Pedagogy 2.0: An Exploration of 21st-Century Innovations in Clarinet Teaching (March 2013 Column)

Through our research over the past four years for this column and blog, we have been on the forefront of developments in online clarinet resources, and we have encountered countless examples of innovative uses for the Internet and mobile technology to teach clarinet. This column is based on our presentation at ClarinetFest 2012 in Lincoln, Nebraska and in it we explore a variety of resources and techniques for integrating technology into clarinet instruction.  Most of these require only internet access and can be immediately implemented by teachers looking to augment their traditional teaching style.  

Sheet Music Sharing Sites

The Internet is a continually expanding repository of valuable resources for clarinetists. It is now easier and cheaper for both teachers and students to explore scores through public-domain sheet music sharing sites, with access to print music from any computer. In our Sept. 2009 column, we went in depth on the one of the largest sheet music resources, International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP).  Since our first report on the site, IMSLP has reorganized their instrumentation listing of works, making it easier to navigate. The site lists around 150 solo clarinet works with piano and 52 unaccompanied pieces. The increase in chamber music entries is difficult to calculate due to the nearly 500 listings of ensembles involving the clarinet.  

While many websites offer a general collection of sheet music, The Clarinet Institute of Los Angeles is specifically tailored for the clarinetist.  Managed by David Shorr, this website has numerous videos, MIDI files, and recordings. The site currently offers a DVD containing over 840 PDF files of clarinet music for only $13.50-- an unbeatable price for that amount of music! It has recently widened its instrumental spectrum to include similar discs with sheet music for wind quintet, all band instruments, recorder, and stringed instruments.

Oliver’s (mostly) Clarinet Music Page is also a great source for sheet music. Here, Oliver Seely has formatted chamber music parts into MIDI and MUS files, allowing you to print the music and download parts into music software programs such as Finale or Smart Music for accompanimental playback. The downside to using these types of files is the lack of articulation and dynamic markings. If you don’t have Finale, try visiting Mark Charette’s “mirror” of Seely’s page. Charette, who is also the webmaster of Woodwind.org, has translated the Finale notation files into PDF format, allowing more viewers access to the music.

Audio

As a teacher, it can be frustrating when students continually turn to random YouTube videos for reference recordings of works. Several services can help you to provide better audio resources to your students, making it easy for teacher and student alike to research new repertoire and compare interpretations.  

          

Many colleges and universities pay to subscribe to the Naxos Music Library, which can be a valuable tool in the classroom or applied lesson setting.  With a wide variety of recordings from the Naxos label and many other labels, it is easy to create playlists of repertoire for study.  Students can even listen to playlists from their mobile device with the Naxos Music Library mobile application.

           

Sound Cloud is a web platform for streaming and sharing audio.  One possible use for this website would be to post recordings of student performances and use the “timed comments” feature to provide commentary at specific moments during the recording.  

Spotify is a streaming subscription service that can be downloaded for free, with upgrades available for mobile access and premium content.  It is easy to create and share playlists; find a sampling of the clarinet recordings available by checking out our ClarinetFest 2012 playlist. Spotify is recommended here with reservations, as the low artist royalties they pay have been a contention with many whose record labels allowed the service to have access to their music.  

Instant Encore is a source for streaming video and audio uploaded by artists themselves.  It is primarily a promotional tool for artists, but the quality and depth of information provided about the works and artists make this a place to be sure to search when looking for reference recordings. See our Sept. 2011 column on streaming video for more information about InstantEncore.

Video

We wrote in our previous column about the Rico Reeds website, but we’d like to add a few more details from our presentation. Rico has a wonderfully produced website with numerous videos of their sponsored artists presenting mini-master classes and interviews both on the homepage and in “The Lesson Room” section.

Several videos of the late David Etheridge show him teaching and demonstrating a sampling of fundamental concepts from his book “A Practical Approach to the Clarinet.” These videos are excellent tools for learning about hand position and other basic concepts.  Michele Gingras is another featured Rico artist with 23 videos available on their site. Gingras offers performance strategies and tips for more advanced players in her video series that accompanies her book 52 Clarinet Secrets.  Here you will see her demonstrate exercises on how to increase tongue speed, how to form an embouchure, and other tips found in her book. Lawrie Bloom’s instructional videos on bass clarinet are geared to the beginner player and cover fundamental topics such as instrument assembly, breaking in reeds, and articulation.  

