 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: marcia
Date: 2026-01-22 02:37
My community orchestra will be performing Peter and the Wolf on March 1. I am the (un?)lucky person that gets to play the cat climbing the tree. I have spent considerable time on it already. It seems to be hit and miss at the moment. Any suggestions as to how to practise it most effectively?
Marcia
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2026-01-22 07:12
Think of each "run up" as a separate chord. Each one is easy, so all together should also be easy. Easier said than done. If you've got good technique it's all a mental thing.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2026-01-22 18:32
It is easier to think of it as a sequence of triads (the 5th of each is at the bottom - 2nd inversion, but each fifth is flatted by a half-step - (on an A clarinet) Gb(F#)-C-E/G(Abb)-Db-F, etc.
It's one of the few passages I've played for which standard "muscle memory" really never seemed to help. After years of battling with it, I was much better off visualizing the ascending triads on a keyboard. BTW, I do, for no particular reason I can describe, feel more comfortable playing it on an A clarinet. Somehow the initial takeoff is easier for me than starting on F-B-D# on a Bb clarinet.
BTW, don't at first get suckered into trying to match speed with the recordings you hear. One of the most helpful experiences for me was hearing a live Philadelphia Orchestra children's concert one Saturday morning a long time ago. Don Montenaro was playing it, and they probably hadn't rehearsed much, if at all. Don took it about as slowly as I've ever heard it played - still a fairly quick climb up the tree, but sort of loping instead of scrambling up. The conductor didn't try to hurry him - I'm not sure after all these years that he even tried to set a tempo with the stick. It sounded fine and much more comfortable than most of the helter-skelter recordings you can find now on YouTube.
Have fun with it.
Karl
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Author: Alexey
Date: 2026-01-22 19:42
My experience is that if I can't see clearly in my mind what and how I play, I can't play it.
I mean, muscle memory doesn't work for me if my mind doesn't know which note should be played next. So the first thing is training the mind. If the brain doesn't know in quick tempo which note is the next, then the muscles don't know as well. Of course, our brain can think about a group of notes, not only one note after another.
And there is the only way, and it's to play slowly, really slowly, so no mistakes at all for the whole passage. Playing rhythmically is also very important. Fingers should be pretty relaxed but firm with snappy motions down and up, like hammers (but the tempo still is very slow).
Increase tempo gradually, very gradually.
Though it's OK to choose a small group of notes and play it in fast tempo.
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Author: marcia
Date: 2026-01-22 21:07
The first time we read through the piece, as we got to the cat, I said to the conductor "This is an elderly cat!" I do start slowly, and speed up as I can. I have listened to a few you tube recordings and found a huge variation in speed.
I'm playing it on Bb. The A part is more then my brain can process. Yes each triad is simple on its own. Putting them together smoothly is the issue. My brain is not as young as it once was! )-:
The first recording I listened to was the VSO (I live in Vancouver) with the late Bramwell Tovey as narrator and conductor. It is worth listening to it for him alone.
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