Clarinet at the Grammys: Paquito D'Rivera and Derek Bermel

The 52nd annual Grammy Awards are tomorrow, and we thought we'd take a look at the clarinet-related nominations.

Clarinetist and composer Paquito D'Rivera has been nominated in two categories: "Best Classical Crossover Album" for his new album JaZZ-ClaZZ, and "Best Instrumental Composition" for the track "Borat in Syracuse" on the same album. JaZZ-ClaZZ is the result of a collaboration between D'Rivera and Sabine Meyer's Trio di Clarone. Listeners familiar with D'Rivera's composition Aires Tropicales for woodwind quintet will recognize several of the movements (including "Dizzyness" and "Vals Venezolano") arranged here for clarinets.

The January 27, 2010 edition of PRI's "The World" included a nice feature on Paquito D'Rivera including an interview and audio clips from the album. Listen to streaming audio or download the podcast here.

Syracuse University has posted an article about the commissioning and premiere of "Borat in Syracuse" by D'Rivera and SU’s Morton B. Schiff Ensemble.

Another Grammy nomination goes to Gil Rose, Derek Bermel and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in the category "Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (With Orchestra)" for Bermel's performance of his own Voices, for Solo Clarinet and Orchestra.

Here's the full list of nominees from the Grammy Awards website. Best of luck to our clarinet friends tomorrow!

ClarinetFest 2009 Videos

If you were like us and didn't make it to ClarinetFest 2009 in Porto, Portugal this past summer, you are probably pretty curious as to what you missed out on. Fortunately, a few individuals and one of the participating bands (ARMAB-Apresentacao da Banda e da Vila da Branca) have uploaded several videos on YouTube, giving us a peek into some of the performances held at the eye-catching modern concert hall, Casa da Música. For a full listing of programs, events, and to get a glimpse of the concert venue, check out the official ClarinetFest 2009 site here. Some of the featured soloists with the ARMAB band include:

Bass clarinetist Sauro Berti performing three movements of Jan Hadermann's "Spotlights on Bass Clarinet."

Steve Cohen performing "Brooklyn Bridge" by Michael Daugherty.

The band arrangement of Amilcare Ponchielli's crowd-pleasing "Il Convegno" features soloists Horácio Ferreira and Joao Pedro Santos.

Other videos from the festival include a performance of Debussy's "Premiere Rhapsody" by the High School Competition winner, Carlos Ferreira.

Last, but not least, this next video shows a unique ensemble consisting of a singer, guitarist, and clarinet quartet. Despite the shaky filming, the video manages to capture the excitement and merriment of both performers and audience.

Benny Goodman and Red Norvo (1960)

This great clip was uploaded in 2006 and has accumulated nearly 100,000 views. It features early jazz vibraphonist Red Norvo and Benny Goodman. Details about the video from uploader WhenSwingWasKing:

"The camera catches the jumping 10-piece group Goodman led from 1959-1961 (built around the Red Norvo Quintet), but in this clip, the spotlight stays firmly on Benny and Red. "The World is Waiting For the Sunrise" was an early Goodman showcase in 1934, and was memorably re-recorded by BG with Mel Powell in 1942 (for Commodore). Benny was still playing this number brilliantly in the 1980s!"

Clarinet Videos: Best of 2009

Since this is the time for top-ten lists, we have compiled our own list of our ten favorite clarinet YouTube videos of the year. A few of the videos are from late 2008 since we didn't compile a list for last year. Some of these videos are live performances, some are recordings, and some are... well, why don't you just see for yourself!

Classical:
Bernhard Crusell - Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in F minor, Op. 5, mvt. III, performed by Eric Hoeprich and the Kölner Akademie

This is a selection from the Kölner Akademie's recent CD release Bernhard Crusell:Klarinettenkonzerte. The recording includes Crusell's three clarinet concerti as played by Eric Hoeprich on a copy of one of Crusell's clarinets, backed by the Kölner Akademie ensemble, also using historical instruments. For listeners unaccustomed to the sound of period clarinets, the difference in tone from the modern clarinet can sometimes be jarring; here, though, everyone will enjoy the beautiful sound Hoeprich achieves on the early 19th-century clarinet. The historical instruments truly enhance the music, and the result is stunning. Read a review of the CD here.