YouTube is a mega-platform that has countless videos of note for clarinetists. While we’ve mentioned them before in our columns, we’d like to put the spotlight on two clarinetists who have produced high-quality instructional videos that stand out. Tom Ridenour has over 96 videos on his YouTube channel and on them he shares his philosophies on playing double-lip, reed finishing, and other various topics. Peruvian clarinetist Marco Mazzini’s channel has several instructional videos in both English and Spanish, as well as footage of live performances of modern and standard pieces for both soprano and bass clarinets.

Multimedia

We blogged about Kyle Coughlin’s Clarinet Space in a post from 2009, and it still stands out as a multimedia resource for clarinet teachers.  The Flash-based “Pitch Name Game” is a fun way for younger students to learn to recognize pitches on a staff, and the interactive fingering charts with sound help students to hear if they are playing the notes correctly.  Music Teacher’s Helper has become a popular tool for private instructors; for a low monthly fee it handles scheduling, does automatic invoicing, accepts credit card payments, and allows students and parents to log in to their accounts from home. Online metronomes have been in existence for many years, but several now have additional rhythmic training options. Students without an electronic metronome or mobile app can always use BestMetronome.com or other online metronomes to keep time when practicing at home.

Social Networking

Social networking is not only useful for establishing professional connections, but can also serve as a platform for open educational or pedagogical discussions. On Facebook many group pages are dedicated to the clarinet.  You may remember our interview with James Zimmerman back in Sept. 2008 about his Facebook group “Clarinet Jobs,” which serves as a sounding board for orchestral and band vacancies, audition tips, and discussion of audition repertoire.  Many university teachers are now utilizing Facebook to share information with students through studio pages, stay connected with individual students, and even recruit new students.

           

The Clarinet BBoard on Woodwind.org has been mentioned in several of our blog posts and our March 2009 column, but it is worth mentioning again as it continues to be one of the largest and most popular forums for sharing clarinet information. Twitter is another previously mentioned web application that we want to highlight because of its capacity to reach large audiences and its nature of immediacy. In 140 characters or less, a person can use their cell phone to tweet about upcoming events, performances, or to ask other people questions in real time. Two clarinetists who have secured a large following on Twitter include Anthony McGill and Michael Lowenstern. Of course, we also tweet about ClarinetFest and new blog posts on Twitter as @ClarinetCache.

           

The last web site listed, 8notes.com, is geared toward younger musicians and contains not only social network forums, but also free sheet music and numerous music theory lessons.  The site offers free music and lessons on almost every instrument; however, the musical content consists mainly of simple folk tunes and popular music.  Members can register and upload any kind of music to share with others, or make request for scores.  

Live Online Instruction

As bandwidth increases and video quality improves, many instructors have begun offering lessons online via Skype or Google+.  Online instruction has many benefits, allowing teachers and students to make connections across the world with no time or gas used to travel.  It has drawbacks, such as audio and video lag and sound quality concerns, but teachers like Laurel Hall and Thomas J. West are making it work (and making money doing it).  Their personal websites, in addition to general websites like online-music-lessons.net and learnmusicathome.com can give teachers an idea of the process for teaching online and equipment needed.  Some new startups like LessonFace.com and LessonFire.com are aiming to improve on the Skype model by offering their own specialized platforms through which student and teacher can meet, combining scheduling, payment, and live videoconferencing in one place.

** An additional online instruction site discovered after our presentation at ClarinetFest 2012, ClariSkye Studio, is another great source for online instruction via Skype. The site, recently created by clarinetist Michele Gingras and violinist Harvey Thurmer, offers students 30-minute lessons with both Gingras and Thurmer, as well as other participating music faculty from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio).

Mobile Applications

These days, smartphones and other mobile devices have an increasing impact on our day-to-day lives, and teaching is no exception.  Mobile applications can turn a phone into a metronome, tuner, handheld recording device, decibel meter, spectrometer, and audio/video player.  Using these functions during lessons can provide instant feedback (often in visual form) for students, and can save time by allowing a teacher to instantly make recordings and send them to students via email.  

There can be drawbacks to using mobile apps in teaching: the input and output sound quality can be poor unless using an external microphone and speakers, for example.  Also, not everyone can afford the devices and expensive data plans.  However, once the device is purchased, tuner and metronome applications are incredibly inexpensive compared to their hardware counterparts.

Our favorite application for integration with clarinet pedagogy is TonalEnergy Tuner. Released in early 2012 by Sonosaurus, its most basic function is as an easy-to-use-tuner with a great interface.  It allows you to select from a variety of tuning systems (equal, just, Pythagorean, etc.) and timbres (just about any instrument) for the tone generator.  Much more than just a tuner, though, TonalEnergy can show the change in dynamics over time with its “waveform” function.  This is highly effective for working with students on dynamic shaping or even articulation.  It also can function as a spectrogram, showing the levels of overtones in the sound -- an opportunity for a great lesson about the reason for resonance fingerings.

