 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2007-10-07 18:37
Isn't it just the greatest feeling when you get that solo just right? Ah, but at what price?...
- ONE complete debacle the previous week.
- THREE days solid spent practicing something /entirely different/ just to prove to yourself you can still play the instrument.
- ALL POSSIBLE reed / mouthpiece combinations explored in this time (par for the course, surely?)
- TWO mouthpiece refacings (I did 'em myself, one just to see what would happen on a spare piece, and then a real one. The best mpc [that's the one that sounds right without squeaking], I decided, was just too resistant and needed lengthening. I did this entirely on a hunch. But I was gentle, honest!)
- ONE change of 'setup' as a result of all this (I guess that makes me a confirmed Selmer Paris man now)
- TWO bars into the piece, finally realising how it ought to be played... (aha! The slow bit is actually the hard bit! My goodness!...)
Such joy our instrument brings... :-D
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2007-10-08 12:15
You mean I'm the only player who wrestles with these neuroses on the way to glory? :-)
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Author: larryb
Date: 2007-10-08 13:06
what was the solo?
everyone approaches performance differently (nice cliche); your approach is may be a bit on the extreme end of the spectrum, but whatever works for you...
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2007-10-08 15:41
Oh yes, this sounds like me at the moment! With a 'big' audition coming up, I've changed mouthpieces, reeds, and ligatures every 20 minutes or so during a practice session. With two days to go, I've gone back to my original setup... If I wasn't laughing I'd be crying.
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2007-10-08 15:43
Bassie,
I had to laugh at your neuroses as they sound like mine! The Eefer gives me the most of these. Most of the time the solos with it are HIGH and LOUD so there is NO HIDING. The worst combo is piccolo and Eefer on the same exposed solo passage, one vin the Shostakovich #5 gives me nightmares! On these I will sit with the tuner and play each note singly trying all the alternate fingerings to get the best compromise of intonation and smoothness in fingering. This also generally involves reed and/ or mouthpiece changes.
Of course when it all works, it's suddenly worth it.
in my last concert I got a VERY backhanded compliment from the principal French horn. "You must be good on the Eb clarinet because i didn't hear anything AWFUL coming out of it." Guess we'll take what we can get from brass players, huh?
Eefer guy
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Author: RodRubber
Date: 2007-10-08 16:29
I hear more terrible sounds coming form the horn section than any other section. Is always the horns screing up every concert, and recording session. Even at the highest professonal level.
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