 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: JGR Clarinet
Date: 2006-01-21 02:15
What do you guys think is an easy piece of music that is a solo for clarinet that is easy and will impress the audience?
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Author: Kevin
Date: 2006-01-21 02:48
If by solo, you mean with piano accompainment, I happen to like the 3rd movement of the Schumann Fantasypieces, op. 73. Not too hard technically, but seems more difficult to the audience.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-01-21 02:52
The question doesn't provide enough information to give a reasonable answer.
How long have you been playing? 6 months? 5 years? 40 years and still can't go over the break?
What is your ability level? Beginner? Acker Bilk wanna-be? Principal player in a top 5 US orchestra?
An audience made up of what? 70 fifth graders? 25 teenagers who have been forced to attend? 300 senior citizens with partial hearing loss?
What style of music? Classical? Heavy metal? Lawrence Welk's greatest hits?
You get the idea? ...GBK
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Author: JGR Clarinet
Date: 2006-01-21 03:01
Ok, I've been playing for 2 and a half years and it I can choose basically any kind of piece. Yet I have a short time to learn it so yeah. XP Also the
audience is about a whole school of teens.
Post Edited (2006-01-21 03:05)
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2006-01-21 03:17
With piano accompaniment? How about the "Pink Panther" theme? Listed as Grade 3 (third year) so not too difficult, kind of jazzy. My daughter played it at an early recital. Sounded pretty cool.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-21 11:39
Wholeheartedly second the suggestion using something of Henry Mancini.
"Baby Elephant Walk" would be an excellent alternative to the Pink Panther.
"Peter Gunn" is pretty cool too.
--
Ben
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2006-01-21 14:29
You might consider "When the Saints Go Marching In" Pick an easy key.
Freelance woodwind performer
Post Edited (2006-01-21 14:31)
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Author: hans
Date: 2006-01-21 15:11
Stranger on the Shore.
If you can play in the altissimo, Malaguena.
Post Edited (2006-01-21 15:13)
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Author: Clari9801SC
Date: 2006-01-21 16:34
What about the Feather Theme from Forrest Gump? Or..Back to the Future theme? That would be good! Mission Impossible..I think they would go for that.
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-01-21 18:28
As I'm sure you well-know, many teenagers can be a cruel, immature, and insensitive lot. Sometimes my own kids were applauded during school performances and sometimes they were laughed at (absolutely heartbreaking as a parent).
At my daughter's school talent show several years ago, there were 3 separate renditions of the "Pink Panther" (two saxes and a flute)...One was especially poorly performed compared with the other two and drew some unfortunate, cruel laughter from the audience (adults included). The child ran off the stage in tears.
I think the kind of music that "sells" best for your type of audience has the following attributes:
1. It's should **not** be too easy to play (otherwise, it'll be considered "lame" -- after all, where's the challenge in playing the same six notes over and over again?).
2. It should encourage the listener to want to move his body, e.g., tap foot, clap hands, sing along, etc. -- get them engaged in it. This will not only make them part of the act, but should also help to relax you.
3. It should be slightly jazzy (goes mostly to point 2). If it isn't, then it the audience will become easily bored.
4. It should be a slightly familiar number, but not too much so that the audience groans as soon as the title is mentioned. If it is, then it provides too much of a basis of comparison and expectation...again, this risks falling into the "lame" category.
A slightly jazzy version of "Amazing Grace" would be one of my recommendations. Easy to play, and if you pick a version with two or three key changes and the audience will think you're a virtuoso.
If you can handle it, "Sweet Georgia Brown" is a good tune that should go over well. It's catchy, bouncy, short, and gets toes tapping...play it at a more relaxed tempo (~90-100 bpm) than what is usual (218 bpm) and I think it'll go over better (and be much easier on you)...you want their toes tapping, not running. Pick your versions carefully, because some are much easier to play than others for younger clarinetists.
If you want something that's different, what about "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?" A good old song from the mid-40s that's fairly easy to play, (two or three easy key changes), a little jazzy, good solo or combo piece, it's short, and you can be **very** expressive with it (translation: timing mistakes are easily covered up). While many teens may not necessarily be familiar with it (depends on what part of the country they're from), the title itself may make give it some poignancy that everyone will appreciate, especially if you introduce it by saying you're dedicating the song to the victims of Katrina.
If you play any of these songs at the right tempo, you shouldn't find them too challenging, even with only 2 1/2 yrs. experience.
Best of luck!
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Author: stevensfo
Date: 2006-01-21 19:29
Chalumeau Joe,
Your words of advice are some of the very best I've ever read on this forum!
---...One was especially poorly performed compared with the other two and drew some unfortunate, cruel laughter from the audience (adults included). The child ran off the stage in tears.---
I have never ever experienced anything like this. Wherever a child is concerned, the audience always applauds, no matter how badly the child plays.