           

We blogged in 2011 about the best metronome apps, so check here for more details about Tempo and other great metronomes to use on your phone.  Our favorite tuners include iStrobosoft (a strobe tuner by Peterson) and ClearTune (a needle tuner by Bitcount).  We will be sure to keep you informed when we hear about other great apps in the future!

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In addition to the resources listed above, we have also compiled a list of recommended readings that discuss both specific resources and larger trends for technology in education.  Visit our August 2012 post to find the list of supplementary articles and our powerpoint presentation from ClarinetFest.  

ClarinetReedMaking.com

The December issue of The Clarinet included a fascinating article titled "Reeds: Good or Bad? It's in the Cane - An Inside View of Arundo donax L." by Michael Montague and Tina Ward.  In reading this article about the physical properties of good cane, we became curious about a website mentioned as being a great resource for information on making clarinet reeds by hand, www.clarinetreedmaking.com.    Created by Joseph LeBlanc, this site is a "workshop" site (a partner website to that of his commercial business selling reedmaking tools, reedworkshop.com) with information about reedmaking, including this great video overview:

 

Clarinetreedmaking.com is packed full of clear and detailed information about blank making, profiling, and finishing reeds, and all the equipment and supplies needed in the process. Photos and diagrams help to illustrate the process.  If you have any interest in making clarinet reeds by hand, or just want to get a glimpse into the process, this website is a great place to start!

Interactive Recordings

Record labels Navona Records and PARMA Recordings (parent company of Navona) have released several new compact discs with enhanced components that complement the listening experience. Accessible by computer, these interactive components on the CDs include PDF files of scores, program notes, videos, and composer biographies.

Back in 2008 Navona Records released Richard Stoltzman's album, Phoenix in Flight, which contained PDF files of all the music recorded on the album. Since then, the companies have improved upon the media content tenfold, adding more interactive options such as digital reproductions of liner notes containing additional information not present on the CD case and web apps for mobile ring tones.

Check out PARMA Recording's website where you can find free downloads of scores and parts of music from their newest release, 2012 PARMA Anthology of Music. Featuring ten contemporary works for small chamber ensembles, this album contains two works that involve the clarinet. Other newly-released recordings under the Navona label that include clarinet music are: Summer Circle, featuring Martin Schlumpf's Clarinet Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano; Slices, with works by various composers, including two pieces for woodwind quintet and a duo for clarinet and violin; and Claviatures: Modern Chamber Works, with Ayala Asherov-Kalus's composition, Three Rivers, written for clarinet, viola, and piano.

Website Watch (Sept 2012 Column)

In recent years the websites of clarinet companies have shifted focus from their products to their sponsored clarinetists by incorporating interviews, videos, and biographies. Although many web sites contain peripheral artist rosters, we have come across a handful of sites that take artist endorsements to the next level.  Clarinet Cache does not endorse any particular equipment or brand; web sites discussed in this column were chosen for their attention to the artists and the resources they provide to clarinetists of all levels.

BackunMusical.com
Backun has created an Artist Community where clarinetists who play on Backun instruments or equipment can create and submit their own artist profile. Launched in April 2012, the community directory currently has over 100 artist profiles containing biographies, current positions held, equipment used, and links to related web sites. Backun also has numerous videos posted on their YouTube channel “backunmusical.”  In addition to the “Tech Tips” and “Backun Studio Series” video segments, videos of Backun Artists such as Ricardo Morales, Jose Franch-Ballester, Jessica Phillips, and Eddie Daniels offer mini-master classes and discussions on various topics.

RicoReeds.com
On the homepage for Rico Reeds, large, colorful photos of Martin Fröst and other Rico artists rotate in a slideshow.  Even the Rico “Products” section is connected with the artists by showing a picture of a famous artist that plays on each type of Rico reeds.  The Rico web site also has a blog with frequent contributions by saxophonist Tim Price, who writes mostly about jazz and improvisation.

Another feature of the Rico page is a link to TheLessonRoom.com (run by the D’Addario company, distributor of Rico reeds).  This useful site has resources including videos, articles, interactive elements, and sheet music.  These can be sorted by category of instrument (e.g. “wind instruments”), but not by specific instrument.  The clarinet videos include lessons by esteemed clarinetists and teachers like Michael Norsworthy, Michele Gingras, Mark Nuccio, Richie Hawley, and the late, great David Etheridge. The articles are mostly aimed at beginner to intermediate students and address topics such as intonation and purchasing a clarinet, while the interactive elements offer drills for learning different clefs and rhythmic dictation. The sheet music section only has full band scores. TheLessonRoom.com also has a private teacher directory, searchable by location, with a rating system to allow feedback about the instructors.

