The Clarinet BBoard

The Ethnic Clarinet The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: New here / intro

Author: leslieg
Date: 2004-01-12 22:31

Yes, I know Shirley Johnson. She coordinated the Texas Camp Band this year; she did a great job. We worked together on a Serbian music workshop last year.

It seems like I've got to find a store that will let me try different mouthpieces. Is this something stores commonly do? (Not to mention they may not generally stock the kind I'm looking for). Do online stores let you return a mouthpiece you tried out?

There is a man in my area (Mark Gilston) who used to play ethnic clarinet but now concentrates on the gaida. He's willing to give me lessons. I'm never too sure what to ask for in a lesson though. I guess since I now have pieces we practice regularly in the band I could focus on improving those (such a variety! Greek Hatzisterios, Romanian? Trava, Serbian Orijent). I always feel very self-concious in lessons. I learned the violin from lessons -- I had a great instructor, but in that case I was learning the instrument from the very start.

Balkan camp is very tempting. We usually know at least one person who goes to at least one of them every year. My husband would be really happy. I've got to check the dates this year -- he goes to Poland for a conference in late June / early July. Also, we have a 2.5 year old and going to camps is trickier than I anticipated. (We've managed a few though).

I've got to assume my airflow is good, but it surely needs work. One problem with playing tunes not designed for the clarinet is that there is so often no place to breathe, and playing for dancers means you repeat at least 4 times. What gets especially triky are those tunes that I sing when I'm not playing or play when I'm not singing, getting about 1/2 breath between the activities. OK, maybe my breath control is good but my airflow isn't?

Thanks,
Leslie

p.s. What is the email used to send these posts? My spam filter removed these replies before I saw them, so I've got to tweak some settings...

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics