 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2015-01-11 20:52
Today's Rant
Our community orchestra just got some awful rental parts, scribbled up with juvenile fingerings and other stuff.
Shame on the rental company for taking money for such crummy looking parts. But also, shame on clueless clarinetists.
Every clarinetist over a certain age should know which notes on their instrument tend to play out of tune, and know which accidentals occur in B major. Most importantly, they should be able to look at a passage and automatically know which fingerings are appropriate.
At base, having to mark fingerings is a sign of musical immaturity. Yes, teachers do mark fingerings in their students' method books, But before doing this, all teachers need to tell their students that these marks are only for study, as learning tools.
After your students have learned what you have taught them, they should no longer need write down fingerings as their dear teachers have done, and clot up sheet music that belongs to someone else, which will be used later on by other clarinetists who have been better students.
A professional's daily scale book should be pristine, because they know all the fingerings. Someone who needs to mark down all that stuff will never get beyond playing notes, and may well never make any music at all.
For Clarinet's sake, please tell your students to get a notebook to write all this crap down, or tell them to make their own copies of parts to garbage up.
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2015-01-11 21:23
I don't mind having fingerings and L and R pinky suggestions in parts since I can either use them or ignore them. Actually, for rental parts, isn't it the job of the renting band/orchestra to erase all that? What does get me is when someone writes that a Gb is really an F#, etc. or a C part with every note written in above the notated part. Good grief.
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-01-11 21:34
I don't think the spirit or intention of law is violated by making photocopies of pages otherwise given to you in original, and marking those up, instead of the original--destroying them after a performance. I agree Ralph that a marked up work can often add to frustration when playing it.
The intention with copyright law is to thwart attempts at denying artitsts and publishers their deserved compensation for borrowing/playing the works they compose and publish, when such laws apply. Photocopies in this case don't prevent such revenue streams.
I agree with you in principle about players being able to read ahead, know their scales, and ideally be able to LORI their fingers when necessary, for example, to open up the right pinky, where their setup has no left pinky lever for controlling the G#/D#/Upper Altissimo key.
(LORIng, or "Left/Righting" (or vice versa) is my way of referring to situtations where we pinky swap mid note, or slide off of a high right pinky lever to play a lower one because we may lack a left pinky G#/D# key.)
But I'm also of the pragmatic sense that we don't advance as musicians during our primary learning years unless we push beyond music we're capable of sight reading. Anotations to use, say, a chromatic fingering, or not, or a trill key, albeit on a photocopy, without marking up music not owned, gets us in the habit of taking on those "chalameau F's to G#'s," starting with the left pinky automatically, to reach the state of our being able to play the markless music you describe.
Perhaps some of this annotation (but certainly not all, and probably not most) won't be needed should clarinet makers begin regularly offering left pinky G#/D# levers. I think this addition is way overpriced as much as players can make cogent arguments that it shouldn't be needed, or gets in the way.
Granted, different instrument, but there is plenty of published annotation about bow direction and fingering in some of one of my family member's cello pieces: advanced works included.
"A professional's daily scale book should be pristine, because they know all the fingerings."
I disagree with the first half of the sentence and fully endorse the second part. Ralph, you're absolutely right. Professionals should practically not even need to look at those books to do their scale work, let alone should that book need to be marked up, nor should it under any circumtance if not owned by the player.
By I own my books, and began on them when such annotations were necessary for me. My teachers, with the best of intentions, wrote all sorts of [non- and musical] notes in them, including alternative fingers for, say, "double high A#."
One technique another cello player I know's teacher use to do was present a window if you will, of notes for the player to read, by cutting a hole in thick paper stock, and putting it over the page as the student played. He had different size windows, that he moved at different speeds relative to tempo, as his students played. Sometimes these shields were only at the left or right side of the music.
This approach forced players to acquire various skills, not the least of which being reading music ahead of playing it.
Before the invention of computer related ways to read music, I'm not sure this windowing could be done alone by the player. But it seems like an excellent feature to incorporate, if not there already, in tools like SmartMusic.
May the musical pages of your life be no less visually presentable to you as how you no doubt seek to beautifully voice them.
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Author: Wisco99
Date: 2015-01-11 21:57
I sense a great deal of anger here regarding making marks on music in pencil., I functioned in what is referred to as "the professional world" for 40 years where you have perhaps 3 hours if you are lucky to rehearse a Broadway show or name act before performing it flawlessly before thousands of people. Those parts are full of markings where a clarinet player is also playing many other instruments and constantly switching. Those markings save you from disaster. Sometimes you sight read songs when a performer changes their mind and pulls out an old medley.
I have also worked in music publishing, and copyright law is constantly changing. What may seem reasonable to you may be in violation of federal copyright law.
