 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bartmann
Date: 2009-12-01 21:23
I used to play the clarinet exclusively but several years ago I learned flute.
Last week for the first time I played in my old woodwind group as a flute player rather than a clarinetist. We’ve been working on the Spohr Quintet Op.52 for Flute, Clarinet, Horn Bassoon, and Piano. The wind quintet literature is not vast, so over the years I’ve played all of the major pieces from the wind repertoire, and most of the minor pieces.
So playing this same repertoire that I know so well from a flute perspective has been really exciting. It’s also a bit strange, because I know it from the clarinet perspective. So while playing the piece, I hear in my head two lines simultaneously: the Flute and the Clarinet. It has been a refreshing way to get a better understanding of the piece, because I only really knew it from the clarinet line. Playing this repertoire from another musical instrument is a wonderful way to get a new take on a somewhat limited repertoire.
But being so aware of the clarinet does have its drawbacks. After only a few measures of playing I thought to myself, “The clarinetist’s reed sounds really hard and stuffy.” Sure enough after a solid 45 minutes of practice, he says, “Guys can we take a break? My reed’s way too hard.” I asked him why he was playing with such a hard reed and he said that his other reeds had died about three days ago and he didn’t have time to fully break in these. I remember those days well when the timing of my reed break-in cycle didn’t match my practice or performance schedule and I was forced to use a reed or several reeds successively in order to make it through the practice.
Our new clarinetist’s chops died after another half hour of practice. It was nice to play the piece as a flutist and not worry about reeds, water in the tone holes, embouchure endurance, or swabbing. So in that regard I really could focus more on the music and less on the equipment. As James Galway said, “Only singers have less apparatus between them and their music.”
It is nice to revisit the wind repertoire from a new perspective.
Bartmann
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Author: BobD
Date: 2009-12-02 10:58
As a beginner on sax I have a somwhat parallel feeling but its about not having to worry about wood cracking....and only one cork to grease
Bob Draznik
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Author: marcia
Date: 2009-12-03 02:25
As a sometimes sax player, I have occasionally played the same piece on clarinet and alto sax. It is very interesting to be in a different location in an ensemble, and to have different parts more audible, but still being completely aware of the clarinet part.
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