 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2008-04-27 13:20
Practice. Solitary labor. Sometimes it goes well. The reed is great, coordination is clicking, the mind is alert. Small things get obviously better.
Some days it doesn’t go well. Some days while trying to speed up some thirds, one discovers that one’s straight G-major scale actually isn’t very even at all, and probably never was at decent speed. So one must drill that thing. One must make little 2 and 3 and 4 note sequences of the bottom G-A-B-C part, and drill them over and over. How can this be, I should be way past this!” Ah, sometimes the music seems so very far away.
Then one notices that their chromatic scale isn’t all that perfect either. Where? At the break of course. No, it’s actually a mess in the throat sequence too. But that was good, what happened?? Maybe it wasn’t so good. So one starts drilling that - again. An hour wanders by. Can’t get the break right. Slow down. Drill. Can’t get the break right. Slow down, change the drill. Can’t get the break right. Throat tones sound like crap.
Then, an inspiration! One flips the clarinet to reverse the right hand grip, and raises the clarinet back over the shoulder. One flings the clarinet like a spear through the kitchen window into the driveway. There’s a clear tone at last. On a roll now, one dashes outside and fires up the truck with a satisfying roar. Then one drives over the clarinet, crushing it into the tar That’ll darken the sound! Reverse direction, and again. Forward, again. Drill, drill, drill! Ah, I was born for this!
Words only. Sigh. Pay the bills. Prune the rose bushes. Try again later.
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2008-04-27 14:10
One of my teachers said that every September he'd start his students with long tones and scales all over again.
At least you were brave enough to publicly put our thoughts into words!
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Author: marcia
Date: 2008-04-27 17:31
Thank you Philip! And here I thought "I" was the only one to suffer such malady. However I have stopped short of flinging the instrument through the window. Could not bear seeing all that money go to waste!!
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The Clarinet Pages
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