 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: tomasmilerius
Date: 2017-07-02 01:33
Hey guys! I am 18yrs (just turned) clarinetist from Lithuania, mostly studying by myself because in my city we dont have a lot good teachers:) I made a few videos. Weber Concertino and Schumann first Fantasy pieces. I would like to get a criticism, and other advices to next improvement. There are links
Concertino https://youtu.be/G6mmZ177C-o
Schumann https://youtu.be/eCU_XqMszuw
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-07-02 07:09
Tomas...
Good stuff. I enjoyed both performances. I bet you like to have another stab at the second variation, but it's all minor.
I'm impressed with your dynamic range and expressiveness.
I hope you plan to continue your study at university.
Best of Luck and Go Break a Reed!
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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Author: tomasmilerius
Date: 2017-07-02 11:20
Many thanks for your answers! I'm motivated to continue my practicing and graduate highschool in next year!
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Author: zhangray4
Date: 2017-07-06 02:49
Tomas, I only listened to the Weber since I am more familiar with that piece. You put so much passion and energy into your music! Your dynamics were superb. Overall I enjoyed your performance.
I wanted to let you know my background before you read my comments. I am almost a year younger than you, and I live in California, United States. I have been practicing this piece for a long time, and I've recently started working on this piece again every day in preparation for my audition for the State Honor Band. I have successfully auditioned into some of these regional Honor Bands in the past, including one at the national level. Just wanted to let you know who I am.
I would like to comment about your playing of the Weber. You definitely notice the dynamic markings and try your best to not play the music flatly, but instead, colorfully, and always moving towards a certain direction. This is great! Did you know that Weber was an opera composer, so it is important to have dynamic contrasts, up to a certain point. However, I feel at times the dynamic is over-done. For example, the first note, the Bb, is marked with a "hairpin" crescendo. I treat it as a slight increase and decrease in volume, but mostly a change in color of the Bb as it changes in volume. The crescendo should start from almost nothing and grow to not be louder than a mp. Imagine it as a long shot view of a particular scene in an opera.
This is just my opinion; you are free to disagree with it. But since you asked for some advice, I wanted to share my thoughts with you. Amazing playing and good luck on your further playing!
-- Ray Zhang
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Author: brycon
Date: 2017-07-06 05:54
Nice playing Tomas! Take what you read here (including my own stuff) with a grain of salt...
Quote:
For example, the first note, the Bb, is marked with a "hairpin" crescendo. I treat it as a slight increase and decrease in volume, but mostly a change in color of the Bb as it changes in volume. The crescendo should start from almost nothing and grow to not be louder than a mp. Imagine it as a long shot view of a particular scene in an opera.
I think Ray's intuition is correct. Musically, what happens at this moment in the Weber is the clarinet begins at the end of the piano's phrase. The piano moves toward a cadence in C minor around bar 9 but evades it with a deceptive VI chord on beat 3 of m. 9. The piano then has to go back to the predominant and do its cadence over again; it's at this moment, on a ii chord in bar 10, that the clarinet enters to help finish the phrase.
So, you could think of the clarinet solo part, and subsequently, the more outgoing soloist personality, actually beginning at m. 14.
For the Fantasy Pieces, it's important to know that Schumann often used very small, submotivic cells (what my counterpoint teacher called "contrapuntal motifs") as a basis for composing--they are also prevalent in Bach's music, which is where I suspect Schumann got the idea. In the first movement of the Fantasy Pieces (actually through most the Fantasy Pieces), the contrapuntal motif is a melodic half-step.
The half-step appears directly in the first bar with the piano's right hand going from E to F. The clarinet then picks up on it with (concert pitch) C to B and then again, F to E. It's omnipresent, in fact, throughout the piece. But in your performance, you're late to the piano and don't really pick up the motif--rather than forming a single melodic strand, the clarinet sounds unrelated to the piano. I guess the main issue with your Schumann is, to my ears, it sounds like a soloist with piano accompaniment rather than a duo.
Also, technically, be sure that when you have duple against the piano's triple, you're not turning your eighth notes into triplets. And your pitch goes flat when you push the air and sharp (in the throat tones) when you back off the air.
But again, very fine playing!
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-07-06 17:20
Tomas...I spent a month, years ago, doing nothing but 'sneaking in' on the opening Bb. If you pull it off, it's spectacular. {I'd starting 'spinning' the air through my horn a couple of beats before you actually come in. At the begining of the measure lightly touch the reed with your tongue to let it start vibrating. Takes perfect breath support, vocalization, embouchure...a great reed helps a lot too, LoL}. You can achieve a niente...warm up to a mp, then decrescendo to complete the phrase.
For me, it's 100 times more grandiose to achieve this than technical bravado. If I can do it, I know you can.
Have you considered adding the Baermann cadenza to Concertino? I think it adds to it, without going over the top. Here's a link to a copy if to check out:
[http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/download.html/1,3274/Weber%20001.jpg]
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