 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2002-12-14 18:49
OT: I got into college today! It's my first choice and I even got a smallish scholarship. Does anyone here live in Philadelphia? I've only been there twice and I wil be going to college just outside the city.
Anyway, here's my problem: I don't have any solo performances coming up (I though I might have college auditions but I'm done with that ). Recently, my practicing has been aimless. I worked on the second Brahms sonata for a while and now am working on the Grand Duo. I'm having trouble with this open-ended schedule- how do I know when I'm done with something? I know that I'm working to learn the piece and improve my playing but without a specific endpoint (recital, audition, etc.) I feel lost. I practice my piece some and then decide to play something else a little and can never really focus. Is there a way I can better define my goals without performance? Or is finding somewhere to perform the only way to regain some focus? I only have one solo gig in the foreseeable future- a scholarship audition- and I'm playing two pieces I've known for years.
Thanks for reading,
Micaela
Class of 2007!!!!
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Author: Laura
Date: 2002-12-14 20:41
Practice technical stuff while you have no performance goal...tonguing, finger positioning, legato, etc. Use scale books to do this.
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Author: Clairgirl
Date: 2002-12-14 22:31
Are you going to Swarthmore or UPenn? yay! just curious
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2002-12-14 23:49
I'm going to Swarthmore. (Wow. That's one of the first times I've said that.)
I'm not sure if could only practice only etudes and scales. Try as I might, I find them boring (I know I don't have the patience with technique to be a performance clarinetist). I can play enough of them when I have a piece I enjoy also but I couldn't survive on scales and technique alone. Maybe I will drag out the old Baermann, though.
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2002-12-15 02:09
Micaela
I'm in the same position - I just got into my 'dream college' and now have nothing to do until I start again next year!
However, I spoke to my teacher, and he suggested (more like TOLD ME!) I should play in the first worshop class for the year. That way, people know who I am and how I play, right from the start. It gives a good impression of you to the staff, and it could possibly be a really good performance since you have all this time to prepare it.
Also, it will work as a benchmark for the year - a point of departure. Based on how I play in that first workshop class, I can plan how I am going to tackle the rest of the semester, and realistically plan my short-term goals.
So take it as a good thing! Find something really challenging! And best of luck!
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Author: Leah
Date: 2002-12-15 02:23
I second the suggestion to be playing scales and work on those. scales can be way more than just 'moving the fingers'- you can focus on so many things with them and seeing as though scales are a fundamental part of playing, concentrating your focus on for example your tone or connections in scales could easily carry a long way into your playing.
and of course scales are not all you should do, i mean have some fun too (if you don't consider scales fun hahaha!) i agree to challenge yourself with a new tough piece or maybe do a new warm up that you just suck at right now and slowly you'll get better at it. but just doing that could leave other parts of your playing hanging.
one of my friends' teachers suggested to them that they do 25 minute practice sessions, with 5 minute breaks at the end if they are linked together- that could help the focus issue, it helps for me. i find the 25 minutes just fly by with great work sometimes.
I know with college audition prep things are focused around perfecting pieces and learning pieces and being able to play them under stress etc....but just think back to what you were doing before that audition time.
Leah
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-12-15 03:01
Interesting topic to me because I don't recall ever not having a goal.
My goal has always been to make music. I don't do this much any more but in my younger years I used to always find someone else willing to play too. I'd go down to the pizza parlor or the pub or the park where there would be a piano or a banjo or guitar or whatever other combination happened along. I guess I've always been a sorta 'make it happen' kinda guy. I distinctly remember a trumpeter friend and me... playing at the laundromat with the guitar man while the machines did his laundry. No one complained and no one threw money. Well, understand, we weren't takin' requests. I suppose I'm saying that you can make up a goal, any goal, if you want to. Don't take this the wrong way. I'm not saying everyone should do this. It can be hazardous. Several times a paying gig developed from the activity.
Most of all, first and foremost, have fun. When you're doing that, an hour or so of scales and arpeggios won't seem like work at all
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2002-12-15 06:24
Congratulations, Micaela, on your enrollment at Swat.