Vandoren.com
Like Rico, the Vandoren company caters to both clarinetists and saxophonists. With artists categorized under the labels of classical, jazz, and ensembles, this site has an extensive index of performers.  Entries for each Vandoren artist vary in length and depth of information; however, the most informative content is found in the videos accessed through “Vandoren TV” on the homepage. Here viewers are directed to several different channels containing videos broadcasted in eleven different languages.  A majority of these short videos feature clarinetists and several of the videos are overdubbed in multiple languages.  Performers such as Philippe Cuper, Paul Meyer, Victoria Luperi, and Giora Feidman step in front of the camera to talk about their own equipment setup and express opinions on how various Vandoren products facilitate their playing.

Pedagogy 2.0

As promised, here is our presentation and handout from our presentation at ClarinetFest on Sunday, August 5, 2012. It covers the internet as a resource for teaching clarinet, and ways to incorporate technology such as mobile applications into clarinet pedagogy. A more detailed discussion of our presentation content will be published in our December 2012 column in The Clarinet and here on our blog.

 


Here is our handout from the presentation, with a list of resources in printable format and clickable links:

Pedagogy 2.0 Handout

Enjoy!

ClarinetFest Day 5

The last day of ClarinetFest was a busy one for us, as we gave our presentation and also performed with the contra clarinet ensemble.  After getting our equipment set up, we went to Adam Ballif's lecture: "Incorporating Technology in the Clarinet Studio." Adam demonstrated the use of SmartMusic to assign and grade technical exercises, how to create custom metronomes with Pro Tools, and talked about iOS music apps like Notion (a version of Finale) and Pianist Pro.  

Ballif's lecture was a great complement to ours, as we each investigated different technologies and techniques for incorporating them into clarinet pedagogy.  Our presentation, "Pedagogy 2.0: An Exploration of 21st-Century Innovations in Clarinet Teaching," centered on online resources we've discovered in the course of writing the Clarinet Cache column, as well as mobile applications.  We spent a lot of time demonstrating how to teach using the TonalEnergy app for iOS -- many thanks to Lucas Willsie for serving as our guinea pig!  Look for our full presentation and handout to be posted here soon.

Kellie and Rachel demonstrating TonalEnergy with Lucas Willsie

We had an enjoyable lunch at the Embassy Hotel restaurant with our teacher, Dr. James Gillespie, and former UNT students Malena McLaren and Chastine Hofmeister.  One of the best things about ClarinetFest is that each time we go, we have more friends and colleagues to catch up with.

Lunch with Dr. Gillespie and UNT alumni

Interesting sculptures on UNLV campus

After lunch, it was time to warm up the contras!  The warm-up room was filled with contras of all shapes and sizes, being played by everyone from undergraduate students to current and past presidents of the I.C.A.!

Dueling contras

John Scott, Gary Whitman, and Keith Koons preparing with intensity!

The contra ensemble (dubbed "A Legal Contraband" by Mary Alice Druhan) then took the stage to perform Ben Stonaker's piece 44 Contras.  From our point of view, it was an interesting and memorable performance.  Stonaker used the full range of the contrabass and contraalto clarinets, from altissimo into the extended low range, to create an unforgettable aleatoric sound sculpture.  One section sounded, in Stonaker's words, like "a flock of angry geese," while another consisted of a swelling, undulating 44-note cluster.  Audience reactions ranged from glee to complete disgust - always the sign of a good piece!

A Legal Contraband

Finally, it was time to pack up all the contras and head home.  We got to chat with conference organizer Diane Barger one last time on our way out.  She seemed happy and relieved -- as she should be after putting in so much work to make ClarinetFest 2012 a great success!  Thanks Diane!

Diane Barger

ClarinetFest Day 4

At this point in the festival it becomes harder to wake up early to make it to the first concert of the day.  Taking the morning off from recitals, I (Kellie) went to visit the exhibitions to peruse some of the vendors selling sheet music.   Then we spent some time working on our presentation for Sunday - more info coming about that in the Day 5 recap!

Many clarinetists are familiar with the music of Scott McAllister, so there was a good turnout for the performance of his new seven-movement Epic Concerto, played by three different artists.  The piece began with SSgt Timothy Sutfin performing the first three movements: "Warm-up," "Walking with Benny," and "Prodigy."  The first movement incorporated warm-up materials and patterns from the Klose book; however, the tempos were definitely faster than the typical warm-up speeds!  McAllister was inspired by the Copland and Benny Goodman, and the second movement reflects a slow walk with the great composer and player, evoking the beautiful opening of the Copland Concerto.  The next movement was inspired by past and present prodigies, including the music of Michael Jackson, where Sutfin's clarinet playing emulated the spirit and energy of the late pop star.  

