 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: TomD
Date: 2010-04-14 15:28
I believe it is just showing his incredible technique. I'm sure he would slow it down when actually performing the piece in concert.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2010-04-14 16:17
I agree with TomD.
He even had to check his show registration to make sure he was himself.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2010-04-14 17:49
Being at this conference looks about as much fun as eating sawdust.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2010-04-15 00:17
TomD it does not matter anything really. In 2002 I was at a masterclass with John McCaw and he said that he has a very lousy staccato and did practice the staccato places in the Nielsen concerto for 1-2 hours each day for a year before he did the Mozart/Nielsen concerto recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1971. He does not play the concerto as fast as for example Martin Fröst or Kjell Inge Stevensen but still he manage to record at least in my opinion one of the very best version of the concert with incredible depth and lyric. A master technique can you now overdo things like has happened with Martin Fröst,Sabine Meyer and for sure Paul Meyer for example(not that they aren't good or have not done some very beautiful things).
I would rather take a piece that requires a great virtuoso technique like say some of Peter Maxwell Davis pieces rather than speed up some of the less techniqually demanding piece(and make it sound mechanical) to show your skill.
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Author: RoBass
Date: 2010-04-15 09:06
@TomD: NAMM is a show (fair), not a concert ;-)
kindly
Roman
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Author: Clarimeister
Date: 2010-04-15 09:19
Not a fan here myself of people showing off like that. Wearing a costume to your favorite anime at an anime expo is one thing, but ruining a piece like that at a music convention is pretty annoying if you ask me. Just my two sense worth. Not many will agree with me...
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2010-04-15 09:38
Good grief!
I guess none of you ever had to tend a show booth and try to attract customers. They won't notice you unless you're loud, shrill, flashy and whatnot. It is a music fair (not even a "music convention"), producers and manufacturers try to sell their products there. And for this, Julian's performance was just right.
Musing about artistic merits in that context is as silly as pointing out typo errors in any given number of posts in a BBoard.
--
Ben
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Author: Old Geezer
Date: 2010-04-15 16:11
A meaningless display, for sales purposes no doubt.
Where did the orchestra come from?
The kid has got to make a living selling these clarinets...but it can lead to trivializing himself and his career!
Clarinet Redux
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Author: William
Date: 2010-04-15 18:27
How do you make you clarinet sound like a french horn?? Stick your hand up the bell and miss a lot of notes.
[apparently now] How do you sound like Julian Bliss?? Play twice as fast as you can and miss a lot of notes. Poor sound equipement will also help accentuate your effort.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2010-04-15 19:03
Julian missed maybe 3 notes max.
And that was being really picky to catch the 3.
Weber 2 last page isn't "hard" - no big deal even at that speed.
He was using SmartMusic I would figure, and did fine for what it was.
I've got recordings of players a lot "bigger" than him that miss a LOT more notes than he did 
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2010-04-16 12:36
I would not say that this particular performance was the most artistically accomplished I have ever heard of this piece or by Julian but it was aimed at attracting people to a commercial stand at a busy event and on showing what was possible on a relatively low in the range instrument. In contrast, I did hear Julian at a recent recital cum chamber music concert in London about six months ago (I think it was October 09) and I was extremely impressed - he was very secure in every way and also came across as very unaffected - not the "I'm a star" type at all which is something some other players could do well to learn from.
Vanessa.
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Author: TomD
Date: 2010-04-16 12:50
I am 55 and on the very low end of an intermediate player thus maybe I am easily impressed. If everyone that has commented on this feels what Julian did is not hard and they them selves can play that way, then you are all really good players IMHO. I just thought this was really impressive for just fooling around at a trade show with a lot of noise and distractions. Being that it was not a formal concert, I don't however feel that the picky comments by some were justified and I can't help but think that in some cases there could be some jealousy involved.
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Author: cjshaitan
Date: 2010-04-16 13:06
this is so last century any tertiary student can do that and most highschool students.
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2010-04-17 19:34
The visual takes away from this clip. With people walking around and Julian's casual dress and body language it conveys a somewhat "uninvolved" quality. Listen to without watching.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: GLHopkins
Date: 2010-04-17 19:42
At his age he's accomplished more than most, if not all, of us here. I don't see anybody posting here that has had a clarinet named after them. I do agree that he looked like he was a bit bored with the whole thing, but what kid his age wouldn't be bored in that situation?
