 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: chipper
Date: 2005-11-15 18:39
Perhaps some of you who've read my past posts will remember that I'm a relativly new player who was invited to play 3'rd clarinet in a local civic band. The other 3'rd has been playing since 1948, so he's a strong player and carries the part quite nicely by himself, thank you. But the band is being quite gracious to allow me to sit in and play those parts that I can.
With our Christmas concert three weeks away it is painfully obvious to me that I cannot master all the music by then. I can play about 25% by sight reading, can play another 25% of the music most of the time and the other 50% I'm not able to play by sight but with enough practice could eventually get. But not by the concert.
So I'm looking for advice on how to handle this. Do I practice like the dickens on the 25% I get some of the time and get real good at that, then play about 1/2 of the music come concert day? Do I practice the easy stuff at all? Or should I take a riff or two that I find challenging and master those with the theory that I will then be a generally better player and some of the marginal stuff will come easier? I guess an alternative would be to practice with the band but not play concerts untill I've mastered the music? I'd love to resume lessons but with the other pressures of life, a job, teen agers, dying relatives, aged parent, wife in need of attention, etc., I'm happy to practice an hour or two a day in my living room.
Thanks
Carl
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Author: vin
Date: 2005-11-15 18:50
Everyone will have their own theory, but a sure way to get better is to attack your weaknesses and don't waste time on things you can already play.
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2005-11-15 19:48
Play through the music at speed and divide it into five categories.
1) Got it nailed.
2) Almost there.
3) Probably, with practice.
4) Maybe, with practice.
5) No way!
Start working hard on the "probably, with practice". When you need a break, reward yourself by working on the "almost there" for a little while. When all the "probablys" have become "almosts" move down to "maybes" etc.
Work down the list until only dress rehearsal is left, then mark your music as to which passages to leave out. Some times just the first note of a set can be handled.
As one of my instructors once told me, the main thing to remember is "Don't play during the rests"
Break a leg!!'
Post Edited (2005-11-16 15:55)
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-11-15 21:22
Carl -
You learn as much as you can. Then, at the concert, your job is to play what you're able and stay out of the way on the rest.
That means counting like crazy on the notes, and even harder on the rests. It's better not to come in at all than to come in wrong.
Where you can't play all the notes, play the first note of each beat.
If you get off, stop playing and then jump back in as soon as you're ready.
Most important of all, never let anyone know you've made a mistake. No faces, no head-shakes, not even a blink. Just keep going. The same applies, except 1,000 times as much, if someone else makes a mistake. Even if cymbals crash to the floor, don't move a muscle.
Have fun, practice and have more fun.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Gardini
Date: 2005-11-15 21:38
One of the other beginning adults in our student symphony has the motto "do no harm." I have picked up on this as my basic strategy - after trying my best to master the part. I look forward to other comments. I just don't get some of the stuff after hours and hours of work.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2005-11-15 23:26
I have a 'dream band'. It's not the best band ever, and not the worst either. But it's a Perfect Band....
In my "Perfect Band", Carl, you're welcome all the time. Membership is unlimited. Whether you play one note or twenty-thousand notes, we just love your being here with us. No one expects you to play any more than what you can. If you're not at ease with something, listen and enjoy your peer's playing. It's better than a front row seat in the audience. You'll eventually get into it, we all know that -- so, no one's pressuring you. We want you to feel as ease with the rest of us. Most of us, well... if you wanna know the truth, we're not much better at this than you are. But we sure have fun trying and it just wouldn't be nearly as much fun without You...
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-11-16 04:07
ron b.
Your band must be overflowing with lovely people. Congratulations
Bob Phillips
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Author: Shorthand
Date: 2005-11-16 04:19
If a 16th note section is beyond you, playing every other note as a nice, rounded, staccato eighth note will actually make a significant musical contribution.
As mentioned in another thread, learning to fake well is one of the more important skills in an mature musician's quiver. (Mature as opposed to juvenile.)
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Author: Grant
Date: 2005-11-18 00:25
What great suggestions. I have used several on something that has been giving me fits, 16th note broken chords in cut time. One other thing I do that seems to help is warm up on scales etc. from Baerman in the keys where the trouble spots are. I would love to play in ron b's dream band.
I have had a vision of heaven. It resembles a large rehearsal hall.
Peace on Earth and May You always have a reed that PLAYS.
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Author: crnichols
Date: 2005-11-18 06:28
There is a tempo that one can play anything, find that tempo, play it over and over at that tempo with a metronome and then build on it gradually using a metronome, a few clicks at a time. It may be very slow, and seems tedious for a single goal, but those challenging patterns may again present themselves, and you'll have already learned them well.
Good luck!
Christopher Nichols
1st Infantry Division Band
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