Switching artists, the fourth movement was performed by Peggy Dees Moseley, who was also the commission coordinator of the work.  This movement, "Epic," is the longest movement in the piece and McAllister dedicated it to his mentor Frank Kowalsky and his wife Helen Earl.  

Rounding out the last portion of this 45-minute concerto, Kimberly Cole Luevano played the last three movements: "Schizo Scherzo," "Gone," and "High Flyin' Bird."  With a big bright sound, Luevano jumped right into "Schizo Scherzo," one of the more effective movements of the piece.  This movement was dedicated to the memory of Robert Marcellus, one of the three teachers and pedagogues to whom the festival paid tribute this year.  Similar to Berio's Mahler "remix" in the third movement of his Sinfonia, McAllister made a rousing scherzo out of a mashup of the third movement of Brahms' Sonata in F Minor together with several of the most famous orchestral excerpts for clarinet (Daphnis, Mendelssohn, Gershwin, etc.).  

The penultimate movement "Gone" centers on McAllister's emotional response to the loss of his playing career after a car accident. The long, static sotto voce tones placed under the sound of the piano must have been difficult to pull off, especially after such an energetic movement, but Luevano's stamina and control allowed her to reflect the composer's process of healing after such a life-changing event.   The final movement called "High Flyin' Bird" was inspired by a song by Richie Havens and it energetically closed the entire composition.  After all three clarinetist returned to the stage for another round of applause, McAllister joined the trio of performers in acknowledgment of superbly performance of his epic piece.

Kimberly Cole Luevano, Peggy Dees Moseley, SSgt Timothy Sutfin, and Scott McAllister

Those familiar with McAllister's music will find in the Epic Concerto elements familiar from his other works: floating upper clarion notes, extreme altissimo, angular leaps, glissando, rips up and down the instrument, and syncopated rhythms.  What sets Epic Concerto apart is that it is such an intensely personal tour of McAllister's own life as a clarinetist, making this work above all the others a "clarinetist's" clarinet piece.  Its "epic" nature and technical demands make it difficult to program on a recital, but each movement is self-contained enough to stand on its own if taken out of context.

I (Rachel) came in late to the I.C.A. Competition Winner's Recital on Saturday afternoon but managed to hear most of Paul Cantrell's beautiful work The Broken Mirror of Memory, for bass clarinet and piano.  The committed performance by Pat O'Keefe should inspire others to check out this winning piece from the Composition Competition.  

I had a special interest in the next piece, the winning work from the Joint Wind Quintet Project, as I performed in the first two premieres of the piece with the Madera Wind Quintet at the conferences of the International Horn Society and International Double Reed Society.  Lansing McLoskey was awarded the commission from the group, and composed Hardwood with inspiration from hardwood trees, leaves and branches he came across in the woods of New Hampshire.  With my extensive knowledge of the score, I can safely state that clarinetist Tod Kerstetter and the Konza Wind Quintet did a fine job of navigating the difficult rhythmic terrain and infusing the piece with lots of musicality.

The evening concert on Saturday was much more polished than Friday's concert of duos with wind ensemble, but it was still a bit underwhelming.  Greg Smith's performance of the Première Rhapsodie by Debussy was refined and light on its feet, but his delicate tone was completely overpowered by the orchestra at times.  We started wondering if the clarinetists were in a dead spot onstage when Jessica Phillips Rieske had similar problems being heard in the Mozart Concerto.  She made some interesting choices about octave transpositions from the basset clarinet original, but the performance overall seemed a bit "safe" -- perhaps owing to the fact that the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra conductor didn't seem to be paying much attention to his soloists.  

Eddy Vanoosthuyse gave a rousing performance of McAllister's X with a powerful sound compared to the other two performers, perhaps owing in part to standing at a different angle onstage.  Capturing the spirit of the piece, the orchestra was alternately brooding and explosive.  With the exception of a little bit of reed trouble, Vanoosthuyse's performance was effective and engaging.

Scott McAllister and Eddy Vanoosthuyse

ClarinetFest Day 3

Rachel here.  I got up early on Friday at ClarinetFest to hear the recital of music for clarinet and electronics.  Stephan Vermeerch performed two pieces by Jane Brockman along with one of his own that utilized sensors.  After a couple pieces for clarinet and CD by Christy Banks and Gail Zugger, Matthew Miracle performed two interactive works for bass clarinet and computer.  Shovelhead by Steven Snowden was a definite highlight, with volume-sensitive effects triggered by the bass clarinet, and sounds such as a woman laughing and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle integrated in intriguing ways.