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Author: mrn
Date: 2010-04-18 17:52
Some of you guys are taking this "candid camera" moment way too seriously. Give the kid a break--he was just playing around. What you see in the clip is neither a superhuman feat nor evidence of a lack of artistic/musical understanding/maturity.
For those of you who may be wondering how it's physically possible to pull off such a feat, it's really not as difficult as it sounds. The key is to recognize that it isn't how fast you move your fingers, it's how you time the sealing or unsealing of the holes that makes you go fast. So instead of making lots of individual rapid finger movements, in a passage like this, for the most part, you move your whole hand slowly in one fluid movement--kind of like drumming your hand on a tabletop.
The other key is not to get too tensed up in your fingers. You have to apply opposing forces in your fingers to play the little trill-like figures, of course, because you have to change the direction of finger movement, but it's easy to let that progressively tense up your whole hand (especially if you try to apply too much force). When I first learned this piece I had that problem (and it affected how rapidly I could play), but I eventually came to the realization that a generally looser feel through most of it worked better. You need momentary finger tension only for a handful of spots (those where fingers must rapidly change direction)--for the rest of it, smooth, relatively-slow movements of the entire hand with minimal finger tension are all you need (and, in fact, will permit you to achieve much greater speeds).
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Author: cjshaitan
Date: 2010-04-19 03:41
I said it before and will say it again its not really that impressive at all. Show me Julian shootin up surrond by some hot chicks ( maybe those new buffett girls ) and then we can talk about impressive
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Author: mrn
Date: 2010-04-19 14:54
cjshaitan wrote:
Quote:
I said it before and will say it again its not really that impressive at all.
Just in case that remark was directed to me or in response to what I wrote, let me just make myself clear--I never said I wasn't impressed.
What I do think, though, is that it is rather silly to analyze/criticize a bit of casual "noodling" as if it were a serious performance.
But I also thought I'd mention that it IS possible to *learn* to do what he's doing in the clip, because there is a particular technique that applies here. It's something that Tony Pay has mentioned numerous times here on the BBoard ("slow fingers"). This piece is a prime example of where this technique can be used to great advantage.
But I don't mean to take anything away from Julian's playing, nor do I mean to imply that I can play this passage with the level of technical mastery and speed he does--in fact, I'll just say it now: I've never played it that fast in my life! It *is* possible, though, (for us "ordinary human beings") to learn to use the technique he's using in the clip to improve one's own ability to negotiate rapid passages, and it's a very worthwhile technique to learn.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2010-04-19 15:17
It was fast, but that's just not hard to do! If you haven't gotten to that level of technique, I guess it would be impossible, but for someone with fingers, it can easily be done - without practicing it (if the piece is already in your fingers which I would assume that any orchestral professional clarinetist it would be).
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: TomD
Date: 2010-04-19 16:45
mrn,
Where can I get more info/details on the technique of which you speak?
Thanks
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Author: mrn
Date: 2010-04-19 16:48
DavidBlumberg wrote:
> It was fast, but that's just not hard to do! If you haven't
> gotten to that level of technique, I guess it would be
> impossible, but for someone with fingers, it can easily be done
> - without practicing it (if the piece is already in your
> fingers which I would assume that any orchestral professional
> clarinetist it would be).
Well...I didn't say I couldn't, either.  But bear in mind that I learned to play that concerto when I was 15 years old, and it's been about 17 years since the last time I played it, so it's no longer "under my fingers."
Truth is, I've never even TRIED to play it that fast, nor do I really care to. A polonaise is actually supposed to be a relatively slow dance, even if it is a highly ornamented one. I think most players actually play this piece too fast--my teenage self included--emphasizing the technical virtuosity over the dance feel. There's a lot more music to be made in Weber 2 than it seems at first blush, although it took me some years to figure that out. That's part of the reason why I put it aside for so long--I got kind of bored with it, because it seemed like it was nothing but runs. (I don't play professionally, so I can get away with putting a major concerto up in the closet for years. )
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