 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sanya
Date: 2006-04-02 17:53
We're playing Overture to Candide this year, and for some reason, I have a hell of a lot of trouble in that one part where the clarinet plays consistent eighth notes (so, sixteenth notes in cut time) for six bars. It's not the rhythm, because it's just one note after another -- requires no counting, really -- but I find that my fingers slip and fumble from one note to another, mostly because of the throat Bb fingering. Also, I find that my brain seems to "decide" last minute which C# fingering to use -- so last minute that I often get behind. I've tried to do rhythm exercises in order for my fingers to "memorize" the sequence of notes -- long-short, long-short, and then short-long, short-long -- but nothing seems to be working.
Any suggestions?
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Author: J. J.
Date: 2006-04-02 18:33
Wow, memories... I remember playing that and having a hard time with it in high school, myself.
It's just a tricky sequence and very awkward, so it's hard to give one answer that will help. One thing that may help you might be to take groups of 8 notes and and repeat them over and over so you would go notes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2....etc. Practice that slowly and once you think it's even, start over with the 2nd note of the group, in essence going 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3,...etc. If you do this and go through the whole sequence to where you would start on note 8, you will have not only cleaned up some of the natural rhythmic unevenness, but also played the sequences a bunch of times without getting bored. Do this for all of the groups of 8 notes, and I think you'll find it helps a lot.
After you've worked it out, try as hard as you can to always be thinking of the momentum as you're playing. It's easy to get caught with the throat Bb or other notes and get completely off. In the end, some notes might not be perfect, but if you can get through it, that's all you can ask for.
I wish I'd known some of these hints when I had to play it... hope this helps you!
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Author: marzi
Date: 2006-04-03 00:21
what timing, just as i started reading your post, guess what i just realized my son is practicing right now, knew it sounded familiar somehow....sounds liike he has a LOT of practicing to do too...
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Author: ABerry
Date: 2006-04-03 02:39
Sanya,
There is an exercise you could try…I used this when I was working on the Ibert woodwind quintet. First of all set your metronome on 40, then using the long-short pattern (making the short note as short as possible) and in rhythm play through the passage, then move the metronome to 42 and play the passage again, then set the metronome back to 40 and play it again. Now set the metronome to 44, play the passage, metronome back to 40 and play it again…following the this same pattern, moving the metronome up one click, play, back to 40, play…all the way through 208 and then back to 40 back to 208 and back to 40…After this then play the passage as written. This may seem like an awful lot of work, but it does work. Good luck and I hope this helps…
Allan
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-01-09 01:42
We're doing the concert band arrangement of this (Overture to Candide) - what key is the orchestral version in?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-01-09 01:56
Chris P wrote:
> We're doing the concert band arrangement of this (Overture to
> Candide) - what key is the orchestral version in?
Concert Eb
Bb clarinets/bass clarinet play in their key of F
Eb clarinet plays in its key of C
...GBK
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2008-01-09 02:36
If you can't use a clarinet in a different key: Pencil in a "R" or "L" above the offending C# so that you remember each time. You may have to mark a note before this as well so that your sequence of R & L fingerings works for you.
Once these notes are marked, then again try this exercise that you say hasn't helped so far. Break the runs into say 3 to 4 measure sections. Use a small Post-It note to block your sight from going beyond the section you've decided on. Practice these even 16th notes as 2 short/2 long, 2 short/2 long, until you're done with the 4 measures. Play these notes slowly, with proper articulation and your chosen fingering (R or L) 10 times. At first play it slow enough to be 100% correct every time! Don't learn mistakes! Follow the idea that Allan explained above, to start slowly and increase then decrease the metronome speed. (We used the same idea in typing class in college.)
Then reverse the rhythm. Play the same section 2 long/2 short, 2 long/2 short, another 10 times, with proper articulation and the chosen fingering. As you go through the 10 repeats you'll find that you automatically get a little faster as you get accustomed to these sequences.
Once those two sets of exercises are done 10 times each, then play as written 10 times through, always with proper articulation and proper fingering. Start slowly again and use the above technique for increasing speed. Your brain will have learned this passage backwards and forwards and it'll be so much easier.
Then block off next section of 3 to 4 measures with your Post-It notes and follow the same technique. Do some of this before sleeping, so your brain digests this new information during its rest.
You said that this method hasn't worked so far, but I wonder if you'd played this slow enough to play it perfectly each time before bumping up the metronome then slowing it down? Just a thought. You know how you practice. Sometimes the old brain seems to just not want to! Maybe you'll find it easier to just borrow another clarinet in a different key for this concert.
Another idea from a friend who's a piano teacher - years ago one of her examiners suggested playing the last sections first. Then gradually, section by section, work your way to the beginning of the piece. This way you're always playing TOWARDS a familiar part of the music.
These ideas are gathered from teachers and books written by orchestral players. They may appear tedious, but are THE fastest way to learn anything. It's a lot of fun to find that after an hour of practicing this way that I can feel so confident about playing something was appeared to be brutal just the hour before.
I'm so glad to know there's someone else who found this Overture a little challenging!
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-01-09 07:12
"Concert Eb"
Cheers, GBK - the concert band version is in the same key. I thought it was as it sounded right (although I'm playing oboe in this).
A good piece to blow the cobwebs out after the Christmas break.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Mike Clarinet
Date: 2008-01-09 07:58
We had a read-through in our first community band rehearsal of the year last week, possibly for the spring concert. Is this a Candide year or a Bernstein year or something?
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Author: davyd
Date: 2008-01-09 13:20
LB was born in 1918; perhaps a 90th birthday is now significant?
The original and the band arrangement are both in Eb concert. I'm informed that the percussion parts are identical.
Someone I know describes the work as "Rossini on steroids".
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Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2008-01-09 16:25
I had the Eb part a couple years ago in the community band, and it was killing me, especially the downward run. It seemed like I was always behind when that arrived. I started practicing at about 40 and worked to just get all the notes right, then picked up speed. At that point, I was wandering around the house playing Candide quite a bit and getting up to tempo. My wife expected Dick Cavett to walk in at any moment. By the time of the concert I had it cold, even added a couple ad libs from the orchestral part that didn’t make it into our band arrangement. Brenda’s practice suggestions would have probably worked better.
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2008-01-10 11:35
Tony,
You are certainly right about the Eb part for this. Getting it in tune and absolutely together with the piccolo in the very rapid soli passages and very soft on some other pasages in the stratosphere are the other problems. We just performed this with the wind symphony here and it came off great.
The downward run always felt OK to me, but listening to the other instruments around you is critical in that passage so everyone lands the sequence. As I remember the Eb overlaps with the piccolo on one note of that downward run right?
Eefer guy
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-01-10 12:54
What a strange coincidence - no sooner as I open this thread, it starts playing on the radio!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: marshall
Date: 2008-01-10 13:07
Are you talking about the part where you're supposed to have one clarinet play the first beat and one play the second beat...so it sounds like straight eighth notes all the way through?
Another way to practise, turn the measure into a 12/8 measure and play the notes in two sixteenths, two eighths, so it's counted "1+ 2 3". This retains the four notes per beat but it gives you a different pattern to play it in. After you get it with that move the sixteenth notes to the second count (1 2+ 3) and after that move them to the third count (1 2 3+). It helps you get the passage under your fingers and works wonders for evenness (much like dotted rhythms).
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