Where was this? Outer Mongolia?
Steve
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-21 19:57
Steve,
here we have (had?) a talent show for young performers. and to be frank, most of them were ohmygodsobad; image a twelve-year-old, accompanied by mummy, in an Elvis costume singing "love me like a hurricane"...
The audience can be heartless and gruesome. Not just kids and teens but adults alike.
Best bet is not to pretend anything. Be honest to your audience. Don't believe you can BS them.
--
Ben
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-01-21 20:07
It was truly a heartbreaking thing to see. It happened during a middle school talent show performance in one of the more affluent counties located between Baltimore and Washington, DC.
As a parent of two children, one now in college and the other still in public school, I have seen a steady decline over the years in audience civility, and while much of it comes from children, I've seen coming from their parents as well. (At a minimum, many of the parents do little when their children are running around the auditorium being disruptive.)
We have an early videotape of my daughter's 4th grade band performance where some unknown adult can be clearly heard on the background audio saying, "This sucks."
At this year's (Dec 2005) holiday concert, performances were given first by the hand bell choir, then the orchestra, and finally the chorus. Back in my day, you sat through the entire concert, hopefully because it was not only enjoyable but also because it was the respectful and right thing to do. During this recent holiday concert, however, many parents were rounding up their kids immediately after their respective parts of the performance were done and leaving the auditorium...and they weren't being quiet about it either! By the time the concert was over, it seemed that nearly half the audience had left.
I don't believe this kind of boorish behavior is limited to music, either. I also saw it as a soccer and ice hockey parent (I coached hockey for two years as well...oh, the parental stories I could tell about that experience!)
I'm sure that my experiences are not unique or geographically limited. Unfortunately, I'm also sure that this "trend" in audience rudeness is one that's going to continue to increase, even down to the elementary and middle school levels.
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Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2006-01-21 20:45
I think "know your audience is great advice". Teenagers are a tough bunch. How many of them think playing the clarinet is cool, besides the band kids? I like the dixieland ideas, played well. I would avoid anything they have the slimmest chance of knowing already.
As to the audience etiquette issue, I teach in an economically challenged community. Entire families come to see their prodigies, and leave when their child's group is finished. Toddlers run around, parents yell out their childs' name while the kid is performing. I actually had a parent come up onstage once to take their child's picture.
On the positive side - all attend, in droves, to support their children, and a good time is had by all. But it's like the Roman Forum. I work on audience etiquette with the kids, hopefully by adulthood they'll pass it on.
Sue
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2006-01-21 21:03
I think the audience rudeness is partially a backlash against the often oppressive nature of the concert experience. (sit down, shut up, look forward. now we're going to play something excessively slow and long, BWAHAHAHAHA!)... that, and the horrid repertoire often played. Just because it's easy to play, doesn't mean it has to be lousy music, but too often it is.
----
JGR: do you have an accompanist? Someone on piano or synthesizer can really spice up a performance, especially with pieces that don't go too well as just a solo line (about 95% of music, ever, imho). Baby Elephant Walk, as suggested, would be cool, but doesn't sound right without the funky bass line. I played the Addams Family theme in 5th grade on flute along with a friend on keyboard (organ patch), which was very well received (in contrast to the 15 piano acts that night, 3 of which were the same song from The Little Mermaid).
Put yourself in the audience's shoes... would YOU want to listen to the thing you're playing?
I'd recommend against When The Saints Go Marching In, unless you can really go all out crazy with it. Heard elementary school bands play that way too much.
If it were me, today, I'd pick something grotesquely un-clarinet-like. Like the theme to Jaws.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-01-21 21:24
3dogmom wrote:
> On the positive side - all attend, in droves,
> to support their children, and a good time is had by all.
> But it's like the Roman Forum.
I was called (bribed) out of retirement to teach woodwinds at a very exclusive, high tuition, private school.
Concerts there are still like a Roman Forum, albeit with a bit of sophistication. Entire families come, toddlers and infants too. (Doesn't anyone use babysitters any more?)
Celebrities, whose children go to the school, attend in their most fashionable attire. But it is more a social event to be seen at - like an exclusive coctail party.
The children are wonderful, with great spirit. It's a shame that most of the audience doesn't appreciate (or care about) the hard work of the teachers.
The moral of the story?
DO teach if you want to work with children and watch them discover the joy of music making.
DON'T teach if you expect to be patted on the back every time you run a successful program or have a memorable concert....GBK
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-21 23:04
I wonder where everyone knows what the Roman Forum was like (besides being the Forum Romanum). You're that old?
(I remember being chastised for musing that a certain composer would have liked his music be played on a kazoo.)
--
Ben
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2006-01-21 23:08
tictactux wrote:
> I wonder where everyone knows what the Roman Forum was like
> (besides being the Forum Romanum). You're that old?
Contemporary writers, actual witnesses to the goings on.
