 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Don Gross
Date: 2005-05-31 03:01
I just got a call to play "Just a Closer Walk" for a memorial service this coming Sunday. I have played a marvelous arrangement by Bruce Greer for clarinet and 3-octave bell choir but it doesn't work well as an unaccompanied solo. If anyone knows of an arrangement for either solo clarinet or clarinet & piano that's a cut above the "easy songs for clarinet" level (and preferably is in the greater Los Angeles area), please let me know.
Thanks!
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Author: Markael
Date: 2005-05-31 12:04
Just play it. Why bother with music?
The chords are simple, and if it's unaccompanied you don't have to give a thought to what the pianist might do.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-05-31 13:19
Our library has several [reference] books of songs, over the years, which should give the original key[s?] and chording, which I would try to employ to add some "ornamentation" to a simple tune for a solo, ala some of our "great clists". [P F et al] Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-05-31 16:33
A memorial service calls for the simplest possible arrangement. You aren't the center of attention. You want to play the song with the most emotion, not the most notes or most elaborate harmony.
IMHO.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Markael
Date: 2005-05-31 17:22
Ken Shaw is right about keeping it simple. Less is more, and that would hold true even if this were for a regular worship service.
Still, the melody line of this particular piece requires at least some embellishment if it is to be done a capella. Each phrase ends in a sustained syllable. “Just a Closer Walk with Thee----“ With an accompanist you could just sustain the note while the chord changes and/or countermelody go on underneath. Without that background the sustained note just hangs there.
There’s a fine line you walk. True, you don’t want to call attention to yourself, but if you worry about that too much the music becomes stiff and the anxiety is transmitted to the listeners. With a little bit of freedom of spirit the music can come from somewhere beyond yourself and it carries both player and listeners to a different place.
M
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-05-31 18:06
I agree, consider those for whom you are playing, and the accompanyment issue. I unearthed, from an OLD Presby. hymn book, a copy which is in [piano] Bb [2b's to me], which would transpose to C for Bb cl [thus avoiding any poor "pinch" Bb's you [or it] might have. If I were doing it, I'd consider doing it in G, possibly C or D for "speaking range". Luck, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-05-31 23:13
Another thot, what I have is just 8 bars long and has 4 verses, will this present any problems, such as being too short ? Perhaps a clarion version followed by a chalameau, followed by another clarion might be a solution as to length? Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Don Gross
Date: 2005-05-31 23:41
Just a quick note to thank everyone for your thoughtful replies. The clarinet/bell choir arrangement that I have has just enough embellishments and a key change from concert Eb to F that will make it "interesting" without shifting focus to the musician. Now it's off to "cut and paste."
Don
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Author: Gardini
Date: 2005-06-02 18:04
I like George lewis's version, it is sweet, simple and soulful. The introduction before the band takes off would be very appropriate for a service.
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-06-03 01:20
It was performed by Dr Michael White as the "invocation" 2 years ago at Tulane University's graduation ceremony ....no clergyman could have been more eloquent nor moving.
(I was there...The Superdome....my son's graduation)
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: JimV
Date: 2005-06-03 06:07
I can't believe nobody came up with doing one of Pete Fountain's versions. Pete got requests to play it every show he did for over 30 years and recorded 3 or 4 different versions. He plays it in concert F (G for Bb Clarinet). The one I do is slow and very beautiful. It starts out with 2 chorus's at low D, the second one moves to D one octave up and the apageos go up to high G, the third chorus starts on B just above the staff and has sustained tones for the second chord change of A above staff, D above staff, then the G four lines above the staff. The last chorus is back down on the low D with a very pretty ending. You really just have to hear it. I have done this in churches and in night clubs and there is usually some tears in some of the listners eyes because it is so pretty. Anyway that's what I would do.
Jim
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