I then went to hear Dennis Nygren and John Weigand speak about the teaching of Robert Marcellus.  The discussion was interspersed with fascinating audio samples of Marcellus himself teaching, though they were hard to understand at times and a transcription would have been nice.  During the presentation it was noted that Northwestern plans to make these recordings publicly available on its website in the future -- we'll let you know as soon as they do!

Marcellus Lecture

One of the more interesting parts of the discussion centered on Marcellus' teaching of the "prepared fingers" or "legato fingers" technique.  With audience members contributing information, it was concluded that while Marcellus initially taught that you should straighten the finger and raise it very high before slowly bringing it down (the way Bonade taught it), at some point he decided it was better to keep the finger curved and began to teach it that way.

After enjoying breakfast and coffee at the complementary breakfast bar generously offered by the Embassy Hotel, I (Kellie) headed over to the 10:30am morning recital entitled "Dreaming, Dancing, Delighting."  The program featured works that evoked moods or musical styles that played off of the program's title.  Running a little late due to my leisurely breakfast, I entered the Kimball Recital Hall just in time to hear the third piece on the program, Richard Rodney Bennett's Ballad in Memory of Shirley Horn, and I was glad that I had the chance to hear Steven Becraft perform this sensitive and lyrical composition.

Next up was Elizabeth Gunlogson's performance of Don Freund's unaccompanied piece Daydream in A-flat.  Although I (Kellie) was not particularly fond of the piece, Gunlogson demonstrated excellent control in all of the registers despite the gurgling of water caught in a tone hole. Unfortunately, Gunlogson had an extreme case of excess water due the cold temperature of the hall and had to blow out the water multiple times, almost to the point of severe distraction.  The next two performers, Martin Castillos (recently appointed as the ICA National Chairperson for Uruguay) and Rebecca Rischin both played separate Fantasia pieces by Carlos Estrada and Ramon Carnicer y Batlle, respectfully. 

Rebecca Rischin

Malena McLaren performance of Miguel Yuste's Leyenda, danza y lamento, Op.72, took the mood from the light and capricious nature of the Fantasias to a more dreamy-like state.  McLaren's expressiveness and warm tone brought life and excitement to the piece.
 

Malena McLaren

Sometimes during public performances, musicians experience technical difficulties out of their control.  During his performance of Michael Finnissy's unaccompanied piece Uzundara, clarinetist Gregory Oakes's music was blown off the stands and fell to the floor.  Oakes was forced to set down his instrument on the piano and quickly gathered the handful of pages scattered across the floor. Once all of the music was put back in order, Oakes picked up right where he left off playing in the music, unfazed by technical mishap.  This contemporary pieces requires ultimate control of pitch, especially in the altissimo register and Oakes did a superb job of playing these passages at the softest dynamics possible.

One of highlights of the morning recital (and of the festival overall) was the performance of two pieces given by the Ironwood Trio with Jana Starling on E-flat, Leslie Moreau on B-flat, and Anne Watson on bass clarinet.  Starting with David Snow's Hasana Tanz, the group felt right at home with the Klezmer elements of the piece right up until the end of the composition where the cutesy ending incited a few giggles from the audience. Not only did this trio get the audience's feet tapping to some of the latin and tropical beats in the second piece by Jorge Montilla, but they also wowed everyone with their ensemble precision.  They definitely looked like they were having fun and the audience felt it too!  With their music selections and their dazzling performance, the Ironwood Trio brings a vitality and freshness often missing from performances of new music.  We look forward to hearing more from them in the future!

Ironwood Trio: Jana Starling, Leslie Moreau, and Anne Watson

The afternoon recital "Low, Lyrical, and Luscious" was a program dedicated solely to the bass clarinet repertoire.  The recital had a nice mixture of contemporary and classical compositions. Steve Hanusofski's performance of Derek Bermel's Sonata Humana was touching, followed by Anthony J. Costa's wonderful performance of AS IF by Patrice Sciortino.

Anthony J. Costa

The recital concluded with the bass clarinet duo Sqwonk (Jeff Anderle and Jonathan Russell) performing Ryan Brown's Knee Gas (On) and Russell's own arrangement of J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565.  Not only did the duo play with impeccable attention to intonation in both pieces, but they also were able to transform their timbre to sound like a real organ during the Bach arrangement. Regularly-scheduled artists at ClarinetFests of years past, these two performers are familiar faces to concert goers and also to Clarinet Cache, where they are featured in our blog post from 2008.  This concert was the second of three great performances that the two men were featured in during the festival.  Immediately after the concert, audience members lined up outside to talk with the duo and purchase T-shirts and CDs.

