 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Ron Jr.
Date: 2005-08-29 15:44
In a recent thread "Is Clarinet too easy", Sfalexi comments about actors who "play" clarinet on TV. I too resent seeing actors "playing" clarinet on film when they obviously can't.
However there is an actor on TV who can and his name is Garrett Wang. He played Ensign Harry Kim on Star Trek Voyager. He often entertained the crew in the mess hall with his big band swing style of playing.
In fact, Garrett Wang actually played "Echoes of the Void" a musical solo for Clarinet composed by Harry Kim during the starship Voyager's crossing of the region of space known as "The Void".
It was actually very good and makes good use of the clarinets lugubrious chalumeau register to evoke the feeling of utter isolation.
Ron Jr.
Post Edited (2006-03-06 17:23)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-08-29 17:34
Adrian Monk plays clarinet on "Monk" usually in the cemetary.
His playing is devoid of talent. He does use a Portnoy Ligature, I noticed.
The star of Barney Miller, Hal Linden, as mentioned previously, is very good, and did the Rondo of K622 at a Pops concert on his A clar. Very fine rendition for someone who does this sporadically.
As long as you are mentioning ST Voyager, the capt of Ent. on Next Gen. played trombone. Wonder if there instruments were obtained from the Borg.*
For our friends in Oz etc: Borg is slang for WalMart stores in USA, because they assimilate everything and advance mediocrity.
"The first step towards being a good mucisician is to develop a horror of the mediocre" Heifitz.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-08-29 17:49
Alseg wrote:
> As long as you are mentioning ST Voyager, the capt of Ent. on
> Next Gen. played trombone.
1st Officer (or, since this was supposed to be a Naval vessel, more properly the Executive Officer ... but the original ST got it wrong so TNG had to get it wrong for continuity. )
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sovek
Date: 2005-08-29 18:11
I dont know where to get that music, I would love to myself. Im an avid star trek fan, in fact that episode is what got me intrested in the clarinet, mainly the sound. I havnt seen that episode in a long time, so I dont know if he was really playing the clarinet, but it may be in the actors bio somewhere if he actually plays or not.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-08-29 18:12
Slightly off-topic: Fred MacMurray, the star of the old sitcom "My Three Sons" and a former big band alto saxophonist, played the theme to the show.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-08-29 18:51
The Glenn Miller Story makes me laugh as 'Moonlight Serenade' is mimed (by a player) using completely the wrong fingered notes, presumably as it's to look good on the big screen that the E/B and F/C keys are seen to move instead of fingers 5 and 6 that don't move much.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2005-08-29 18:59)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ron Jr.
Date: 2005-08-29 18:52
Sovek,
I'm sure that he plays the clarinet himself because the finger placement, timing of the music were absolutely on. They show him playing the clarinet so often that he couldn't possibly fake it.
As far as the cast of other Star Trek shows: Commander Ryker really played the Trombone, Captain Picard really plays the Penny Whistle which they mistakenly referred to as a "Flute", but Data fake played the violin. Leave it to the android.
Ron Jr.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: anonrob
Date: 2005-08-29 19:05
Although Fred McMurray did play the saxophone, I was alsways told that Skeets Herfert played the theme to My 3 Sons.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2005-08-29 19:19
I remember an episode of Star Trek where Data played clarinet on the Larghetto from the Mozart Quintet. I don't remember if there was a close-up sufficient to see if his fingers were moving appropriately. Chops looked good though!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2005-08-29 19:29
This doesn't actually count as "playing", but Matthew Broderick's Ferris Bueller clarinetting is pretty cute. At least he didn't pretend.
Sue Tansey
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: contragirl
Date: 2005-08-29 20:07
HAHA! Trekkies and clarinet players?!? Ah man, I thought we couldn't get nerdier!
OK, I admit, I too am a Trekkie.
Harry Kim also used a accubore barrel. It seemed so "spacey" and "futuristic," I guess. I noticed that when I saw that episode. :P
--CG
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: bflatclarinetist
Date: 2005-08-29 20:44
HarryBocaner wrote:
I remember an episode of Star Trek where Data played clarinet on the Larghetto from the Mozart Quintet. I don't remember if there was a close-up sufficient to see if his fingers were moving appropriately. Chops looked good though!
