 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: anonymous
Date: 1999-10-25 20:47
Hi. I'm looking for some really good A clarinet solos, preferrably grade 4 and up. I usually play grade 5 or 6, but since I will be doing it for a contest and also performing a Bb and Eb solo I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks for all your help.
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Author: Mary Beth
Date: 1999-10-25 21:28
Just out of curiousity, what contest are you doing it for... most contests count a Bb and an A as the same instrument, so therefore you cannot do both. Check the Sneezy Database- or maybe Mark can help you. He helped me a lot!
MB
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Author: ted
Date: 1999-10-25 21:35
Mozart Concerto
Mozart Quintet
Brahms Quintet
Schumann Fantasy Pieces
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Author: anonymous
Date: 1999-10-25 23:35
It is called the Perry Band Olympics. Basically, it's a high school solo and ensemble contest without many rules. Last year I performed both an A and Bb solo, so I know it is ok.
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Author: Marci
Date: 1999-10-25 23:45
The Stravinsky Three Pieces is nice too. Two of the three are in A and the last in Bb.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-10-25 23:58
ted wrote:
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Mozart Quintet
Brahms Quintet
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Not solos, and I don't think I'd recommend the Brahms for any high school student. It's deep, passionate music that very few, if any, younger clarinetists and string players can do justice to. I personally think it's one of the finest pieces of music in any genre ever written, and luckily the clarinet has a part in it. All the players are treated equally, though; I wouldn't consider it a "clarinet" piece especially.
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Author: Lori
Date: 1999-10-26 00:02
How about the Sutermeister Cappriccio? A little hard for high school, but I think it's pretty accessible.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-10-26 00:16
Also, one of my very favorites and accessible to good HS clarinetists - the Poulenc Sonata (I admit it - I'm a Poulenc fan - especially his piano music). Or, for a (barely) doable at HS level, the Rosza Sonatina, possibly not _all_ the variations, though - some are treacherous.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-10-26 02:07
Mark Charette wrote:
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Also, one of my very favorites and accessible to good HS clarinetists - the Poulenc Sonata (I admit it - I'm a Poulenc fan - especially his piano music). Or, for a (barely) doable at HS level, the Rosza Sonatina, possibly not _all_ the variations, though - some are treacherous.
The first movement is pretty doable by most advanced high school players. The second movement is a little wild. Especially at the tempos Rozsa designated. I'm working on that along with the Rossini (Intro., Theme & Var.), Mozart Concerto (discussing different interpretations) and the Brahms second sonata, at the moment.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-10-26 02:16
Daniel wrote:
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The second movement is a little wild. Especially at the tempos Rozsa designated.
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And if you don't take it at that tempo it really loses the continuity. I've heard masters students blow that second part.
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Author: mary beth
Date: 1999-10-26 02:40
i love rossini's intro, theme, and variations! that was my 'my piece' last year... i played it at a few competitions and auditions along with stravinsky's three pieces, and the first and last m'ments of the Poulanc. I must say the last is my favorite! I also LOVE the second of the three pieces... the game of cat and mouse! currently, i am working on the Rigoletto by Bassi. Anyone else?
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-10-26 04:31
My teacher says it can be toned down slightly. About 160 instead of 175... and the 8th-triplet 16th's section can slowed down heading into is and picked back up afterwards.
Unfortunately, the only recording i know of is Larry Combs on cassette. And there's a private recording, floating around somewhere, of a recital done a while back by Tom Legrand from the Houston Symphony.
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Author: anonymous
Date: 1999-10-26 20:02
Thanks for all your help! I must say that I am a little disappointed that people don't think high school students are capable of putting feeling into their music. I think a high schooler can do just as well as anyone else if they are passionate about music and the particular song. Age means nothing. I don't think it's right to every put anything past a high school student. I, like many high school students, am very stubborn and if I want to play something I will. And if my teacher or anyone doubts me, I will prove it to everyone that I am capable of accomplishing anything I set my mind to. I've done it before and I will do it again.
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Author: 'nifer
Date: 1999-10-26 20:33
It really is not that high schools cannot put feeling into the music, it is more of a problem with technical aspects of the pieces. It is not that people have no faith in the performance techniques of high school students. ;-) good luck!
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Author: Mark Charette, Webmaster
Date: 1999-10-26 20:51
'nifer wrote:
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It really is not that high schools cannot put feeling into the music, it is more of a problem with technical aspects of the pieces. It is not that people have no faith in the performance techniques of high school students.
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I really feel that there are some pieces that take more "living" to perform than others. In many cases younger people have all the technique in the world, but not the musical maturity yet to bring it off well.
