 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-04-08 17:05
A pretty great day of clarinetting occured at Eastern Washington Univeristy in Cheney, WA yesterday.
This is one of the "Pun" series of programs focussed on individual instruments of small groups sponsored by the EWU Music Department, it joins CELLObration and BASSOONarama.
It was spring/Easter break, so only 16 of us had preregistered. Three walk-ins brought the number of students to 19 --most even younger than me. The faculty consisted of
* Todd DelGiudice (prof of Sax and Clarinet --organizer);
* Jane Ellsworth (prof of Music History, clarinetist with a quiver of Rosewood Rossis --organizer);
* Dr. Wayne Bennett, Prof of Clarinet and director of the Orchestra at the University of Oregon;
* Jeanette Jonquil, principal clarinet in the Vancouver (BC) symphony and the big winner (over 90 applicants) of the 2nd/ Eb position with the Cincinnati Symphony;
* Daniel Cotter (Spok Symph 2nd and Eb).
They started with a Potpourri concert: Krommer double concerto, Krommer clarinet quartet and some jazz (Gant Steps, Cherokee) with DelGuidice, piano, string bass, drummer. (Jazz at 0930 hours)
1/2-hour break to drool over a display new Buffet Clarinets. Best of the lot: the RC model --like the one i bought from Grabner last year!
Master Class with Jeannette Jonquil. Two college kids played bits of the Mozart Kv 622 Clarinet Concerto, one the Krommer Concerto. Jonquil quickly resolved a number of problems with each of these pretty darn good players. Her focus was on musicality, support, tone and rhythm. I'm new to seeing the miracles of master classes, but am amazed at how a third party (assuming that the "victim" has a teacher) can dramatically improve the performance.
I was the 5th master class student, 2-3 times as old as the others. I attempted the Brahms Sonata for Clar/Pia Op 120, No. 1. Ms. Jonquil had many very helpful suggestions, so now I'll get to see if the Master's intervention will have any permanent effect on my playing.
I have yet to listen to my recording of my part of the class, so more work is required.
After lunch, there was a series of mini-classes of 45 minutes each:
* Tone Production : This featured a gimmick: He had a student blow the Rose No. 1 (of 32) etudes. Then put a soda straw in his/er mouth with a balloon taped on its end. The student then inflated the balloon while fingering the instrument. Then, sh/e played the passage again. The result was a huge improvement in support and sound quality.
* Reeds: Short lesson in matching reeds to mouthpieces, breaking them in, keeping them going, understanding when to throw them away.
* Articulation: Another couple of gimmicks. The first is to stick out your tongue, put the tip of the reed against the tip of your tongue and then slide the whole mess back into playing position. The second was to blow through a coffee stirrer while valving the airflow with the tip of the tongue. This hugely improved the "lab rats'" tonguing.
* Practicing Concepts: Cute. Consider the music in three layers: The air (phrases), Tonguing, technique. Interesting approach. I've been worrying about finding the phrases last.
The attendees and faculty formed up to play A Caprice for Clarinets by Clare Grundeman in a 22-voice clarinet choir.
The day ended with the Choir's performance and a wonderful recital by Mz. Jonquil.
* Poulenc: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (posthumus) Familiar, and wonderfully done with pianist Ivan Cojbasic (a woman!)
* Rossini: Introduction, Theme and Variations. An Aria with like 9-wild variations. Wonderful, wonderful, crying stuff.
* Brahms, the Op 120, No. 2 (I'd done the No. 1 in the masters class, so I was greatly relieved that she chose the "other" one.) A performance rivaling Harold Wright. I read the music as she played and made a whole lot of legato tonguing and tenuto marks. Wonderful, as well
* Gershwin: Three Preludes using both Bb and A clarinets. I can't tell you how irritated i got when she used some vibrato and "bends." Seriously, she played them beautifully, perfect (?) I think so.
All this for $20 ($25 for the on-site registrants)!
In case there is any lingering doubt about Jeanette Jonquil "deserving" to have won the audition for her new job in Cincinnatti, let me share her preparation process:
To the obligations of her "real job" with the Vancouver, BC symphony and her students, she adds the work of perfecting the audition material. This brought her to 12-hours/day of practice. Adding the time needed to recover her chops between workouts, I don't see how she found time to sleep and eat! At the end of every day, she records the entire suite of audition passages. Then she sleeps.
In the morning, she plays back the recording and makes notes to guide her practice for that day.
This young woman is a serious as a heart attack! In addition to her intrensic talent and experience, she's a perfectionist. Every nuance of every musical gesture is analyzed, tested, critiqued, perfected. When she goes behind the screen to play her audition, she is not nervous because she knows that the's completely prepared down to the smallest grace note!
Obviously, not someone easily beaten in a competition. If you're not similarly prepared, you can only win if, say someone dislikes her carefully chosen interpretation more than they like yours.
Bob Phillips
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