you heard Julian Bliss- 13 year old clarinet virtuoso from England? Unbelievable!
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Author: d dow
Date: 2003-01-11 13:17
Yes I have and he is excellent!!
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Author: David
Date: 2003-01-20 22:19
Bliss? Naaaaaaaaah. Sarah Williamson by about 50 miles.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-01-21 00:16
David wrote:
>
> Bliss? Naaaaaaaaah. Sarah Williamson by about 50
> miles.
Nahhh. They about the same right now.
And who really cares?
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