I can understand your frustration with receiving poorly marked up parts, but let me assure you musicians at the highest level carry a pencil with them to mark up parts. Seeing "hang tenor" on a clarinet part even before you start playing clarinet is normal so you have a tenor sax hanging around your neck when you have maybe 2 bars to switch instruments and with a fingering marked so you are aware of the land mines. That is just what I have experienced.
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Author: davyd
Date: 2015-01-11 22:13
I don't have a problem with marked-up rented parts. If there's a marking that I don't think is necessary, that's why erasers were invented.
Not sure what's meant by "juvenile fingerings". It might well be that the previous user of the part was indeed a student, not a grizzled veteran. Or the player may have been a doubler who was not playing their primary instrument. Agree with Wisco99; you might not have much preparation time, so why not make use of the work done by previous players.
As an orchestra librarian, I make a point of going through rented parts after we're done with them, and erasing what I can, especially cuts (if made).
Ralph, be thankful you're not a string player, having to decipher inconsistent or contradictory bowings.
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2015-01-11 23:00
davyd wrote:
Ralph, be thankful you're not a string player, having to decipher inconsistent or contradictory bowings.
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But isn't it your job to fix that before rehearsals begin? And shouldn't you be erasing rental parts as well? Of course, the trick is knowing what *not* to erase!
I am entirely sympathetic with Mr. Katz. Unfortunately the big music publishers are woefully understaffed, so we librarians are often called upon to make a set presentable.
However, I have been known to send especially poor sets back to the publisher and demand a clean(er) set. They are usually cooperative, at least for those of us in the larger organizations.
So, the next time you get that Bass Clarinet part in bass clef and decide you absolutely need to write in the name of every note (even tied notes!), think of the poor person who has to clean up your mess, and make a copy that you can scribble on to your heart's delight.
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-01-11 23:36
"and make a copy that you can scribble on to your heart's delight"
What about the copyright laws.
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2015-01-12 02:17
screw the copyright. No damage when I destroy my "personal copy" after the concert.
When I pay dear money to rent a part, then I demand crisp fresh sheets. Just like I can expect fresh sheets on the bed in a hotel room I rent. Else I'd expect a discount for "used" parts...
--
Ben
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2015-01-12 02:31
Some markings help anyone except those already well familiar with the music. I don't think the OP meant those. Other markings should never have been made. Some of our community band clarinet parts have circled ALL the notes indicated in the key signatures. So, in G-major, every single F(#) is circled. In other pieces the accidentals from the key signature are superfluously inserted before every such note, where they give the appearance of meaning something not in the key signature, instead of the other way around. Grr, grr, erase, erase.
I rather agree with the idea of making part copies for marking and study. Is there any other recourse? Can one buy single parts? Should they, for every piece where there's a few bars they want to practice, when the piece isn't in the folder, or during the off season? I'm thinking band music here; I know there's orchestral except books (and I have a pile of them), but I've never heard of a corresponding library for band excerpts.
Also, I've seen a lot of old small size marches copied and enlarged for the typical situations that combine weaker eyes and bad lighting. Fine, but if those happened to copied from stupidly marked up parts, so that erasing can't be done, egad. I had to play from one last year. I ended up delicately applying white-out on it and making a clean photocopy.
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2015-01-12 04:42
Well I sure turned over something here. Thanks for your comments.
Once I played a show and we got an absolutely new set of books, and someone joked he couldn't read it without the chicken scratching.
But seriously, you shouldn't after the first reading need the LORI stuff. After wearing out my last scale book 20 years ago, I had the new one bound, and keeping it pristine is the best exercise for my rapidly aging brain.
But if you are in B major, you should not need to mark every fershlugginer sharp.
Publishers are understaffed, and I understand this only too well on my own day job. On the other hand, our community orchestra shelled out $400 for a scribbled up set of parts that are too ratty to erase without the risk of destroying them.
Maybe I am working from the wrong level here. Once I played an entire university band concert on my A clarinet without making a single mark. It took me an afternoon to relearn all the parts a half step up. And I thought that was fun.
Post Edited (2015-01-12 07:21)
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-01-12 05:41
"But if you are in B major, you should not need to mark every fershlugginer sharp."
MAD Magazine, taught buttoned-down America how to detect the inanities and silly idealizations of post-wwii mass media, as it also introduced phrases like "potrzebie" and "fershlugginer" into the national lexicon.
It's Yinglish.