----------------------
Haha! That's funny..the mozart clarinet quintet on star trek!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ron Jr.
Date: 2005-08-29 21:21
Contragirl wrote:
"Harry Kim also used a accubore barrel."
I hate to dissapoint you but he wasn't playing an accubore barrel. Even though it looked like an accubore it was actually made in a replicator. The "wood" is composed of 95% crushed Trellium ore powder which is very resistant to cracking and temperature changes. And the rings are made from Duranium ore.
Ron Jr.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2005-08-29 22:34
The initial post said "I too resent seeing actors "playing" clarinet on film when they obviously can't." Why? When they die, get hit by a truck, jump off a building, or make love to the leading lady aren't they acting? What's so special about pretending to play an instrument, crack a safe, leap tall buildings, etc. Just curious.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: archer1960
Date: 2005-08-29 23:47
"1st Officer (or, since this was supposed to be a Naval vessel, more properly the Executive Officer ... but the original ST got it wrong so TNG had to get it wrong for continuity. )"
I'm sure the Brits here will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that "First Officer" is the term the British Navy uses for the position equivalent to the US Navy's Executive Officer.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: William
Date: 2005-08-30 00:02
Steve Allen, who portrayed BG in the "Benny Goodman Story" actually took lessons on the clarinet so that his "playing" on screen would be more authentic. I think he got most of the G4s correct.................
There was some hilarious trumpet playing (faking) by Burgess Maridieth and Fred Astair in the 30's movie, "Second Chorus"--but also some great footage of Artie Shaw playing a few licks with his band. He wrote (improvised) his CONCERTO FOR CLARINET for this flick, but only part of it was used.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-08-30 00:10
Lest we forget (try as we might):
Ozzie Nelson on Ozzie and Harriet.
He was a former band lead, she a singer.
I believe he played sax.
BUT NO ONE knew what he did for a living on the show.
One other small detail relative to the discussion on ST:
Uninfected quadro-triticalli grain, when planted in organic soil, develops spectacular rhizomes that are indestinguishible from the finest cane, Arundo donax.....they NEVER WARP! (not even at warp speeds), and they give you no tribble at all when played
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
Post Edited (2005-08-30 03:53)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-08-30 03:42
I saw one movie in which I was impressed by the FAKING of playing.
In Master and Commander, the lead actor (Russel Crowe) plays the captain who, in his downtime, plays the violin. He does enjoy playing guitar and is in a band, so at the very least I could see that while he wasn't playing the violin for the episode, he at was moving his fingers and bow in correct timing with the music, and as the pitch went up, his fingers would move up the finger board (as it should be).
That was some very impressive faking (if there exists such a thing . .. )
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: allencole
Date: 2005-08-30 04:50
There is an old Jack Benny show going around on cheapo DVD, which features some real celebrities having a jam session.
Tony Martin is the clarinetist, Dan Daley plays drums, and Fred MacMurray has what looks like a C-melody saxophone. The show-stealer is Kirk Douglas on banjo.
I also have a nice clip of comedian Charlie Weaver playing pocket trumpet on a variety show hosted by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. As their imaginary trip across the US takes them to New Orleans, we are treated to some fine instrumental blues by the Sons of the Pioneers, and Charlie pulls a pocket trumpet out of his lunch box for some B-flat blues and a chorus of "The Saints." His fingering is dead accurate and his embouchure looks pretty good.
The Star Trek shows have paid some great homage to music as a hobby, and my hat's off to those Fred Steiner scores from the original series. Hard to believe that so many of those cool little themes were written by the same guy who wrote the Perry Mason theme and half of the Bullwinkle stuff. We had a flute player in college who ran around playing the "Spock in Love" thing ad nauseam.
Allen Cole
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: D
Date: 2005-08-30 06:34
Oh the best music that ever came out of TOS had to be Leonard Nimoy doing the Bilbo Baggins song....pure class! Although I guess we should probably give points to William Shattner for his truley astonishing rendition of Lucy...in the sky......with.....diamonds.......... Oh God that was bad.
