 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2010-06-18 19:27
I have a large collection of clarinet music, but I have almost nothing from Music Minus One. I was just at their web site, and I noticed that they have quite a bit of clarinet music for every ability level. I'm asking this question with my students in mind: Do these books come with printed piano accompaniments, or are the only accompaniments the ones on the CDs?
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-06-18 21:22
As far as I know the answer is no. The music is an orchestra or something, a piano in the background minus the clarinet part.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2010-06-18 22:57
All the MMOs I've ever gotten (and I have quite a few, purchased when there weren't any other options) just had a printed solo part and the recorded accompaniment -- no printed accompaniment. FWIW, most of the CD's are transfers of earlier LP's. IMO, those aren't very good (accompaniment sound is often so muddy it's hard to tell exactly what's going on in the accompaniment). I also think they're overpriced. For my money, the newer options are a better choice but, personally, when it comes to learning a piece, I prefer a good midi file.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2010-06-18 23:15
Yes, and "Smart Music" even adjusts to your playing speed as you play along.
My experience with Music Minus One is VERY dated (back to the 70s). I recall some decent recordings of Harold Wright but the sound was that of an "ad hoc" studio session that left much to be desired as far as a euphonious sound is concerned. Still, I wish I had those old LPs of Wright to learn from his sound stripped bare.
..................Paul Aviles
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2010-06-18 23:46
I'm fed up with Smart Music. So few titles for advanced clarinetists and mostly some school programs for students or transcriptions of Baroque music. Well they say you can scan accompaniments into Finale and transfare it to Smart Music to make your accompaniment. I don't know how that works but for me who would only use it for Smart Music and maybe to tranpose parts at the most Finale is not an option specialy here in Iceland were Sibelius is over 95% of the market and the only music notation software used. Finale and Sibelius are also VERY expensive.
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Author: davetrow
Date: 2010-06-19 00:05
What are the alternatives to MMO? Any recommendations?
Dave Trowbridge
Boulder Creek, CA
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Author: sdr
Date: 2010-06-19 03:23
I recently purchased the MMO version of Brahms's Sonatas for clarinet and piano, Op. 120 (No. 1 in Fmin, No.2 in Ebmaj). It came with a printed full score for both piano and clarinet (with the piano score reduced in size) as well as a a separate booklet of just the clarinet parts. Of course, it also came w/ 2 CDs, one for each sonata, containing the complete performance of both sonatas with and without the clarinet soloist and a -20% slow-tempo accompaniment version. The performances on the disc are serviceable but not inspiring.
-sdr
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Author: salzo
Date: 2010-06-19 13:32
I think some of those old Music Minus one recording have some of the best clarinet playing.
One of the Harold Wright recordings, he plays the Rabaud-wonderful.
And the Drucker one with him playing the Cavallini-really great clarinet playing. I never got into to those music minus one records for the "minus" element-the clarinetist that they used for the recordings on the other side were often amazing.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-06-19 14:16
I got most of the MMO recordings when they came out on LPs and found them quite variable, but overall worthwhile. The Mozart and Brahms Quintets and the Mozart and Beethoven Piano Quintets were rather well done and were certainly better than playing along with a full recording, but the lack of flexibility -- you had to play with them rather than everyone listening and adjusting -- made it difficult.
Many LP turntables had a speed adjustment that made tuning easier, and at least on LP the Brahms Quintet was a half tone up so more buyers could play it on the Bb. Fortunately, my turntable had enough adjustment room to take it down, and the strings sounded better, too. To adjust the pitch on a CD, you'll need to run it through Audacity or rip it to an MP3 and use one of the free pitch adjusters.
The quality of the later LPs declined. On one of them (I think the Beethoven Trio or perhaps the Brahms Trio), a baby starts crying in the next room and goes on for 30 seconds until someone closes the door.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2010-06-19 23:50
I much prefer the Dowani 3 Tempi Play Along series to the MMO. You get a full performance, and up-to-tempo accompaniment and two slower tempi accompaniments with piano only. The accompaniments are broken into short segments with no silence between them, so it is easy to go back to a "rehearsal mark" to re-play a short section of the piece.
I also find that playing along with a standard performance on CD to be very helpful. If you can hear the clarinet part, you are either off with your timing or out of tune! Things are "good" when you can't hear your recorded counterpart.
A problem with using the commercial performance is that it is difficult to find yourself when you get lost. You have to space back to the start of a movement. But, with some work with Audacity, you can chop up the recording into shorter tracks.
Bob Phillips
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