 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: JamesOrlandoGarcia
Date: 2009-07-29 14:00
I am a member of the Wheaton Municipal Band which is located in the western suburbs of Chicago. The band rehearses on Wednesdays for about two and a half hours and performs a concert the day after throughout the summer. The band has a unique process which ensures the high quality of musicianship possible.
Before the season starts there is a behind the screen all sight reading audition which is used for entry and seating. This means that seating is done strictly on your audition score and not on anything else. The competition is pretty fierce and a lot of really skilled upper class college students can't even make the ensemble. From year to year I have not seem someone hold the exact same seat they did the year prior.
This is all makes for a fantastic clarinet section composed of one Eb, four firsts, six seconds, eight thirds, and four bass clarinets. There have been several times that I have choose to play with Wheaton over going to summer festivals and one recently said when talking about the band, "This band takes me back to the begining, it reminds me why I fell in love with music to begin with."
Is there anyone else in the country where such a municipal band also exists? I know there are several concert bands out there but they are either non audition based or based on who has been there the longest. Those usually don't produce the same results as the way Wheaton does it.
Our season ends soon. I can promise you that I will miss it immensely and look forward to the next season.
James Garcia
Bass Clarinet/Clarinet III, Des Moines Symphony Orchestra
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2009-07-29 15:39
According to the band's web site, players sign contracts with, and are paid by, the City of Wheaton. That must be a good recruiting tool for the band.
I have known many players who would be turned off by a yearly audition. But such auditions certainly solve the problem many bands have with long-time members who lose their skills as they age.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-07-29 15:56
That sounds like a great experience. I think the reason so many conservatory students don't make it is because you said it's based on sight reading. I don't think enough students practice that skill enough. I always told my students they should "read" through etudes etc. during the summer to learn that skill, as well as doing that for transposition as well. Reading duets with friends whenever possible is a good way to improve that skill as well.
I wish we had something like that in the Baltimore area for our students and freelancers to play in. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-07-29 16:24
I've always been intrigued when so much emphasis is put on sight reading in auditions by many organizations.
Assuming that a member of an ensemble is going to have the music at least a few hours before a performance (unless it's a studio gig), what is the point of not "hiring" otherwise excellent players or placing them in the ensemble on the basis of sight reading?
I, myself, was an excellent sight reader when I was young, but now, because of increasingly severe astigmatism combined with amblyopia, I sometimes have a great deal of difficulty reading some sheet music, especially when the staves are mooshed together, or the notation is in hand-written style, or there are lots of articulation markings. But given an hour with the music--even if I don't actually play it--I'm just fine because being able to study the music lets me find patterns and lets me know when to, and when not to, trust my eyes.
Is this a vestige of "music education," where emphasis is put on sight reading to encourage skill development? I can't think of any other reason for it, but I'm willing to be enlightened.
B.
Post Edited (2009-07-29 16:30)
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Author: JamesOrlandoGarcia
Date: 2009-07-29 17:03
The reason that the audition is all sight reading is because we read the music in rehearsal and then we play the concert the following day. We are not able to take music home in between the rehearsal and the concert. Even if we could I know I wouldn't have the time practice in between on those days.
These are all excellent players aside from their sight reading abilities as well. One member recently won the Green Bay Principal clarinet position.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-07-29 18:02
We have a few good community groups in the Washington, DC metro area, two of which I can attest to from experience -- the Capital Wind Symphony (a concert band) of which I'm a former member, and the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic orchestra with whom I currently play. This area is rich in talent (myself excluded) mainly because DC is the home base for the 'premier' service bands (except for the Coast Guard). Way more good players than spots for them to fill! So I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to play in a really good community orchestra.
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-07-29 19:57
My question was about groups in which it isn't "sight read the performance" or "one rehearsal, then that's it" (with no access to the music before or between), as I was fairly explicit about in my earlier post, but emphasis on sight reading is entirely appropriate in those groups that David and James cite.
The question stands for many of the other organizations that I know of that have multiple rehearsals before performances or that distribute music for study, yet emphasize sight reading for auditions.
B.
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Author: mikeW
Date: 2009-07-29 23:26
> This is all makes for a fantastic clarinet section composed of one Eb, four
> firsts, six seconds, eight thirds, and four bass clarinets....
Aiyeee. That's a pretty big section. Are the other sections equally large to balance things out?
