 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Wayne
Date: 2006-02-01 23:47
I'm starting to work on Rose studies. Numer one has a footnote at the bottom which reads
" Bonade used this etude to teach his concept of
"squeezing fingers" legato - first bars 8 and 9 (2nds), then bars 3 and 4 (3rds) before starting at the beginning ". BTW, I'm getting this from Hite's Artistic Studies, Book 1. Is he talking about more than a smooth transition
I associate with legato ?
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Author: Wayne
Date: 2006-02-01 23:50
Forgot to ask.... is there a recording of the 40 Rose studies ?
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2006-02-01 23:56
Yeah, there is a recording. Send me 100 bucks and I will record them for you. I cannot vouch for the quality though!
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2006-02-02 01:12
Hi,
Do a search above using Rose and Piano and you will find plenty about recordings of these great etudes.
HRL
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-02-02 01:45
Take the money for your next 2 boxes of reeds and buy Carol Anne Kycia's book:
Daniel Bonade: A Founder of the American Style of Clarinet Playing
Read it, study it and apply the principles in your playing ...GBK
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Author: Wayne
Date: 2006-02-02 05:34
Thank you GBK, I'll get the book and do some reading.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-02-02 15:54
Bonade describes his legato fingering technique in "The Clarinetist's Compendium," which is, unfortunately, out of print. Larry Guy has done us all a tremendous service by putting this material and much more in "A Daniel Bonade Workbook," http://www.vcisinc.com/clarinet.htm, item C338.
Bonade's idea was that you must move your fingers slowly to get a perfect legato. The feeling is "squeezing" your fingers down on the keys, so that the pitch changes smoothly, with no pop or click. Bernard Portnoy, a Bonade student, showed it to me and had me practice by raising each finger slightly and then floating it down on the hole.
Bonade used the first etude of the Rose 40 Etudes to teach legato fingering. It's incredibly difficult to get a smooth legato on the wide leaps, and I'm told that Bonade used this to show young hotshots that they really couldn't play very well.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2006-02-02 19:57
My clarinet prof. used to do the same thing with new students. He said most of his freshman male students would come in the first day and play something with a lot of sixteenth notes and sit back and expect praise. Then he had them do slow notes and try this legato fingering and they couldn't do it. He also expected every note to be perfectly in tune. They called it "slow note hell." It is quite difficult to master and I have not done so yet after years of trying the technique. I wish I had been taught when I was a young player to use this method. Excellent stuff. I love to listen to someone who plays with great skill and smoothness; throw in great tone and you have a winner.
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Author: TonkaToy
Date: 2006-02-02 21:01
My first teacher, Bob Listokin, was a Bonade student who recorded some of the Rose etudes for a promotional album Bonade released for Leblanc in the late 1950's, early 1960's.
As one of his students I was, of course, introduced to the idea or the"squeezing fingers" or "soft fingers" as my teacher called it. It's devilishly difficult to do well and consistantly. Oddly enough, I always enjoyed doing the exercises and have realized great benefits over the years from them. My teacher explained it as attempting to create resistance to the fingers both when the fingers were lifted from the keys and when they were lowered to the keys. Sort of like moving your fingers underwater or through hot wax.
Over the years I've come to view the exercise as a sort of clarinet Tai Chi in that the exercises are performed slowly and gracefully with smooth and even transitions between them. The very definition of Tai Chi. Just as with Tai Chi, doing the exercises fosters a calm and tranquil mind, focused on the precise execution of the exercises. Learning, or attempting to learn them, provides a practical avenue for learning about things like balance, fine scale motor control, rhythm and movement.
They are well worth your time and energy. Don't get discouraged. You'll see a great improvement not only in slow, legato playing but, like magic, it will make it easier for you to play fast passages. Even fingers can be fast fingers, Grasshopper.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2006-02-02 22:58
Ken,
This is the first that I heard the first etude mentioned with such affection. My teacher, Fred Cohen, at Kent State one summer had me playing this etude for weeks and very slowly.
I was not until later that I found out he was a student of Bonade's. The acorn does not fall far from the tree. I could never play it correctly but still strive to do so.
HRL
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2006-02-03 01:23
Hank, I still play it, too. It's a good one, and rightfully chosen to encourage a smooth technique.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2006-02-18 15:13
GBK,
I just got a copy of "Daniel Bonade: A Founder of the American Style of Clarinet Playing" on inter-library loan. IMHO, along with Shannon Thompson's doctoral dissertation on the "Philadelphia School of Clarinet Playing" we have two "must-reads" for any serious student of the clarinet.
As with those found in the Thompson opus, Kycia's interviews of students contain wonderful comments. One must read about Bonade always sending a student across the street to the deli for a liverwurst sandwich to really know and appreciate the man! Portnoy, as usual, has some of the best stories (but our own Larry Bocaner has some very good lines as well).
I must have my own copy of this book.
HRL
PS The author said most of Bonade's students when asked about Study #1 would usually hum the beginning phrase.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-02-18 15:31
Hank,
Yes, the book is a must have for all clarinetists
The Kycia book (which actually was her dissertation), unfortunately, is at times poorly written and still in desperate need of a good editing as the researched material, although invaluable, is often repeated. The format of the book is clumsy and awkward.
At this time, despite the flaws, it still is the best comprehensive summary of the life, the teaching, and the playing principles of Daniel Bonade...GBK
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2006-02-18 15:57
GBK,
Yikes, that's not the usual dissertation format at all.
However, the content is there and the methodology is OK; even with the flaws the work is a major contribution to the literature. You are correct, a re-packaging of the material is what's needed for academic purposes.
HRL
PS Bonade was one of my professor's teachers so I can hum Study #1 with the best of them; I'm still working on playing it correctly over 40 years later.
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