Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2005-06-04 08:23
music_is_life wrote:
>
> btw- not to sound ignorant (but I guess I am...) but what is
> "krekhs"
>
Krekhs are sounds you make from the palate; there have been numerous discussions about the topic on this board.
> I just didn't want things written, say, down an octave to be
> easier (or transposed to be in an easier key), without
> ornaments, etc...I wanted real klezmer, not stuff written for
> beginning players and such. you know what I mean?
I still think you don't get it. The music in these books are not compositions. They are TRANSCRIPTIONS. Unless it is stated that it is the composer's manuscript, what you are looking at is what someone heard someone else playing, and was able to sketch down. If it is highly notey, it means that the listener heard a very florid performance and was able to write it down. It doesn't mean that the piece was meant to be played that way.
Generally, the music should be an octave down, i.e., written so it's mostly mid-staff, because typically, the trumpet will play it in that range while the clarinet will transpose it an octave up, in order to be heard over the trumpet (if there is a trumpet playing). Thus, your penchant for difficulty may be assuaged by transposing all the clarion and chalameau stuff an octave up, and all the higher stuff an octave down (to show off your virtuosity when soloing, you may do both).
But since you want challenge...the real challenge is not to learn any of this material by reading it. There is none of it that can compare to the diffficulty of classical music, in terms of reading. The ultimate challenge is to play it by ear. The greatest performers of klezmer, and all folk music, for that matter, play it 100 percent by ear. And I don't mean memorizing, I mean by ear -- hearing.
But if you can't play well enough by ear, then you do the next best thing. You use the fake books to get the NOTES ONLY, but you use your ear to get EVERYTHING ELSE.
Your real challenge is to make your playing of this music sound BELIEVABLE.
Steve Epstein
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The Ethnic Clarinet
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