 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SGTClarinet_7
Date: 2004-12-08 13:40
I am highly thinking about starting a clarinet choir here in Columbia, SC mainly for high school students. This idea is twofold. One, to give them an outlet to play more, and also to hopefully act as a recruiting too, for the Army. As I have never done anything like this before, I have a few questions.
1. Do I need to have someone to conduct the ensemble, possibly someone who is NOT a clarinet player?
2. What would the proper instrumentation be, or what could I use to make it work?
3. What would be some good music to perform? I don't want music that's TOO easy, as I want to try and challenge them, but I don't want music that's too hard either.
Thanks for your advice and input.
Merry Christmas,
Matthew
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-12-08 13:58
Unfortunately, these all seem to be 'subjective' questions to me. When I think "Clarinet Choir", it doesn't form any particular 'rules' aside from consisting of clarinets. So my PC answers (and sorry but they won't help you) would be,
1) You can have someone conduct if you want. You don't always need to have one (provided the players can count well enough and are good enough to keep a steady tempo). For an example, think about Benny Goodman's orchestra. Sometimes he'd just count off and then join in playing, sometimes he'd conduct for a while and then stop to play. You can conduct while not playing if you want.
2) Depends on the music. If the music calls for a certain type of clarinet, then that's what you'll need. Technically you could get away with Bb soprano clarinets and Eb alto clarinets (as every other clarinet is simply some octave variation of these two types), but in order to make it authentic, use whatever the composer requests. I seem to remember someone (Dave S. maybe?) talking about a piece for only bass and contra-bass clarinets. And some might require one of each kind.
3) First you need the players, THEN you figure out what dificulty of music based on their ability.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-12-08 16:21
1) I'd highly recommend a conductor for a group that is just starting out, one who can lead an effective rehearsal. A clarinet choir is just big enough that it's hard to give visual cues to each other to keep up the tempo and style. I'm sure you can probably do without, but I wouldn't recommend it until your group has established trust. The conductor should have a good sense of musicality, and be able to tell people who are too loud to back off.
2) Ideal instrumentation: 1 Eb, 6-12 Bb, 1-2 Alto, 2-3 Bass, 1 Contra. You can do without the Eb on many pieces, and perhaps without the alto as well. It's not as fun without the contra. You can also find literature that is written for Bb only, mostly quartets that you'd play in a larger group. If the players are good, you can do with as few as 3 Bb and 1 Bass for some repertoire.
3) Alexi has good advice. Play what your group can handle, based on the instrumentation. Once you have a sense of your group, you could probably ask here again for some good recommendations.
Unfortunately, the majority of clarinet choir music is transcriptions of music (Mozart, Haydn, Ravel, etc.) written for other ensembles. For better or worse, much of the original literature (and some transcriptions) sounds vaguely like video game music to my ears. <shameless plug> I'm now putting the finishing touches on an 11-minute C.C. piece that's pretty hard. </shameless plug>
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: jim S.
Date: 2004-12-08 18:30
The group doesn't have to be large and have every type of clarinet in order to sound good. There is a very good English CD in the "Clarinet Classics" series (Debussy and Ravel for Clarinet Sextet) which includes a booklet reviewing the history of music for larger woodwind groupings. It ventures the statement that "there is a widely held opinion that the [clarinet] sextet is the most successful combination." They use primarily one Eb, 2 Bb, alto, bass, and contra-alto. Their recording supports the view that this is a very nice combination for most works. It affords the virtue, for amateur groups, that it allows use of only the strongest available players. Also, in this day of Sibelius-type software, music can be rearranged for the small group.
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-12-09 00:54
We have, or had a clarinet choir at our school... Woodwind choir now (added a few instruments, non-clarinets)... but...
1. You shouldn't have a conductor, the whole point (I think) is to learn to listen to each other... To start, someone generally gives a big starting breath....
2. Well we have a contrabass, Eb, 2 basses, and 4 Bb's... I dunno how big you want to make yours though...
3. Hm... lol... Don't think Chopin wrote anything for clarinet, but you could take some of his music and arrange it... OH WILL THEY GET A KICK OUT OF THAT! LOL!... hm... Can't really think...
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2004-12-09 13:29
Our clarinet choir has quite a large library to work with, some pieces we haven't played yet. That shows how much there is out there. Don't discount the "easy" pieces because these can be quite a challenge to the groups intonation and listening skills. Some of these simpler pieces with long tones and rich harmonies, if played really well, can knock the socks off the audience.
In addition, a lot of these pieces require small ensembles with a minimum of 4 Bb players. Generally you'll need at least one bass player, and an Eb soprano and an Eb Alto is useful. Our group also has contrabass. If we have more players than the music asks for then we'll double up - depending on the music we'll double all parts, or just the lower voices. What's really neat is to have a combined clarinet choir performance!
We found we don't need a conductor as such, but someone in the group needs to give direction. Hopefully all members will be made to feel free to give input without taking over, especially those who are more experienced in playing or teaching. Then from time to time it's good to have an outsider come to coach since they'll hear things from a different point of view. They can tell if there still are intonation problems, if the balance is off, and so forth.
The experience can be fantastic and difficult at the same time. There will be ego problems. Anytime you get more than one person in a room you have differences of opinion, so there comes at time when you realize that your input won't always be listened to. If you can deal with that and just get on with the business of making music then the group can move ahead. The choir will only be as good as the combined skill of its members and can only get better with time if given a chance.
Post Edited (2004-12-09 13:53)
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Author: chuck
Date: 2004-12-11 03:40
San Diego Clarinet Society fields a clarinet choir of up to 23. We have found that the chamber music approach works well up to about 8 participants, but with more than that a conductor fills a very important role, particularly in establishing tempi, and--very important--dynamic levels. The large group uses one eefer, two alto, two bass, one contra bass and Bb clarinets on three stands. Hope this is helpful. Chuck
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