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 Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Rick2 
Date:   2000-02-16 03:31

I just started working on this piece. It's interesting. The piece sounds so very impressive, but it's simply an exercise in chromaatic scales. It's a lot easier than it sounds. No question, just voicing what's on my mind.



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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Brent 
Date:   2000-02-16 13:53

Have you heard Robert Spring's version? He tongues the whole thing. That makes it a little more interesting to perform...

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Jessica 
Date:   2000-02-16 15:19

Robert Spring is performing at Rice University today. I'm going to that recital - maybe I'll get to hear him do the Bumblebee as well!

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: HTW 
Date:   2000-02-17 01:28

This may be a little off topic, but what did he play? I was at a music camp where he tought and he gave lots of fun lessons, masterclasses, mini-recitals, and even a reed-making demonstration. He's great! Very versitile and funny. My favorite pieces that he played were Carnival Of Venice and SOS. Did he play those?

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: HTW 
Date:   2000-02-17 01:28

This may be a little off topic, but what did he play? I was at a music camp where he tought and he gave lots of fun lessons, masterclasses, mini-recitals, and even a reed-making demonstration. He's great! Very versitile and funny. My favorite pieces that he played were Carnival Of Venice and SOS. Did he play those?

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Casey 
Date:   2000-02-17 04:00

Does anybody know where I could maybe get some sheet music to this song. I heard a recording of it and it sounded really neat.

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 Robert Spring recital
Author: Jessica 
Date:   2000-02-17 04:25

The recital was interesting. Mr. Spring played works for clarinet, percussion, tape machine, and computer. It was all extremely avant garde. The playing was incredible, but I don't know anyone who liked the music. The most impressive thing was when he played the Stravinsky Three Pieces during the masterclass afterwards.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Mark Charette 
Date:   2000-02-17 12:00

Casey wrote:
-------------------------------
Does anybody know where I could maybe get some sheet music to this song. I heard a recording of it and it sounded really neat.
---------
Check with the "SheetMusic" box below. You can play it from just about any version and it'll sound pretty much the same.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Rick2 
Date:   2000-02-18 03:48

Mine's in Everybody's Favorite Clarinet Solos number 28 (has piano accompaniment

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: steve 
Date:   2000-02-18 16:42

two of my few musical prejudices are anything written by paganini and fotbb...I think flight.. is a neat show piece for ther ossipov balaliaka orchestra, but folks who play it at a million beats a minute while hexa-tounging it on bassoon, tuba, string bass, and even clarinet loose me....I think there is no musical value in this approach to fotbb...what I really want to hear is fotbb arranged for theremin quartet and two jackhammers, and have it played in the subway at grand central station be people dressed as mimes....

s.

s.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Mark Charette 
Date:   2000-02-18 16:51

steve wrote:
-------------------------------
two of my few musical prejudices are anything written by paganini and fotbb...I think flight.. is a neat show piece for ther ossipov balaliaka orchestra, but folks who play it at a million beats a minute while hexa-tounging it on bassoon, tuba, string bass, and even clarinet loose me.
------
Maybe they loose you, but the audience loves them. And, if you're trying to make a living, you've got to have a mix of those things <i>you</i> love along with those things the <i>audience</i> loves.

Or starve.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: steve 
Date:   2000-02-18 16:54

agreed mark...:)..if only the audiences loved the schumann fantasy pieces as much....

s.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Mark Charette 
Date:   2000-02-18 17:15

steve wrote:
-------------------------------
agreed mark...:)..if only the audiences loved the schumann fantasy pieces as much....
------
They do - but programming a recital is always harder than it seems. A mix is really required, and in the right order.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Ginny 
Date:   2000-02-18 20:00


One of my few prejudices is against snobs, especially musical snobs. Personally, I collect fotBB, the tackier the better. Its a cool piece with staying power. You need to hear it through the ears of a child, and understand the wonderful. I won't say anymore, this is a friendly bb.

Ginny


two of my few musical prejudices are anything written by paganini and fotbb...I think flight.. is a neat show piece for ther ossipov balaliaka orchestra, but folks who play it at a million beats a minute while hexa-tounging it on bassoon, tuba, string bass, and even clarinet loose me....I think there is no musical value in this approach to fotbb...what I really want to hear is fotbb arranged for theremin quartet and two jackhammers, and have it played in the subway at grand central station be people dressed as mimes....

s.

s.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Mario 
Date:   2000-02-18 20:11

The best "format" I know for a clarinet/piano recital: 2 sets.

Set one: Start pyrotechnic, then go subtle, then finish fast and happy.

Set two: Bring a bass player on stage, and move to jazz. Repeat the pattern - technical, subtle, technical. Be sure to finish with a happy tune, preferably something the audience can recognize.

The idea of combining classical and jazz is gaining ground in my community (and probably all over). Very few people in audiences actually "love emotionally" classical music. Many people go there in a way to make a cultural statement ("we are refined, we listen to classical music, we drink expensive wine, etc."). What people really like in their heart is pop music. This includes mainstream jazz (yes, it is pop music). So, you play some nice classical pieces to bring them to the concert, you finish with jazz so that they really like a good part of it and leave with a happy face.

