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Re: Blue Shades Clarinet Solo and Fingerings

Author: mrn  Date:   2009-03-19 03:03 When I played this solo (9 years ago), I played the first F# (the one that begins the gliss) using this fingering: TR x x o (Eb/Bb SK) | o o o (In other words, an "overblown" clarion Bb--this is much, much better than the standard fingering) The G I played like this: TR x o o | o o , o (Overblown clarion B natural with the RH sliver key--if that's too sharp for you, use the RH Ab/Eb key instead--and if that's still too sharp, you can leave off the RH key altogether) With these two fingerings, you can do the gliss by sliding your LH2 finger off the hole. For the F# grace notes that immediately follow, I also used an overblown Bb, but I used the other one (the one with the LH sliver key instead of the side key). I did this because I played the grace notes with a little bit of glissando, and the sliver key fingering made sliding my finger off the hole more natural. I also used the sliver key in bar 324 for the Bb for the same reason. Another F# you might find useful in spots like bar 333 (the Gb), is to add the RH Eb/Bb side key to your standard F fingering--in other words: TR o x x (C#/G#, Eb/Bb SK) | o o , o (I use the RH sliver key--you might use RH Ab/Eb instead if the sliver key makes it too sharp) You can also use that F# for gliss if you want (although it might be more awkward). If you what to try that, use this fingering for the G: TR o x o (C#/G#, Eb/Bb SK) | o o , o (In other words, slide your ring finger off the LH3 hole.) For the Eb's that are not in proximity to D's (for example bar 329) I typically use: TR o x x | o o x (Ab/Eb) For isolated E's (for example, bar 346), I typically use: TR (G#) x x x | o o o Heh, heh....I just pulled out the recording I have of me playing this and noticed I added a few little touches of my own to this solo, mostly tone color and a little portamento/glissando here and there. Nothing *too* sacreligious, given the style...although I did notice I took the liberty of completely ignoring the staccato dot on the first beat of bar 335, which allowed me to crescendo the Gb with a really raucous sound. I still think it makes more musical sense to do it that way, so I hope the composer will forgive me--never thought you'd hear that from me, I know....but hey, it's supposed to sound like I made it all up myself, right? Because I don't use any vibrato, all the "jazziness" comes from phrasing, intonation, and tone color. Perhaps I can convince the publisher to let me post an excerpt of my recording on YouTube so you can listen--it's a little rough around the edges in a spot or two, but on the whole I think it came out pretty decent. Post Edited (2009-03-19 05:31)

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Re: Blue Shades Clarinet Solo and Fingerings

Author: mrn  Date:   2009-03-19 19:28 I got the OK from the publisher to post my recording of this solo online, so here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W26zRS82DiA Like I said, it ain't perfect, but on the whole it came out about like I wanted. This was a live performance, and my hands were sweaty (nerves), so about midway through my hand slipped off of one of the keys--that's what that weird little spot in the middle that doesn't sound quite right is.

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Re: Blue Shades Clarinet Solo and Fingerings

Author: mrn  Date:   2009-03-20 00:00 cigleris wrote: > I've just listened to and watched your Youtube clip and I must > say that you have a very good ensemble there (i'm assuming your > the conductor). I agree. They're quite good! (Saw their Rocky Point video, too) That's a hard piece, too. Combining that with Rocky Point Holiday makes for a very challenging program--one that requires good clarinets, but also a good marimba player!

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Re: Blue Shades Clarinet Solo and Fingerings

Author: mrn  Date:   2009-03-20 18:53 Johnny Galaga wrote: > I figured there had to more to the story. You don't normally > have a group of better-than-average players who all just happen > to go to the same high school. Oh, in Texas you do... Some of it has to do with socioeconomic factors, some of it has to do with living in a city or college town where you have access to professional symphonies and universities, some of it has to do with school size (with a large enough band program, you can have multiple bands of different skill levels) and some of it just has to do with how competitive the band directors are. It's ridiculously competitive here in Texas. Just to give you an example (because it's the one I'm most familiar with), I went to a very large high school (a "class 5A" school--we had around 2500 students) in an affluent suburb of Houston, with an extremely competitive band program. Many of our private teachers were affiliated with the Houston Symphony, Rice University, or University of Houston (both of which have strong music schools). My senior year, the top three chairs in my section had all been All State players (and 4th chair made it the next year), and we had past or current All-State players in several other key sections, too--trumpet, oboe, horn (2), and tuba--8 in all. Our program that year included two movements of Ingolf Dahl's Sinfonietta (a hard piece for a lot of college groups) and the "Jupiter" movement from Holst's Planets. We were the 5A honor band (top large-school band in the state) that year. They'd never made it before, and they haven't made it again since. Why? It's not for lack of good players--for instance this year, according to their website, they had 32 kids make area (including 5 freshmen) and 5 made All-State. The reason is that the competition is just as impressive as they are--if you don't believe me, go to YouTube and punch in "Duncanville" or "Langham Creek" and watch their concert bands. That's how insanely competitive it is here--rivaled only by high school football (and in some places, band is actually a bigger deal than football). And marching band is just as competitive, maybe even more so--nowadays it's like DCI with woodwinds. Compare this video (I'm in it somewhere--we did a Beatles halftime show that year--this is us warming up for a parade) with this one from this school year (notice the new "Star Trek" style uniforms, like the DCI groups use). They made it to state finals in marching band this year--that's a feat we never managed to pull off when I was there. In fact, it's gotten to become so ultra-competitive among the larger schools that, since I was in school, they've actually split "All-State" into three different All-State Band competitions to give the kids at smaller schools a more realistic chance of making it. Nowadays we have the TMEA 5A competition, the TMEA 4A competition, and the ATSSB (Association of Texas Small School Bands) All-State competition (run by a different group than TMEA)!

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