 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2009-03-15 17:54
CLARINEXUS is the annual, all-day celebration of the clarinet by the Music Department at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA. It is organized by Professors Todd DelGiudice and Jane Ellesworth.
The 2009 edition took place yesterday, March 14 on the EWU campus. This year, the special guest was Prof. Michele Gingras from the University of Ohio, Miami Campus.
The day opened with a concert:
Michele Gingras, with EWU Faculty pianist Kendall Feeney played:
2nd Movement Andante molto, of the Concertino for Clarinet and Strings by Charles Camilleri.
This is a gorgeous, sensuous piece. You have GOT to hear it, maybe play it, too.
Carnyx by Serban Nichifor.
This is a solo piece intended to present the horrors of the warrior's scary musical instrument, the Carnyx. It seems to be full of "extended techniques" and boisterous "licks." Try it yourself at
geocities.com/serbannichifor/carnyx.pdf.pdf
It demands some rather expedited fingering with 1/4 = 220.
Shalom-Alekhem, rov Feidman! by Bela Kovacs.
Prof. Gingras has become a leading light in Klezmer, and a supporter of Feidman's embellishments. Later in the day, she showed some of the licks she uses in Klezmer performance.
Trio Quebecois by Lucio Agostini
Joined by EWU faculty members Jane Ellsworth and Todd DelGiudice, Prof. Gingras brought us back to her roots with a some scenes from Quebec.
Prof. Gingras surrendered the stage to Ellsworth and DelGiudice for a second trio. This one performed with EWU student Amanda Goede (who was recruited to the EWU music program through CLARINexus). They played
Grand Trio Concertant by James Waterson
More great stuff, with the lead line flowing across the members of the ensemble.
Finally, Todd brought in a jazz pianist and rounded out this demonstration of the clarinet's versatility with a couple of jazz standards: You're My Everything, and Just in Time.
A program break allowed the attendees access to a table full of Buffet, Selmer and LeBlanc clarinets, mouthpieces and ligs.
Than, to the classroom, where Prof Gingras showed us some tips from her book, "Clarinet Secrets." Good stuff!
After lunch, we returned to the classroom for a lesson in circular breathing. Prof Gingras soon had us standing in a big circle outside in the drizzling rain taking big mouthfuls of water and spitting it out through coffee stirrers, cocktail straws and (for the fast learners) soda straws. All while breathing in and out through ones nose. Following that, we tried the same exercise, blowing air trapped in our mouths through the increasingly less resistant straws into a glass of water. Returning to the classroom and our clarinets, some of us managed to actually blow and breathe in at the same time. Gingras makes this whole thing look possible!
A master class by Prof DelGiudice tackled the volunteer performers' shortcomings in breath support and 1/16 note runs. Try playing while standing on one leg. if forces you to tense your abcominals. You lift your foot, and your tone enrichens. No kidding!
Finally, the indefatigable Prof Gingras returned to introduce us to Klezmer playing, telling her story of Klez seduction, her overcoming of the stuffy image of a "classical music" professor to be accepted into a performing group, and finally getting playing gigs and participating in the preparation of published music and recordings. She showed us some just awesome "tricks" to make those intriguing Klezmer embellishments on the clarinet.
What an awesome day, again at EWU's clarinet studio.
OH, and then I drove back to Spokane to hear Sir James Gallway play his flute of gold.
Top it all off with a snowy trip back to home in Sandpoint, and you've had a memorable day of music.
Bob Phillips
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