 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: lbstole
Date: 2010-09-02 17:33
So I'm finally rediscovering the enjoyment of playing after spending the last three years of undergrad with a teacher whose teaching style/philosophy didn't mesh with the way I'd come to love the clarinet. Due to this and other circumstances I dropped out of the music major during my sophomore year to pursue a liberal arts degree. I continued to play in the campus band and still played some on my own because I was still enrolled in private lessons. However, as I'm sure many of you can understand, time is gold in college, and most of my time was spent in the library rather than in a practice room after my degree shift. I look back on the music that I performed for my entrance auditions for college and I know my skills have dwindled :-(
Now that I've graduated and have more time on my hands, I'm once again trying to work my clarinet back into my schedule on a regular basis. However, I accepted a position as a volunteer English teacher in Eastern Europe for at least the next year (maybe two), so my access to private instruction is pretty much nil. I'm living on a small stipend, so even if I could find an instructor who spoke English, I couldn't afford lessons right now. I would like to try and find some sort of a group to play in, but I've only been in the country for two weeks so far.
My question for you fantastic people on the boards is, how can I make playing my clarinet enjoyable for the long haul? At the moment I have no idea where I'm going with it, I'm just playing for the sake of playing. Without the camaraderie of my tight-knight college ensemble, where do I go next? I was always the type of person who thrived on goal setting in my music making, but now things have stagnated. I also only have a limited supply of music at the moment, and that supply does not include any sort of technique books besides the Rose 32 and 40 studies.
I would really appreciate any advice people can offer me!
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2010-09-02 18:23
There is some really cool folk music in Poland which uses the clarinet, and it's not _all_ Polka! See if there's a group locally with a clarinetist who can teach you some basic Polish tunes by ear!
There might be a way to trade English lessons for clarinet lessons.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2010-09-02 18:40
I would find a community band or orchestra that meets once a week and keep your chops up. Besides keeping up with active performing you'll get a chance to network with folks about other opportunities such as small ensembles (for pay $?) or even lessons.
As for music I'd get the Baermann III (THE standard for scale books) and some good solo literature, Brahms Sonatas, Weber (2) Concertos, Mozart Concerto/Quintet, Schumann Fantasy Pieces ........ all your standard fun stuff.
Keep plugging away,
........................Paul Aviles
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2010-09-02 20:28
PERFECT time to work on jazz and playing by ear. If you can bring some sort of tunes (MP3s or something), load it up with jazz, and in your spare time, transpose by ear the solos and stuff. And then you'll be able to play some pretty cool tunes by memory, and it'll certainly be a great way to entertain both the locals and also friends/family back home.
Alexi
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