I generally don't like playing in symphonic bands because they can become bloated and poorly balanced: I imagine the director of some humongous band mounting the podium, looking out over the band at the vast herd of flutes and clarinets, and thinking "I am the lion! This is my Serengeti. And those are my wildebeest." But maybe I just played for directors who were more aggressive than most.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2009-07-30 00:14
Hi,
The Director of the Wheaton Municipal Band is Dr. Bruce Moss, in his 30th year, who during the "off-season" is the Director of Bands at Bowling Green State University. We think a lot of him here in NW Ohio and his bands are always top notch.
A lion looking over the Serengeti, hardly.
HRL
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Author: mikeW
Date: 2009-07-30 06:32
Sorry. I wasn't trying to impugn the Wheaton band or Dr. Moss. I was airing a more general grievance of mine.
I recently did a band gig where, for whatever reasons, they had recruited the "band of thousands", and then announced at the last rehearsal that the organizer had just told them they could only have N musicians, where N << total. So they simply told a bunch of people sorry, you don't get to play. I think it was handled poorly by the organizers and poorly conveyed by the band directors. Had I known that this sort of BS would happen, I certainly wouldn't have bothered (yes. I was one of the people whom they asked to stay and play.)
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Author: Old Geezer
Date: 2009-07-30 15:40
Most of us think of a community/municipal band as a fun activity. All that competion; numerous auditions, shifting of chairs off season, etc.
doesn't sound like much fun to me.
I've noticed over the years that such abritary standards don't produce outstanding groups. Bands more member friendly often out perform them every which way.
Clarinet Redux
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2009-07-30 17:42
Old Geezer,
Are you sure you should be saying "most of us think..." How do you know this? Also, how did you conclude that "bands more member friendly often out perform..." And what "arbitrary standards" are you referring to?
Please enlighten me.
HRL
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-07-30 18:32
I'm sure it CAN go as Geezer suggests. However, it is more often my experience in community groups that looser standards in the name of member-friendliness can be detrimental. The less-experienced members remain happy and continue to think it's fun, while the situation can really wear on the more seasoned player who wants to perform at a very high level and sees a lot of problems that linger from season to season never addressed. At that time, the more experienced folk tend to bid the group farewell, letting the casual players have their fun while they seek out more fulfilling musical experiences.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-07-30 18:54
So much depends on the personality of the conductor. In one of the two groups I had mentioned, the conductor had a personality that drove many good musicians right out of the group, and creates stress for the current members. In contrast, the second group has a very congenial and pleasant conductor who makes rehearsals and concerts enjoyable and friendly affairs, while maintaining high musical standards comparable to those of the other group. Good music-making should not (and need not) be painful.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-07-30 19:07
Indeed. SO much depends on the conductor, much more than a lot of people realize. A good conductor can make a so-so group sound excellent, and vice versa (a painful, painful vice versa).
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2009-07-30 19:26
In the community groups I've been in there have been all sorts of different level players. I've been in groups where I was one of the weaker, groups where I wasn't that bad and could definitely hold my own, and groups where I was the best.
In EVERY group, there was a sense of camaraderie. There definitely was a little air of competition in higher level groups, not necessarily a bad thing.
The best community group i've been in, unfortunately, was too far away for me to attend regularly (it was about 1 to 1.5 hours away depending the traffic and weather). I couldn't make that trip after a long work day every week. I REALLY wish I could. A clarinetist from this board (although I haven't noticed any posts by him recently) David Hattner was (I believe) the principal clarinetist in that band. And he had a student of his who looked to be maybe in the early years of high school at the time I attended in that band and she was pretty darned good.
If I had been able to make it more often and I was closer, I know it would have been a very very positive experience and it would have helped me grow as a musician.
And I didn't continue attending the group where I ended up being the highest level. The music was very VERY simple and I (ashamedly) didn't want to spend an hour playing potato notes. If I had the opportunity to do so again, I would even if it was solely to help out some good people and possibly help them grow. Something I wouldn't do again and I feel bad about it.
I'll be looking for a community group at my next duty station and can't wait to play some more music!!!