A recent example of the formula. Mark Simmons (in Montreal). Fantastic clarinetist at ease with classical, jazz and kletmer music. First set: the usual French repertoire starting with Poulenc (what a way to launch a concert) and finishing with Debussy, with St-Saens thrown in the middle. Second set: Charlie Parkers's tune right out of the fake book starting with Ornithology double tongued at full speed in unisson with the piano - impeccable ensemble work. And then blast! 45 minutes of that kind of exciting improvisations of jazz standards. It was in a Church with great sound. I was sitting 10 feet from the stage. I was simply flabergasted.

The audience just loved it.

Mark repeated the formula just a few weeks ago: German stuff (starting with Weber GD to impress the crowd, etc.), followed by Kletzmer stuff (like New York, Montreal has a proud jewish tradition and kletzmer music is everywhere).

In my little circle of amateur friends playing for each others's friends and spouse, we are now using this pattern. It seems to work for us as well.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Mark Charette 
Date:   2000-02-18 20:17

Mario - most clarinetists I know cannot do jazz justice at all. Remember Ricardo Morales trying to jam with Combs & Daniels at ClarinetFest? It was all I could do to keep from laughing - he was terrible! But - my goodness, can Morales play! Just not jazz. Yet.


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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Mario 
Date:   2000-02-18 20:22

That's true. But the "market" out there seems to be changing and it might very well be that it will become a requirement to be successful as a recital musician. Or maybe not.

It is very exciting to see an accomplished musician at ease in three valuable idioms. Mark is an incresible guy. He is a free lancer and has an active local solist career. He is also one of the instructor of the CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Musician/Musicien Amateurs du Canada) organization. He coaches the winds in the many Summer camps for adults that this organization run. So, he is also a dedicated pedagogue who does not mind helping adult amateurs at all level. Is he one of a kind, or a harbinger of things to come?

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: steve 
Date:   2000-02-18 20:26

snobs? what anyone digs musically is their thing, and only reflects on who they are in the eyes of someone else, which has validity in opposite proporton to one's self esteem...judgements don't have to be made about the digger or digee...just the music, which is completely subjective....my opinion and a quarter get you a cup of coffee....your opinion and a quarter also get you the same cup of coffee...

in otherwords, I think music x sucks....if you like music x, why do you care sufficiently about my opinion to label me instead of the music?

regards, s.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Mario 
Date:   2000-02-18 20:29

Morales (as well as all other "tenured" clarinetists in big reputable orchestras) have a strong professional fundation from which to establish financial security. One you are in the orchestra, you probably become a lecturer in some local music schools. I do not know what comes first: the orchestra, or the university tenure. Both of them together provides a very nice income.

You can then be choosy about your activities since they probably represent but a small portion of your income. So, you can specialize, become esoteric, explore,etc. You can also restrict your activities to the idiom you know well.

But assumes you have no tenure anywhere. You only live out of your own wits, in the street, one concert/gig after the other, with a few students to round things up. Then you will have to be versatile. To make a living only out of jazz, or classical, or kletzmer is less than certain. So, folks like Mark broaden a bit. It is so exciting to see people who remain excellent in several idioms.



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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Rick2 
Date:   2000-02-19 03:09

....but folks who play it at a million beats a minute while hexa-tounging ... string bass....

----------------


Now THAT I would pay to see!!!

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: William 
Date:   2000-02-19 15:37

Steve, lighten up a bit. My jackhammer playing and a quarter is good for a cup of coffee. too. Sometimes, I get tips.

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: Tim2 
Date:   2000-02-19 23:31

I am working on this one too. To make music, one needs to get passed the notes. There has to be all the little rises and falls (cresc & decresc) big ones too and little pushes (accents), one has to become the bee. I am still getting past the notes in 2 or three places yet to make it sound effortless, as it should.

It is a good, short showpiece. It is an excellent way to learn chromatics. It is a great piece to learn to play with flow and smoothly connect notes. It is a great way to play a zillion notes in the least amount of time. Put on the bumblebee costume and come out darting. It's a test. It's great fun. I think a Miss America from MD a while back played it on marimba for her talent. They must have loved it. She won it.



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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: steve 
Date:   2000-02-21 15:22

william said lighten up

agreed...light is the way to go...I got caught up in my own stuff...

however, accusations of snobbism get to me....besides playing brahms sonatas on clarinet for coat and tie audiences in recital, I have played heavy metal rock on electric guitar for teenagers with sticky underwear, solo mississipi delta blues in bars that most of my friends wouldn't go to, 50 minute versions of C-jam blues at jazz festivals, appalachian fiddle at square dances, banjo in dixieland bands for folks at retirement communities, native american flute for new age drum circles (what a gig!!)...a musical (or otherwise) snob I'm not...I just have certain musical opinions that I hold strongly, and folks who disagree with them are still buddies of mine...no judgements made on my part....I have a problem with "attack my music/attack me" mentality....there's no reason for it, BECAUSE.....

imho...
there's only 2 types of music...music you've heard and music you haven't heard. of these divisions, music you've heard can be divided into music you want to hear again, and music you don't want to hear again....the personal attributes of the hearer or musician don't have to enter the equation..


that being said, if there was a contrabassoon recital with the contrabasoonist playing fotb using her feet and balloons attached to her ears to help circular breathing (a feat I wouldn't put beyond my old buddy sue nigro), I most likely would stay home and watch stoltzman on npr....

s. :)

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 RE: Flight of the Bumblebee
Author: stoltzman!! 
Date:   2000-02-23 18:10

Stoltzman, Now there is somebody who I can't stand. Just kidding, Steve.

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