The college has a folkdance club under the auspices of student activities. Among other things, the club runs one class per week each in English Country Dance and Scottish Country Dance. I believe you can fulfill your PE requirement by taking these classes. In addition to dancing, you can play for the dancing. The students provide their own live music and people like me from outside the college community help by participating, for fun. If you find yourself burning out from too much clarinet in your music courses, you can play another instrument, or just dance.
Looking forward to seeing you next fall.
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Author: David
Date: 2002-12-15 12:23
Congratulations on getting into Swarthmore, an excellent school.
I, too, live in the Philly area. At 47 with just 5 years playing behind me, I don't get out much. Having fun has been the mission and there are lots of ways to do that. Lots of music styles out there too and each one gives me some new challenges and also a new appreciation for rhythm, dynamics, key and the tremendous expressivity of music.
I have a son who is much more musical than I at 13. I am intrigued by your commitment and experience and would love to pass on your thoughts/knowledge of music through highschool and your future to him.
David
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Author: Josh Schultze
Date: 2002-12-16 15:16
Michaela,
One thing to remember is that if one truly loves playing the clarinet, one will be playing its repertoire for years to come. That means that even though one has "prepared" the Brahms Piano Sonata with Clarinet accompaniment No 2, (an apellation from a pianist friend of mine who has been humbled by its technical difficulties), these pieces will be with us for the rest of our lives. Every time that we revisit these pieces, we bring a little more to the experience.
So the word "aimless" could imply that without the pressure of preparation the desire to explore the music is not sufficient to propel your music playing forward.
I would regard this time of "aimless" playing as extremely temporary. In college there is ALWAYS an end goal. Or, more simply, you could be burned out and really just need a break.
I agree with others above that technical studies are in order. You can set yourself an ambitions program of memorizing all the scales Major and Minor (Natural, Harmonic, Melodic). You can throw in the Modes: Lydian, Myxolidian, Phrygian, and Dorian. Also the pentatonic scales. The reason why it is important to do this now is that when you are in college there will be those who already know all these scales inside and out, and there will be those who have to learn them. And you always want to be among those who has command of these because you'll be starting out at a higher level.
Also, most importantly, you can dedicate yourself to a greater understanding of music. And this is what your teachers will also be most interested in.
Good luck,
Josh
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Author: Clairgirl
Date: 2002-12-16 16:26
Omg! is your teacher going to be Allison Herr? I had her as a chamber music coach. She is such a good player! You will love the Philadelphia area so much!! (I haven't been reading this board too often so I didn't know about this sooner)
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-12-16 19:44
Micaela -
Congratulations. Swarthmore is a great school, with the most beautiful campus you can imagine.
There will be 20 times more to do than you can possibly find time for. It's not like high school, where the food on your plate is cut into bite-size pieces. Everything is waiting for you, all the time, and your biggest job is learning to keep focus and picking among endless great possibilities.
While you have time during the rest of your high school senior year, there are several things you can do.
The first is to set a time every day to practice. If you have only for 20 minutes, spend your best time, the first 10 minutes, on the really hard stuff -- scales and arpeggios, super slow, so you learn to play them perfectly. Then spend the next 10 on the most beautiful music you know, and not just for clarinet. During the holiday season, play carols. Other times, get a folksong book, or a Cole Porter or Irving Berlin book.
In college, you'll need to make your own opportunities to play. You can start now -- it's not hard. You can organize tiny performances in people's living rooms, with clarinet duets, or a pianist or guitarist. Maybe even a woodwind quintet. Nursing homes are very glad to get music performances. Go anywhere and everwhere -- your high school library, City Hall, the public library, social clubs, tea shops, wine bars, and, when the weather gets warmer, public parks and street corners. In college, there are all the common rooms, snack bars, the radio station studio, and also recital halls and classrooms that aren't being used. The more performing, the better.
For several years, I took an alto sax and a plastic reed and volunteered to work a Salvation Army donation pot. When you play "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" to little kids and see their faces light up, you get an idea of what public playing can do, for you and for others. (I also threw in a few phrases of Brahms.)
This will help the next step in your playing, which is learning to make a personal connection with your audience. Take these little opportunities to play to a particular person. Play as if you were desperately in love, with the most warmth and communication you have in you.
With fewer school concerts, you have MORE opportunities to play than ever. Go for it.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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