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Author: JGR Clarinet
Date: 2006-01-22 04:05
Chalumeau Joe thanks for your info. Also you GBK thanks and everyone else who gave me info. Well, I kind of know my audience because I've played to them two times already. I played Tarzan- "You'll be in my heart" and the other performance I played Shrek- "I'm a beliver" The audience liked those. So I just wanted to know another good piece they might like,but that's easy so I could learn it. I was thinking of Titanic- "My heart will go on" what do you guys think about that piece?
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2006-01-22 07:45
Steer clear of "My heart will go on." For me, it falls into the realm of "oh man, not THAT song." Unlike your previous two selections, there was a time not too long ago when this song was WAY overplayed, and many of us never fully recovered.
That is, of course, unless you decide to have fun trying to imitate the vocal stylings of Ms. Dion.
Also, it makes me feel old when you attribute "I'm a believer" to Shrek. :P
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-22 08:20
If you want to go down the movie road, maybe you should dress up as Squidward...
--
Ben
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-01-22 12:47
I'm with EEBaum..."My Heart Will Go On" (and on, and on, and on...) was another overplayed song at the school talent show a few years ago.
However, "I'm a Believer" should be OK. My only concern would be how well it would stand up as a SOLO piece on a clarinet, although I think it would meet the other subjective criteria I listed in my earlier post
That concern aside, my daugther and her friends have recently "discovered" the Monkees (and, by extension, Neil Diamond and Carole King) and have been iPodding their songs -- they're getting noticed again. You may have found your winner.
Post Edited (2006-01-22 12:48)
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-01-22 13:31
Playing something, even very well, and impressing people are two different things.
Your object is to make your audience feel something, based on the music and your communication of it.
If you play the Pink Panther theme, you want the audience to see that panther, winking, slinking around and getting his snoot bopped. If you do Baby Elephant Walk, the elephant has to be out there. You want the audience to think about the elephant, not you.
That is, tickle the audience, not yourself. Have fun, but remember that your purpose is for the audience to have fun.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-01-22 13:49
Smashing your clarinet at the end of the performance, a la Pete Townshend, will also impress your audience.
(Sorry...haven't had my coffee yet this morning.)
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Author: JGR Clarinet
Date: 2006-01-22 21:35
Hmmm...so I have to pick a better one. but which one? What do you guys think about "under the sea"- The Little Mermaid
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-01-22 23:33
For me, Under the Sea is another groaner...falls into the same category as all of the other overplayed stuff.
Note that I'm viewing your challenge through my adult eyes and ears. However, I've seen how teenagers react to "lame" performances through my own children's concerts -- it may not be pretty.
As Ken Shaw said, "Your object is to make your audience feel something, based on the music and your communication of it." My fear is that Under the Sea will make them feel SOMETHING you may not like. Having said that, YOU know your audience and your peers best, so it may work out well for you.
However, following Ken's observation, what about a military medley, i.e.,
1. Cassions Go Rolling Along (Army)
2. From the Halls of Montezuma (Marines)
3. Wild Blue Yonder (Air Force)
4. Semper Paratus (Coast Guard)
5. Anchors Aweigh (Navy)
These are all easy to play, the music is easy to find, you can play the entire medley in about 3 minutes, and will likely get everyone clapping or humming along. I think you will get a great audience reaction.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-22 23:40
If I were a composer I'd explicitly forbid that my works be played in medleys. It's such a, well, "something for everyone" choice. Fine for bingo evening intermezzos and such, but, well, I simply don't like them. Too ingratiating.
--
Ben
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-01-23 00:01
tictactux, in general I share your views of medleys, but I do make an exception for the military stuff. It just seems that songs that honor soldiers and our military go over well with audiences (if you've ever seen the the Washington, DC 4th of July show with Barry Bostwick, you'd know exactly what I mean).
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Author: Clari9801SC
Date: 2006-01-23 00:01
I would have to agree with all the above. But I do think Anchors Aweigh would help out some. You are playing to a group of teenagers. Something from the Beatles perhaps such as Lucy in the Sky with a Diamond..of something to that effect..
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-01-23 00:47
If it's the Beatles, then what about "When I'm 64"...great clarinet part -- (I assume that today's teens know who the Beatles are?)
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Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2006-01-23 02:35
No, today's teenagers do not know who the Beatles were, unless you're playing to the "artsy" ones. Stick to the earlier recommendations in this thread. I'm speaking as the parent of teenagers as well as a public school music teacher. At least around here, Disney music would be the kiss of death, as would the military stuff.
But, as everyone keeps saying, play what makes you happy.
Sue
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Author: archer1960
Date: 2006-01-23 13:50
If you've got time to get up to speed on bass or contra-bass, the Theme from Jaws works well as somebody else already mentioned. I wouldn't think it would have the same effect on soprano, though...
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