 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Joseph Brenner, Jr.
Date: 2011-03-07 01:14
Jack, I do wish I had heard you in person; your performance suffers from the recording. That said, you seem to have made a good bit of progress on this work. I see problems with execution and rhythm that are holding you back. Your grace notes are not well executed, you seem to have some difficulty with sudden register change, and your tempo lags and lurches. In the last few bars, you seem to turn a run into a glissando. While I know that this is Weber, who writes grand opera for the clarinet, and that this is a Polacca, I think you'd serve yourself well by practicing with a metronome--that way you can concentrate on mastering technique that can support the tempo. I fear that the halting and lurching tempi may be hiding unsteady technique. Best wishes. jbjr
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-03-07 01:54
Jack -
You play really well for being in the 10th grade, particularly if you started (as I did) in the 7th. Your tone is particularly nice and resonant. By the way, you've improved considerably in the year since you recorded the Concertino.
Your next step is to make it dance. A polacca is a medium-tempo but bouncy dance. I think you take it too slow. It was danced at carnivals. This means being a lot lighter and more joyous. Listen to Gervase de Peyer's amazing recording, which gets it exactly right. http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Clarinet-Concerto-Weber-Australia/dp/B000AL8ZDS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1299465295&sr=8-3.
Your trouble in the C# major section tells me that you haven't worked enough in the Baermann III book. You need to have all possible keys "in your muscle memory" -- including the really hard ones. That way when you get dumped into C# for a few bars, you'll know what to do.
You lose precision in the fast passages, particularly the sextuplet outburst at the end. If you slow it down a click on the metronome and play it really clean and under control, it will actually sound faster to the audience than smearing over it. It has to be graceful and dashing, not frantic.
Finally, as Joseph says, you need to work with a metronome. Until you can play everything perfectly even and steady, you don't have a strong foundation to depart from when you want to play expressively.
Ken Shaw
Post Edited (2011-03-07 14:26)
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Author: salzo
Date: 2011-03-07 11:34
Really nice playing.
General obsvervations- I think it might be helpful to focus a bit more dynamics- not so much on the "louds and softs", but more on tapering the phrases. All that up and down in that piece, try a general get louder going up get softer going down dynamic scheme.
Also your tone and pitch(which are both quite nice), seems to spread some times when going up -keep pressure on the sides and make sure you are listening to yourself.-and the high F that you have to play at the end of a run 137 times might benefit from using the sliver key to get the pitch higher.
Finally, some of the runs aren/t uite under control, but they are really close. I would suggest playing with the metronome, AT THE TEMPO YOU ARE PLAYING, and play it as slow as you can at the performance tempo you are playing it at. I personally find that more beneficial then slowing the tempo down to practice rapid passages. You are rushing, and not grounded- play it fast, but think slow and under control.
But really nice playing, enjoyed listening.
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Author: PrincessJ
Date: 2011-03-07 11:41
Like building a house, you need foundation, which in this case is rhythm. Tone - good! Intonation - from what the recording tells me, good.
Do as Ken suggested, and things will start to improve.
Things you have difficulty with, take them and break them down in to smaller pieces, slow them down, work on them over and over again with a metronome. I can only continue to stress the importance of metronomic practice, it works wonders. Get it to the point where you don't even need to consciously count the beat in the front of your head.
Memorizing the tempo and rhythm, will make everything including fast passes, dynamic, etc, sound and feel much more "right", smooth, and or crisp.
Your doing it right for the most part, don't get me wrong, practice makes perfect (or as close as a human can get to it I suppose).
I'd also just keep listening to the "exactly" right recording. Listen to it while you do your homework or whatever, just get it down in the back of your head.
For me, subconscious memory helps form more "tacit knowledge" - like when someone first learns to drive a car, they have to think about when to make the turn. Someone who has been driving for years, automatically, without conscious thought, knows when to make the turn.
Same goes for memorizing scales and pieces.
-Jenn
Circa 1940s Zebra Pan Am
1972 Noblet Paris 27
Leblanc Bliss 210
1928 Selmer Full Boehm in A
Amateur tech, amateur clarinetist, looking to learn!
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2011-03-07 18:45
Salzo Said, "I would suggest playing with the metronome, AT THE TEMPO YOU ARE PLAYING, and play it as slow as you can at the performance tempo you are playing it at."
Sir, could you please elaborate on the above? Sorry for being so ignorant, but does this mean to practice at the desired tempo of the music? I've read many times to practice only as fast as one can do correctly, then set the metronome higher, etc.
As usual, thanks so much for this wonderful BB.
CarlT
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Author: mrn
Date: 2011-03-08 04:05
One thing that I think would help improve your playing of this movement would be to familiarize yourself with the form/style it's written in.
This movement is a polonaise, which is a kind of dance with a very particular rhythm ("Alla polacca" means "in the style of a polonaise). Here are some examples of other polonaises, from which you can observe the basic rhythm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21dsRBeIy8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Qq3RA19G4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PY0NFC4aEw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19lJZGzOeEg
Notice that none of these pieces are really all that fast--they are more about rhythm and accents than sheer virtuosity and speed. You can also play a little with drawing out certain beats and shortening others a little within this style, but you have to keep to the same basic rhythmic framework for it to be effective.
I would still practice slowly and methodically with a metronome, of course, but once you get it comfortably under your fingers, I would play around a little bit with the rhythm to make it sound more polonaise-like. I think it could enhance the musicality of your performance a great deal.
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2011-03-09 18:22
In fact you have much more time tom play the 'hardest' parts than you would think. It's a very common mistake to play wantonly fast when seeing too much notes...You should think in bigger perspective that 1 bar.
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2011-03-09 19:54
Tempo is fine. Harold Wright takes it even slower.
Use a metronome.
Learn to correctly play note lengths. Think of the accents as very quick diminuendos, which will make more spaces between the notes.
On the leaps in the opening, make sure you are using 1/1 Bb.
Practice slower.
Don't overblow.
Those are some general comments. Overall I think it's very good, but with some time and attention to details it can be even better. Thanks for posting this.
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Author: Jack Stewart
Date: 2011-03-14 22:18
Mr. Blumberg - I began in 4th grade, as that was when band class was an option at my small Catholic school. Both my parents played clarinet through high school, but neither played in college. My dad helped me get started. I enjoyed it a lot, but did not get too serious about playing until high school. Robin Garner Korevaar is my (wonderful) private teacher.
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