*Waves to all fellow geeks*
The best instrument playing credit should really go to the guy in the blue elephant suit in the catana band in star wars ep 4. I loved that band.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: donald
Date: 2005-08-30 08:13
aaaaaahhhhh Bilbo Baggins! my brother actually downloaded the video clip of that!
meanwhile- last January my summer surfing was interupted by a gig teaching a character in NZs major daily soap (Shortland Street) how to look like he was playing the Saxophone. He was to do this immediately before collapsing with a brain hemorage! (i had to sign a confidentiality clause and not reveal plot details.... but it's ok now as it's all happened)
i suggested to the director that it probably would be better to avoid showing close ups of his finger, but was told that that was exactly what was planned! As i don't have a television i missed the episode that i helped with, but was told that they had close ups of the fingers and.... it didn't look at all realistic. Oddly enough a friend of mine had recorded the music they used, and neither of us understood why they didn't ask him to do the coaching bit......
donald
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sovek
Date: 2005-08-30 13:42
you guys arnt gonna like this, did some digging and he was indeed faking
Q: I notice that a lot of actors on Voyager have musical talents, including you. How would you feel about doing Star Trek: Voyager: The Musical?
Holodarlin'
GW: I think it would be a great idea. Kim has been established as being an expert at the clarinet, he played in the Youth Symphony when he was back on Earth. I have a clarinet coach; somebody who comes in here and makes sure I'm fingering the correct notes. I'm definitely a stickler for authenticity and I hate it when I watch something and someone's playing an instrument and you can definitely tell that they are not playing the instrument. So every episode where you have seen Harry play the clarinet, I have always made sure that I'm fingering the correct notes to the music, although I do not play the clarinet on a regular basis, just for the show.
One of the episodes last year, they made mention of Harry dropping the clarinet and picking up the saxophone and this was my decision, or my request. I wanted something a little funkier than the clarinet so I went with the saxophone.
oh well, now we know he is so good at faking it.
http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/community/chat/archive/transcript/1299.html
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-08-30 15:59
I have a a buddy who does some studio work in Bikini Bottom and he told me that Squidward, SpongeBob Squarepant's next door neighbor, actually plays the clarinet too.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Neil
Date: 2005-08-30 16:36
Actually, I've wondered if the studio was bound by union rules to hire a professional clarinetist to play Squidward's parts. Anyone want to fess up?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: msroboto
Date: 2005-08-30 16:47
I always wondered that myself.
There are a couple of other instances of purposely bad clarinet playing. I always wonder did they have to hire someone good to play bad or could I have pulled off the part. I may not be able to play good but I can definitely do BAD.
A couple of instances that come to mind. An episode of Cosby where Vanessa plays a music recital on clarinet and has a solo. The Mastercard commercial about clarinet lessons.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2005-08-30 20:32
I would imagine it's because with all other "stunts", great lengths are taken to make sure the action is realistic. It would be so simple to ensure the same thing is done when the actor plays a musical instrument.
Sue
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2005-08-30 21:02
Other, non-musical stunts are often far-fetched as well. A lot of things done with vehicles are non-realistic. For instance, how often do you hear about a car or truck blowing up when it crashes? And when one car hits another (or some other object) on just one side, the car doesn't usually roll over. And so on. But, in these cases, I must concede, the non-realism is intentional to make things more exciting and vehicles are actually being driven by professional drivers.
Actually, I suspect that since playing a musical instrument is a skill that takes a lot of time and effort, it is difficult to convincingly fake in a complete view of the actor. On the other hand, it's fairly easy to, say, lipsync or paint a few convincing strokes on a canvas. Even easier to pretend to take photos.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2005-08-30 21:30
I do think it's reasonable to expect the left hand to be on top and the right hand on the bottom.
Sue Tansey
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: allencole
Date: 2005-08-31 06:42
Oh NO! Garrett Wang has issued the ultimate statement of geekiness for the clarinet.
Dark is the day when the geekiest cast member of the geekiest show thinks that the clarinet is too geeky and asks to have a saxophone written into his part for more funkiness.
I think I saw an episode of Voyager where he played a sax in his quarters and got noise complaints from his crew mates.
My favorite music moment from the whole Star Trek genre may be the computer-generated (i.e. not-human) doctor holding his own recital and doing La Donna Mobile with some improvised lyrics. Lots more entertaining than those little singing debuts we see on the soaps every now and then.
(of course, this prompts the question of whether the human actor who played the computer-generated doctor did his own singing!)
Allen Cole
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
