 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Sylvain
Date: 2006-01-04 16:11
After the 2 threads on sound. One on pro player we try to emulate and one on what do we really sound, I was asking myself, what I really meant by sound and what is it that I am trying to achieve when playing the clarinet.
I have to put a big disclaimer here. I am in not a professional player and thus have only an infinitely small experience of what can be achieved with our instrument. I am even less of a musician than a player so take everything here with a grain of salt.
To me, it is not the note itself that is most important but how one connects them. After all music is never stationary and even a single note is rarely played absolutely the same over time. The musicians I admire most are the ones who have perfect control filling in (legato) or creating (staccato) space between notes. When you add to this a deep understanding of where the music goes and the ability to shape the sound to communicate this idea, you have a musician clarinetist. I find there are many very skilled clarinetists but not so many good *musician* clarinetists.
Another interesting aspect of sound is that we are rarely asked to play a clarinet sound even though that is what we produce. My limited experience with conductors and coaches would actually lead me to think that we are always asked to sound like something else: "sing more", "make a reedy sound", "blend with the cello", "try to sound like a bird", "this is where the cat comes in". In fact, the people whom I find have an interesting sound, often try to emulate something else than a clarinet. If i could do anything with my clarinet, I would sound like Ella Fitzgerald: total control of her voice, liquid tone, always in tune and so intelligent in her interpretations. Even as I play Beethoven I think of her.
Then again sometimes I need to sound like what the piano just did or what the trumpet is about to do. The ability to make any sound is probably what matters most to me, even if the tone is displeasing for the clarinet community. If the music calls for a squealing pig sound, then I should do it.
If there is a point to this post it is that clarinet playing does not necessarely have to be about clarinet playing. In fact, it should probably be about communicating ideas through sounds. IMHO, the concept of sound cannot and should not be separated from the music played.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BobD
Date: 2006-01-04 20:49
I'm sure you are a very intelligent person, Sylvain, but I don't follow you. It's not you, it's me. Your discourse reminds me of those critics who try to explain what they just heard. To me, music is about feeling. If I hear something and it gives me goose bumps or ,my eyes well up with tears or the hair on the back of my head stands up then that music is getting to me.
It could even be a single note or a chord. Music needs no explanation to communicate.
Bob Draznik
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Scotti
Date: 2006-01-04 21:07
"Music needs no explanation to communicate."
So um... how did you learn to play?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sylvain
Date: 2006-01-04 21:38
Bob,
"music is about feeling", is a statement I do not like.
If I play Mozart concerto the way I feel, a few thousands Mozart scholars will jump at me with period performance practice and such. As a classical music interpreter, one is in charge of transmitting the ideas of the composer to the audience. In order to do so one has to study that music in a very scholarly way. Anybody who calls himself a serious player must put serious thought into his interpretations.
The idea that one has this innate gift of understanding a compser is ludicrous. The black dots on the page are nothing without proper knowledge of the person who put them there.
Sometimes, the composers ask us to make the public cry. Sometimes, they ask us to make the audience dance and yes sometimes, they ask us to sit back and relax and not put any feeling into the music.
Tony Pay had a very interesting post called a cup of coffee moment.
http://test.woodhttp://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=194419&t=194411
There is much more in Music than feeling. It is a medium through which emotions and ideas are conveyed. Often, there is no other medium to express these emotions. Words or pictures are not approriate but music "speaks" to the audience.
Where I agree with you is that no matter how much one studies music, at the end of the day what matters is what is conveyed to the listeners. If clarinetist A makes you cry when the composer asked him to, that is all that matters. But you bet an incredible amount of work and thought has been put into making you cry.
-S
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-04 22:02
> As a classical music interpreter, one is in charge of transmitting the ideas of
> the composer to the audience.
Do we know the ideas of the composer? Since Mozart is dead we can't ask him any more. All we have are his (his? really? all?) papers. And besides following what's written there we can only guess...
> The black dots on the page are nothing without proper knowledge of the
> person who put them there.
And who can claim to know the person who put them there? All we have are biographies, hearsay if you want. Unless we have live recordings that were authorised by the composer we can only speculate and rely on our gut feeling.
> Words or pictures are not approriate but music "speaks" to the audience.
Aha. A good book doesn't?
--
Ben
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sylvain
Date: 2006-01-04 22:24
> Do we know the ideas of the composer? Since Mozart is dead we
> can't ask him any more. All we have are his (his? really? all?)
> papers. And besides following what's written there we can only
> guess...
Sure. But an educated guess is often better than a wild one.
> And who can claim to know the person who put them there? All we
> have are biographies, hearsay if you want. Unless we have live
> recordings that were authorised by the composer we can only
> speculate and rely on our gut feeling.
My only point is that an educated speculation if there is such a thing is better than a gut feeling.
> > Words or pictures are not approriate but music "speaks" to the audience.
> Aha. A good book doesn't?
Sometimes a book does a better job sometimes not. Some emotions, ideas are simply easier to convey through music. Can you find a book that can make you experience the same things Beethoven 9th does? On the other hand I have books that no piece of music can express.
Don't get me wrong, in everything and especially art there is a limit to academic thinking. I have not said that there isn't anything more than pure intellect to music.
But again, what do I know? Nobody would willingly pay money to hear me play. Most of the time I simply try to minimize the number of wrong notes. But knowing that Brahms was a Romantic composer who loved nature and took a liking for the clarinet in his later days does have an impact on my interpretation. And I hope for the best.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-04 22:39
> Can you find a book that can make you experience the same things
> Beethoven 9th does?
To be honest, B's 9th doesn't evoke absolutely nothing here. I like the music, but I don't get goose pimples. Maybe it's been overused. <shrug>
--
Ben
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-01-04 22:58
Depends which movement - I personally find the 3rd movement the most moving of the entire symphony.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-01-05 11:52
I like to think of the clarinet as an 'extension' of one's own voice, not a separate object which is played. One of the qualities I desire might be called 'lyrical'...
As for LVB, it's the 1st mvt. of Eroica for me. In fact, just those first two chords. In the context of the entire piece it's just inexpressibly magical.
I'm in two minds as to the 'right' way to perform a given piece. Yes, you can get more out of a Baroque piece by playing it in a proper Baroque way; you can get more out of Classical piece by playing it in a Classical way. But then, I've also got a soft spot for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Variations on a Theme by Paganini', so who knows?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