Sqwonk Bass Clarinet Duo: Jonathan Russell and Jeff Anderle

Sqwonk Bass Clarinet Duo outside Kimball Recital Hall

The afternoon master class was presented by Jessica Phillips Rieske, Acting Principal of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.  Here, she listened to four very talented young players giving them advice on finger motion and pressure; articulation changes to facilitate the musical flow of passages; using imagery to help understand the music better; and to add variations to repeated passages to help break up monotony within phrases.  At the beginning of the master class, one audience member brought attention to a slight buzzing sound of someone's metronome going off in the background. Unfortunately, the source of the sound could not be located and we had to disregard and tune out the distracting noise. 

Jessica Phillips Rieske Master Class

The theme of the Friday evening concert was that of various duos accompanied by the Omaha Symphonic Winds.  Unfortunately, the level of playing of the band was not up to par, and many of the featured soloists had a hard time keeping up with the conductor's fluctuating tempi and overall pitch problems.  First on the program was Mendelssohn's Concertpiece No.2 in D minor played by MUC Laura Grantier on clarinet and TSgt J. Blake Arrington on basset horn.  Although Arrington had to contend with a problem with his instrument while on stage, he nonetheless kept playing through the technical glitch and both musicians managed to play their best despite the circumstances.

Next, Robert Spring and bassoonist Albie Micklich performed Damian Montano's Double Concerto. Although the ensemble seemed to fit better within the interplays between the two soloists in the music, the inadequate musicianship of the group downplayed what would have been an otherwise good performance.

Clarinetist SFC Cheryl Ani and her sister MU1 Cindy Wolverton then played Amilcare Ponchielli's Il Convegno: Divertimento.  This well-known piece is a great work highlighting the virtuosity of both clarinetists; however, the audience could sense the unease of the soloists as they tried to interact with the conductor of band. 

Soloists SFC Cheryl Ani and MU1 Cindy Wolverton

The program continued with the Sqwonk Bass Clarinet Duo presenting a world premiere of the wind ensemble arrangement of Sqwonk member Jonathan Russell's Bass Clarinet Double Concerto.  It is a testament to Russell's writing and the assertive playing of the duo that this work was the most successful on the program.  The work showcased the talent of the Omaha Symphonic Winds percussion section and utilized the darker colors of the group to complement the soloists.

Finally, the program ended with SSgt Christopher Grant on E-flat clarinet and GySgt Michelle Urzynicok on clarinet performing Luigi Bassi's Gran Duetto Concertante.  After finishing an excellent performance of such a technically challenging piece, the two soloists exited the stage only to be followed back on stage by all of performers to play an encore.  It was a great sight to see all of the military and professional clarinetists unite for an encore performance of Flight of the Bumblebee, and brought back memories of ClarinetFest 2012 in Los Angeles when Alcides Rodriguez, Stanley Drucker, and others performed a group rendition of the piece.

GySft Michelle Urzynicok and SSgt Christopher Grant

Encore performance by all of the soloists

Clarinet Fest Day 2

The second day of the festival started bright and early at 8:30am with a Horizon Highlights recital featuring music for clarinet and percussion.  The program began with clarinetist Karem J. Simon's energetic flourishes in Alexina Louie's four-movement work Cadenzas, followed by John Allemeier's Like Gravity, a piece written for clarinet, violin, cello, and marimba.  Faculty members and clarinetist Jesse Krebs from Truman State University immediately slowed the pace of the program with their wonderful performance of this dark and sonorous piece.  The recital ended with David Carter performing works with marimba on both soprano and bass clarinet.  Although we left before his final piece, Carter and percussionist Ricardo Coelho de Souza demonstrated impeccable ensemble precision, which is always a challenge in this type of ensemble.

Larry Guy's lecture about Daniel Bonade was a fascinating tour of Bonade's most important contributions to clarinet pedagogy.  Guy discussed Bonade's concepts of tone production, embouchure support, legato fingers, and phrasing in great detail.  He also had audio examples of Bonade performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, illustrating each concept with the playing of the master himself.

In a subsequent platform dedicated to Bonade, Shannon Thompson's presentation on the evolution and attainment of Bonade's signature sound traced the orchestral aesthetics established with his appointment to the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Thompson covered equipment Bonade used over the years and his influence and control on his students' own setup.  After following the evolution of mouthpiece and barrel modifications, she also addressed how Robert Marcellus carried on Bonade's teaching legacy through his own teaching philosophy.  Thompson's wonderfully edited power point presentation included rare video footage of Marcellus giving master classes.  Although the audio was a bit hard to hear at times, it was a real treat to see and hear him teach!

