 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2005-01-09 00:11
My teacher (I'm finally taking lessons! At 45!) just gave me a cassette tape of Bonade, Bellison, McGinnis, Brody, Wright, Marcellus, McLane, and one or two others grouped together as something he calls "Clarinet Retrospective 1987."
Yes, I have searched the archives but I do not see much written about this [fabulous] compilation.
Is it available on cd? Does anyone even know it?
Thank you.
Bill Fogle
Washington, DC
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Author: mystery science dieter
Date: 2005-01-09 04:52
That would be Robert Marcellus's clarinet retrospective "Toward a tonal concept" or something like that.
He used to remake them periodically so you must have the 1987 version. I think that was the final version.
I must say that I never remember Harold Wright being a part of it. Perhaps this was added by your teacher. Wright was not included because he wasn't an influence on Marcellus (they were the same age). Marcellus certainly had a healthy respect for Harold Wright.
But the others were all on there. Bellison playing Zampa and the Mendelssohn Scherzo, McGinnis playing Petrushka. McLane in Beethoven 6, etc. Also Louis DeSantis. I remember it well.
The individual recordings that made up the set are mostly available but the compilation itself was never published.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-01-09 07:04
dieter, people of the same age can influnce each other (about this specific case I know nothing though, just wanted to say that in general).
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2005-01-09 14:29
If you have a tape, you can always get someone to put it on CD for you. Ask your teacher, he probably knows someone who has a CD burner that could do that.
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Author: John Stackpole
Date: 2005-01-09 14:36
Ah, the wonders of technology.
How long ago would the whole concept of "burning a CD" been totally foreign to us all?
We'd have trouble spelling "CD" then, I'll bet.
JDS
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Author: Bill
Date: 2005-01-09 16:27
You're "right" - Wright is not on the tape.
My teacher studied with Marcellus at the very end of Marcellus' teaching career - he was blind - and was also a graduate assistant for Brody. I know there are contributors here whose credentials are also quite incredible - I find it thrilling to have the chance to study with someone like this.
After 10 years of noodling alone as a complete (and rather happy) amateur, I find the discipline of clarinet pedagogy exciting but very hard to adopt. There are several flaws in my playing that are like the inclinations of a tree that has grown around a fence. My teacher keeps talking about my "air stream" and how it is uneven. In reference to the way I am at the instrument, he gave the analogy of a basketball player who approaches the basket with his formal "set up" and concentration well worked out - my approach is haphazard and rather casual. I got into the habit of playing with my bell a bit "up" and pointed into the music - I liked hearing my sound reflected back that way. My embouchure "floats" to different positions on the reed - I find it gives not just different tones but also different types of resistance.
I enjoy learning the traditions (maybe I should say the "fundamentals") of performance. But a large part of me also wants to hold on to the creative adjustments I have made in my years with the instrument, as if they had some value.
Who said, "Bad families are all different, but good families are all the same"? (Was it Thomas Mann?) I guess I could ask, "Are all errors different - or all the same?"
Bill. (P.S. I mangled the quotatioon - can't even find it on Google!)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-01-09 17:36
As you are probably not planning a professional career I'd suggest that you keep any style that you like. I just heard a radio interview/recital by James Galway in which he had some comments on flute pedagogy that were along the lines of what I'm suggesting. There's no harm in trying to follow your instructor's advice.....but if it doesn't fit you...don't adopt it.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Bill
Date: 2005-01-09 18:11
Thanks Bob. I guess my attitude when starting lessons was that I wanted to learn to "do it right." Because of my motivation, I think there are a number of things I learned to do "right," but I thought it would be good for me to understand how a "real" clarinetist trains - what the values are. There are a number of things in my lessons that are directed toward performing well in a symphony - naturally, this comes out of my teacher's past experience with students as well as our agreement that he would proceed with my training "as if I were trying to get into Julliard." That's what I wanted.
I wouldn't make the music school cut (ha-ha!). Certain aspects of the pedagogy baffle me - long tones. Yet, I have great respect for this (obviously). My own unconventional "work" has been to study etudes - to try and discover within what could be called "music" all the problems I needed to surmount. Hours of robotic finger exercises and blowing whole notes up and down the scale seem - dreadful. Now I understand the sacrifices and the hard work of professionals. I refuse to always focus on the negative of my technique. I try to spend at least half of my playing time doing what I already do well. It keeps my relationship with the instrument one of love.
Bill.
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Author: george
Date: 2005-01-09 18:24
Bill,
Perhaps the quotation is
All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
This one's by Tolstoy.
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Author: Bill
Date: 2005-01-09 18:45
YES! Thanks! Oh my gosh! Now, literature is something I DID have formal schooling in. My goodness!
Thanks for the quote.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2005-01-09 22:09
I wouldn't go so far as rejecting anything yet, Bill. You have signed on with this teacher to take you through the 'real' course, so try hard to stay with it while you're with him.
Take long tones (please!<g>) - But seriously, one of the biggest problems with adult students is that they don't practice enough to develop a strong sound with stable high notes and sufficient endurance. Long tones do a lot for this. They are not particularly interesting or fun, but they do deliver a product that most adult beginners lack. If they drive you totally nuts, practice scales and arpeggios slurred with the long tone 'spirit.'
Robotic finger exercises - They take a tremendous burden off of your brain in performance as pre-rehearsed physical behaviors allow you to tackle familiar sequences of notes as a unit, and spare more of your conscious mind for matters of timing and expression. Also, the practicing of these things deadly slow causes your body to find more efficient ways to do them.
Admittedly this is more advanced stuff, but weak tone/intonation or sloppy 'flying' fingers can put a ceiling on your playing opportunities. Remember that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and that this guy has watched countless students trying to balance their needs with their wants.
As for the other stuff you want to do, your teacher isn't stopping you. He's just trying to make sure that you get in a good regimen to help meet your goals. My suggestion is that you do your lesson work first each day. Then add on some time to do whatever turns you on.
Keep the faith while you have instruction at this level. Anything that you choose not to practice is an ability that you choose not to have.
Allen Cole
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Author: Bill
Date: 2005-01-09 22:16
Allen - thanks. I'm glad I expressed some of my reactions here. What you wrote is very to the point and very interesting. It's a different perspective altogether, the one my teacher has. You've echoed it, somewhat - and reinforced its importance for me. I'm very glad (and rather fortunate) to have the private lessons.
Many thanks for your encouragement. -Bill.
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Author: John Stackpole
Date: 2005-01-09 22:27
"Happy families...' is the opening sentence of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. the worlds longest, and best told, soap opera.
JDS
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