 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-01-13 17:40
When I was a kid it conjured up the image of a dimly lit New York alleyway, the silhouette of the skyscape in the background with lit windows, complete with overloaded bins and a load of alley cats. Think 'Top Cat', but far more gritty.
I've never been to New York - I've only flown over it.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2021-01-15 20:48
Fireworks are pretty close. Rising up , exploding and a gentle descent.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2021-01-16 22:22
I always think of an image of the Whiteman orchestra playing it, from YouTube. Very prosaic. LOL. The Whiteman recording is undeniably Top Cat-ish.
New York actually sounds more like someone dumping a bucket of a million bolts - all at once. I like your vision better. There are considerable alleys everywhere overflowing with trash - and possibly cats, feral or otherwise. I would recommend visiting though. It's BIG. That was exactly my first thought emerging as a troglodyte from Penn Station under Madison Square Garden, opposite Hotel Pennsylvania, through my squinting eyes. "It's so BIG." I'd seen lots of pictures and movies, but I just wasn't prepared for the immensity. I wasn't a country bumpkin either. I gather it's weirdly deserted now. I think they all came to Boca Raton. Greenwich Village and Washington Square were kind of Top Cat-ish.
- Matthew Simington
Post Edited (2021-01-16 22:26)
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Author: crvsp
Date: 2021-01-17 00:12
I like to think of the start of a morning in New York; and then as the piece goes on the hustle and bustle starts to become more prevalent
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Author: donald
Date: 2021-01-17 01:49
I've never really thought of it as NEEDING imagery, since the stylistic allusions and musical direction/boundaries are quite obvious. But if having one helps, by all means go ahead and think of one.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-01-17 02:04
I never said it NEEDED imagery, only that it CONJURED UP an image and not one that had to be actively thought of.
If you want imagery minus your own imagination, then go and watch 'Fantasia'.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2021-01-17 02:04)
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2021-01-17 02:28
Matt74, Yes I also owned that Whiteman Orchestra record when I was a kid, so I guess I think of that first. I had the music with piano acc. and used that to play along with the record after I started becoming a decent player. 15-20 years ago I played it with a pianist and may get around to putting that on Youtube. Wonder where that old record is now?
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
Post Edited (2021-01-17 02:31)
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2021-01-18 00:23
...a NY Jazz club where some clarinet player is improvising some pretty smart runs
....which is an image I imagine would come to nobody's surprise, if not agreement, given the piece's homage to both jazz and classical music.
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2021-01-18 02:13
Does anyone imagine a specific place besides NY?
- Matthew Simington
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-01-18 20:44
Certainly doesn't conjure up any imagery of Chichester, London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Dublin, Sheffield, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, Sydney, Ottawa or any other city I can think of.
There's something of the dank and sleazy about it that just shouts New York - and that was the imagery it conjured up before I'd even heard of Gershwin.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2021-01-18 22:26
So..........there's nothing dank and sleazy about the pits in Cardiff????
:-)
......................Paul Aviles
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2021-01-18 23:42
All such associations conflate sounds with historical knowledge. Gershwin's physical environment was New York and Tin Pan Alley, but if you think of Porgy and Bess, the wailing sound of the clarinet could have sprung out of Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina. When I hear Burt Hara play the solo, I think of the Hollywood Bowl, nestled in the Hollywood Hills or even the specific address, 2301 H. Highland Ave, the clarinet wailing in the sun-drenched open space of a California amphitheater: https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=381594166328832&_rdr.
Post Edited (2021-01-19 03:26)
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Author: davyd
Date: 2021-01-19 00:08
It conjures up the mix of feelings you feel when you've been practicing the solo until you can't any more, and it's only just now beginning to sound like it should, even though the performance, the first (and perhaps only) performance of the piece that you'll ever give, is only days away.
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2021-01-19 02:19
I think that "traffic & pedestrians" thing is An American in Paris who missed his flight at Kennedy.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
Post Edited (2021-01-19 02:20)
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