The pedagogy round table with Deborah Chodacki, Denise Gainey, Larry Guy, and Richard MacDowell continued the discussion of the legacy of teachers of Bonade's generation.  The conversation began with anecdotes about the confrontational teaching style of oboist Marcel Tabuteau, professor of woodwinds at Curtis, and Kalmen Opperman.  Gainey related what Opperman said to her in her first lesson: "You don't know a g-d damn thing about the clarinet!"

Pedagogy round table

 Other stories involved Tabuteau and teachers trained by him who would purposely smash students' reeds, saying "I built my career on my second-best reed!"  This approach of belittlement and emotional manipulation was experienced by many students of that generation of teachers, but the panel agreed that it is no longer acceptable to teach that way today, even if you wanted to.  Chodacki summed things up on that topic by saying that even though these famous teachers conveyed valuable concepts, it was possible to teach these concepts effectively without the fear.

The discussion also touched on how involved teachers should be in their students' lives, from addressing psychological problems to being friends on Facebook. The audience had quite a laugh when Chodacki attempted to imagine what Robert Marcellus' Facebook page would look like!

One of the afternoon concerts featured french clarinetist Sabrina Moulai performing standard pieces by Francaix, Schumann, and Rossini.  Dazzling the audience with her velvety tone and flawless technique, Moulai's musical sensibilities and subtle rubatos made every phrase come alive.

Sabrina Moulai

On a separate program, Czech clarinetist Karel Dohnal brought house down with his performance Karlheinz Stockhausen's Harlekin for Solo Clarinet.  For almost forty-five minutes, Karel captivated the audience with his choreographed acrobatic moves, hilarious facial expressions, and his everlasting stamina-all while playing the clarinet!

Karel Dohnal

 We're both playing in Ben Stonaker's piece 44 Contras on Sunday, so we then headed to a very interesting first rehearsal for that piece!

44 Contras rehearsal

Next, we took advantage of the nightly manager's reception at the Embassy Suites, where people mingled and talked while groups comprised of clarinet enthusiasts performed in the beautiful atrium.

Manager's reception

In the evening, we heard Corrado Giuffredi and friends perform an unusual and delightful program.  Accordionist Cesare Chiacchiaretta stole the show with his animated, virtuosic accordion playing.  The duo of Giuffredi and Chiacchiaretta performed pieces by Rota, Piazzola and others, captivating the audience with moments of great restraint alternating with great passion.  Morales joined them for a sparkling performance of Mendelssohn's Concertpiece No. 2, and the program ended with two pieces played by the ClarinetFest Bass Clarinet Ensemble, with Klezmer soloist, David Krakauer.  Just as the performers were exiting the stage and the audience was ready to leave, Chiacchiaretta re-enters the stage with his accordion followed by Guiffredi for an encore.  As a second encore, Krakauer joins the duo on stage and the two clarinetists begin to duel.  Only after countless wailings of high notes thrown back and forth between the two players does the night finish with a (second) standing ovation.

ClarinetFest Bass Clarinet Ensemble

ClarinetFest: Day 1

ClarinetFest 2012 in Lincoln, Nebraska has begun! 

We both arrived Wednesday evening, so if you have comments about activities earlier in the day feel free to comment below.  And if you see us around the festival, we hope you'll come up and say hi!  Here's a picture of us outside one of the venues on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.

 I (Rachel) arrived just in time for the nightly reception at the Embassy Suites.  The hotel is kind enough to provide a free reception with drinks and snacks for all ClarinetFest goers, not just those staying in their hotel.  I had a chance to catch up with some old friend from Michigan State, and make some new ones too!

The evening concert I attended featured the Italian clarinetist Antonio Tinelli, whose program included pieces by Nino Rota as well as an arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for clarinet and piano.  He won the crowd over with his commentary in between pieces, starting off by saying in his thick Italian accent: "My American is terrible... my English... also terrible!"

Tinelli had a beautiful pianissimo sound, though it was drowned out by the piano at times.  Aside from a few intonation issues in the altissimo register, Tinelli's performance was charming and full of personality.  In the Gershwin, which was arranged by Timofei Dokshizer, these Italian players played in a confident, bluesy American style.

I ran into conference host Diane Barger and her artistic team (pictured below) at the concert.  If you see them, be sure to thank them for organizing what is turning out to be an incredibly successful and enjoyable ClarinetFest!

 

Check back for more daily updates.  For live information updated throughout the day, follow us on Twitter: @clarinetcache.