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: richard1952
Date: 2009-07-31 02:10
I play in a summer municipal band in Glendale,Arizona that plays only during the months of June and July. This band has been sponsored by the city of Glendale, which is west of Phoenix, for the past forty-three years. There are no auditions. We meet on Tuesday evening for two hours, get 12 to 14 different pieces of music each week, sight read each one once and have a concert on Thursday evening in a outdoor amphitheater.
This year we had 190 players register with 100 to 120 players showing up each week. Age of players ranges from 16 to 90, with one player having played every year, 43 years, since the band started.
Attendance is about 400 to 600 each week. The audience brings their own folding chair or blanket.
The city of Glendale as well as contributions from the audience is used to purchase new music. The city provides us with T-shirts so that we all look alike from the waist up. Most people wear shorts since it gets warm in Arizona in June and July.
richardseaman@cox.net
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2009-07-31 02:34
My hat is off to Glendale's summer band. As I write this message on a Thursday evening, it is 7:30PM in Tucson, which is cooler than Phoenix. It is 97 degrees outside my home. To get a band and an audience in weather like this says something about their community.
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Author: William
Date: 2009-07-31 15:41
Yes, Ed P, college music programs do not offer enough opportunity for students to develop their sight reading chops. When I was in music school at the UW in Madison during the 1960's, we were lucky to have a conductor for our Concert Band that believed in sight reading as a skill and scheduled actual sight reading concerts at least once a year. We were never given the music in advance and the challenge was not only educational, but fun. He also would pass out music at almost every rehearsal for us to read which would often be manuscript arrangements from the students of his arranging classes. Reading manuscript takes sight reading to a whole higher level. And it is that early experiance for which I attribute my fairly good sight reading skills which has gotten me a lot of local playing gigs--orchestral, theatre, jazz and band--over the years. Sight reading is a skill that should be a part of every music schools curriculum and not just left to chance.
Improve is another story. I am a confident, "fearless" sight reader and I often joke, "if I can't read it, I'll make it up". But seriously, I am thankful for the emphasis Prof. Ray Dvorak placed on all of us developing some degree of proficiency in sight reading music--printed and manuscript. Most music schools leave it too much to chance..........
Wish we had a local wind ensemble like the Wheaton band here to join.
Post Edited (2009-07-31 22:36)
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Author: Old Geezer
Date: 2009-07-31 15:58
I've personal experience of a band with exalted notions of itself; didn't like to be called a band, insisted on symphonic winds etc. It's audtion was almost professional; play a couple of pieces, sight read some etc.
AND a year of probation when the rookies could attend rehearsals but not play at the public concerts (which were only a few). When word of the stressful auditions got out, people stopped coming. So wiser heads prevailed, audtions were dropped. Now if you're interested you can come and listen to a rehearsal and if it seems your cup of tea come to the next one and sit in. People sense right away if the band is for them, no one has ever been asked to leave.
What's more the "band" sounds better in every way and rehearsals and concerts are fun again!
Clarinet Redux
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Author: clariniano
Date: 2009-08-02 00:27
In Canada, two fine adult community bands are in Toronto, the Northdale Concert Band and the North York Concert Band. (I played in both of these, Northdale for a summer and North York concert band for about a year). For youth bands, here there's the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra family of ensembles.
Meri
Please check out my website at: http://donmillsmusicstudio.weebly.com and my blog at: http://clariniano.wordpress.com
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Author: Claire Annette
Date: 2009-08-02 01:46
I WISH our community band held regular auditions.
Longevity as band member = top chairs in our band. I hardly think that's fair or in the best interest of our group. Sad to say, the only way the principal spot in our section will ever change is if the person quits or dies.
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2009-08-02 14:39
I tend to agree with Claire. It gets a little frustrating to see certain individuals who are losing it as players continue to hold on to their upper level position within a section, even if they can't handle the demands of the part as well as they should. Sometimes a group needs to "reshuffle."
Personally, I'm happy playing either 2nd or 3rd part,a s they need decent playerrs on all parts to make a band sound good. I am not a big fan anymore of seating from first chair first to last chair third, based on a strict top=to-bottom ranking of all the players in a section; you need strong players to be the principal on each part.
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
Post Edited (2009-08-02 14:39)
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2009-08-02 16:44
Claire (Annette)
I played in a band where a principal player held the position forever, but was a good manager who moved people around in the section and shared solos. One would think that if your principal clarinetist cannot play the part, and someone else can play it better, even a passive Director would make the switch.
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