Next time you can, attend a masters class at a university. I went to one at the University of Michigan, where Larry Combs and J. Lawrie Bloom were the teachers, and master's students the players. The players were excellent, better than any HS students I have ever heard - but - they weren't up to the level of Combs or Bloom yet. I don't know if either Combs or Bloom were better technically (physical speed), but the differences in expression, phrasing, tone were obvious. That's maturity, and it doesn't come overnight.
I've met & talked with Hillary Hahn; ask her what she thinks of her violin playing a year before. There's pieces she regrets playing before she was musically ready.
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Author: 'nifer
Date: 1999-10-26 21:08
I agree with you mark, although the point that i was trying to make is that when "we" say that it may be too difficult for high schoolers, we are not trying to insult them, we are trying to infer that they take a much deeper understanding. I know exactly what you mean.. I played the Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie in high school and am working on it again and see it in a far different light now that i am working on my 2nd year in college ;-)
'nifer
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-10-26 22:14
'nifer wrote:
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I agree with you mark, although the point that i was trying to make is that when "we" say that it may be too difficult for high schoolers, we are not trying to insult them, we are trying to infer that they take a much deeper understanding.
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That's exactly what I meant to say. Thanks.
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Author: Mary Beth
Date: 1999-10-27 03:35
I must say that the comments about high schoolers bother me too. I am technically capable of playing nearly any piece put infront of me. i have beat people much older than me in chair auditions because of my technical playing and emotional capability. Many things depend on how long people have been playing. An adult player that has played for 3 years cannot touch a high school senior. It is comments like this that infuriate me. Next time, how about saying younger or less-experienced?
Thanks. MB
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-10-27 05:42
Mary Beth wrote:
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An adult player that has played for 3 years cannot touch a high school senior. It is comments like this that infuriate me. Next time, how about saying younger or less-experienced?
I have heard many high school seniors who couldn't play to save their life. And i'm not talking about difficult pieces like the Debussy or Spohr or anything.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-10-27 12:18
Mary Beth wrote:
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Next time, how about saying younger or less-experienced?
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That's what a HS clarinet player <i>is</i> - younger & less experienced. Now, I'm not a good clarinet player by any measure. I don't do music that's technically difficult right now. My musical maturity far exceeds my technical ability, but I know enough not to try the technically hard pieces. Technical prowess is easier to measure (you can either play the piece or you can't) but musicality is just as important.
How many times have we read here that someone has "finished" K. 622? Technically, it's not near the top of difficuly, so I always insert the word "played" instead of "finished". I don't know if anyone has ever "finished" it - it's one of those pieces that needs to be polished for a long, long time.
Now, very few if any "middle school" students will attempt a piece like this - it's normally first attempted in a High School (school grades 9-12) because that's when technical ability allows one to play it. However, it'll be an immature rendition of it. That's not an insult - it's fact. If you make a recording of it you'll be very dissatisfied with it in a few years. It doesn't mean it wasn't a pleasent experience for the listener when you played it - it just means that as you listen & play music you'll find more and more depth to what you're playing.
Listen to the compositions of Mozart in a chronological order. Even as a prodigy, his early pieces were immature - simplistic tunes that show much promise. By the time he was in his late teens he was producing music of great depth - but he was a one in a billion (or more) exception to the rule - musicially he advanced 20 years in the space of 6 or 7. But ... the progression is still there. We mere mortals need to spend a lot more time developing our talents.
Don't take my saying that some music isn't suitable for HS players as an insult. It isn't meant to be taken that way. I won't hand out demerits if you play it :^) However, there's so much more available that can exploit the talents that you currently have and can prepare you for those pieces that will really need your soul. Spend some time with those - pieces like the Saint Saens Sonata, the Schumann Fantasiestuke, the Poulenc, study the composer's lives a bit and find out what was happening in their lives when they wrote these, what were their contemporaries writing, what works preceeded & followed these pieces - I think that the later rewards justify the work.
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Author: STuart
Date: 1999-10-29 00:00
Interesting discussion!
I was never assigned any Brahms, only Shumann. My teacher said I wasn't ready and she was absolutely right. After hearing Frank Cohen I don't think I'll ever be ready
On the other hand, I heard Debra Chodacki perform the Finzi Bagatelles and she took it deeper than any piece I've heard.
The Bagatelles are often assigned to younger players (its the only pieces I've even assigned myself).
In general I don't think I even began to realize what music was right for me until I started paying attention to the music INSIDE of me. As the composer, you promise yourself an appropriate piece!
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