_Cassell's Dictionary of Slang_ (1998) gives:
*ferschluginner/furschlugginer* adj. [1950s+] (US) confounded, darned, wretched. [Yid. _farshlogn_, worried, care-worn]
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2015-01-12 05:46
In the New York Philharmonic digital archives they have the parts used by the symphony. Just looking over the Stravinsky Petrushka clarinet parts there are plenty of markings, although most are details of interpretation. But, there are also some reminders of accidentals and indications of where to play higher or lower in pitch, highlighted crescendo marks in red, even some fingering reminders. I teach that a musician's best musical tool is a pencil and it seems to me that an unmarked part is either from one who has a fantastic memory, or just doesn't care. I understand that Ralph is only complaining about trashed parts that require a 1/2 hour of erasing, but please use your pencil as needed!
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: Christopher Bush
Date: 2015-01-12 06:07
Whenever my students forget some detail in playing a passage for me, I ask why they didn't write it in. I generally get the response that they shouldn't have to and would rather be the kind of player that doesn't need that crutch. I ask them whether they're more interested in being right or having a clean page. As a player, I try to be much more concerned with whether I'm producing the sound I intend than hubris. As a conductor and audience member, I don't care whether or not you have a marking in your part reminding you to play the C on the left pinky to allow for the coming Eb. I care that you get it right.
I'm a big fan of my parts looking tidy, but this business of not making any marks at all is pure nonsense. Take a look a look at busy, quality orchestral musicians and you'll see most make marks.
Christopher Bush
Prof. of Clarinet - NYU
Princ. Clarinet - Glens Falls Symphony, Metro Chamber Orchestra
Director - NYU Composers Ensemble
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Author: kdk
Date: 2015-01-12 07:52
I, too, think that C clarinet parts that have every letter name transposed for Bb clarinet marked above the noteheads are a nuisance. And I would prefer not to have the reminders (which sometimes are penciled in heavily enough to cover the important stuff) that A# is Bb, But many other markings, if not completely necessary, are at least useful in averting avoidable disasters.
When a good, experienced player makes a mistake during the first rehearsal of a piece, there's usually a reason - something in his mind set caused the mistake in the first place. Whatever it was, the surest way to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen again, either at a subsequent rehearsal or at a performance, is to pencil in a reminder. There's no sin in making a mistake once - it isn't a sign of weakness or lack of skill. The sin is in repeating the mistake.
As to knowing which notes on my clarinets tend to play out of tune, that's all well and good. What I don't always know is which notes play out of tune on the instruments of other players I'm working with. I may well need to adjust a perfectly good note on my instrument to accommodate a unison with a bad note on a colleague's instrument (not necessarily a clarinet). I need to remind myself of the correction once I find it.
There are occasionally passages that must be fingered one way and not another way, but the reason only occurs later in the passage, and if I'm not really concentrating that far ahead, I may (re)discover the problem too late. Better to write an L or R at the beginning of the sequence than to find myself having to scramble when the real problem comes up later.
My daily scale book hasn't been opened in decades. I play them from memory (as I'm sure most everyone here beyond his student days does) and haven't looked at a scale book in a very long time. So a pristine scale book is sort of a non-issue - the markings in my old Klose scales are my teachers', not mine.
I don't like heavily marked up rentals, either, but there are markings and then there are markings.
Karl
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Author: Wisco99
Date: 2015-01-12 09:12
One solution is simply buy new music. Music publishers would not exist if you did not do that. I am not familiar with community bands renting music, and way back in high school when we did a Broadway show there was a huge fine if the parts were returned with any marking. I have always dealt with new music or for shows parts that are marked by professionals. In those cases the markings helped and were needed. I can sympathize with having stupid things marked up, but then. you get what you pay for.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2015-01-12 12:00
Wisco99 wrote:
> One solution is simply buy new music.
Not the case with most concert band music, but pit parts for most Broadway shows can't be purchased. Likewise a great deal of newer (<75 year old) orchestral music. They must be rented from the holder of the distribution rights.
> I can sympathize
> with having stupid things marked up, but then. you get what you
> pay for.
>
In the case of rental-only parts this can be quite a steep fee.
Karl
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2015-01-12 17:12
Ralph Katz wrote:
On the other hand, our community orchestra shelled out $400 for a scribbled up set of parts that are too ratty to erase without the risk of destroying them.
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$400?
You're lucky - we get charged over $4000 (4 performances major orchestra rate).
Sometimes if a publisher absolutely refuses to replace a bad set I will scan them and clean them up in Photoshop. The next time we perform the work I just put the rental set in the cabinet and use my set which is corrected and bowed. Still have to pay the full fee though.
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2015-01-13 03:52
The $400 is probably because we don't charge for tickets.
The last straw is that some clown marked every musical climax, where he had the urge to play louder than is musically tasteful, with the large block letter notation "VIAGRA".
So, I am doing just as rmk54 indicated, scanning each page of the clarinet part, removing everything that I can digitally, and reprinting them.
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The Clarinet Pages
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