Michael Han Kim - Stravinsky, Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet

Only 13 years old in this video, Korean prodigy Michael Han Kim emerged on the YouTube scene in 2008 with a list of other performances steadily growing. Han Kim, born in Seoul in 1996, began playing the clarinet at the tender age of 7 and has won several prizes in competitions throughout Korea and Japan. Visit his YouTube channel at "michaelhankim" to find more of his videos and detailed information about this budding clarinetist.

Humor:

Artheme Swallows his Clarinet

The text at the beginning states: "Artheme Swallows his Clarinet was produced in 1912 by France's short-lived Eclipse company. Few Eclipse films survive; when this delightful comedy was found, the print was decomposed along the edges and the end had melted away. Ten years later, another print miraculously surfaced, free of rot but very choppy. This edition is digitally reconstructed from both, almost frame by frame." Read more about this short film here.

Pop music covers:
Lady Gaga's Poker Face on Bass Clarinet

One of the most viewed clarinet videos of the year, InstrumentManiac's cover of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" is ... well, it's something. YouTube is full of videos of young clarinetists performing their favorite pop songs, and most are, frankly, pretty painful to watch. This video, though, has something special. Maybe it's the aviator shades, maybe it's the cheesy green-screened backgrounds, or maybe it's Lady Gaga's pop charisma coming through. This player's other popular YouTube videos include covers of Rihanna's "Disturbia" and a song from the Twilight movie.

Lou Reed - Perfect Day - Accordion and Clarinet Cover

Another great cover uploaded this year is moshezuchter's clarinet and accordion version of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day." The sound isn't perfect, and the accordionist's head is cut off in the video, but it really is charming (especially if you know the original song).

Instructional:
BIRSoutheastTech - Clarinet Care and Maintenance

This video covers the basic elements of assembly, care, and maintenance of the clarinet. It is well-done with clear instructions and great photos and video examples. This video would be useful for band directors with beginner clarinets, parents with a rental or newly purchased clarinet for their child, or anyone that is attempting to learn clarinet without a teacher. The video was created by Lucas Pemberton of the Band Instrument Repair program at Minnesota State College - Southeast Technical.

How It's Made - Rico Reeds

This interesting short video from Rico shows the process of reed manufacturing.

Buffet Clarinet Factory Tour

We're not sure of the origin of this video, but it is a beautifully shot video montage of the process of manufacturing a Buffet clarinet, set to an unidentified clarinetist playing the first movement of the Mozart Concerto on basset clarinet.

Most Daring:

Playing a Clarinet Covered in Bees

Although you might remember our post last summer about Dr. Norman Gary's daring feat, we couldn't resist adding it to our list. This unique talent (or should we say fearlessness) holds us in awe and wonder as to how he manages to avoid inhaling one of the bees! This bee wrangler definitely deserves kudos for his love of bees and playing the clarinet.

Jazz:
BigBandHeaven - Artie Shaw Concerto

Here is a recording of Artie Shaw (1910-2004) playing with his orchestra set to a nice slideshow of photographs. Taken from the personal record collection of Richard Hawkey, the excellent audio quality of this video is refreshing, with the warm sound inherent to vinyl records still preserved.

Because the search capabilities of YouTube are not the greatest, we may have missed a few videos. If you know of another 2009 clarinet video that you think belongs on this list, please post it in the comments section below. Happy New Year!

Clarinetists on Twitter (Dec. 2009 column)

Have you "tweeted" lately? For those of you who haven't yet heard of Twitter, it's time to become familiar with the latest social networking craze. Users at Twitter.com post "tweets," short messages of 140 characters or less, that range from personal thoughts to links, news, and self-promotion (similar to Facebook status updates). Once you have a Twitter username, you can choose whose tweets to follow, and read all of their updates in a feed on your homepage. Beginning in 2006 as an obscure phenomenon embraced by technology geeks, Twitter has steadily gained momentum; now it seems everyone has a Twitter account, from the local weatherman to your favorite celebrity.

Some symphony orchestras are using Twitter as a new way to connect with audiences by tweeting about upcoming concerts, or using Twitter to create live program notes during concerts. Even clarinetists have found their niche on Twitter. Some choose to post about musical events and personal projects, others have a mix of personal and professional commentary, and companies use Twitter to promote new products.

We at Clarinet Cache have created an account (@ClarinetCache) and begun to follow the feeds of several clarinetists and companies that serve the clarinet community. In past blog posts we have mentioned David H. Thomas (author of The Buzzing Reed blog) and Kyle Coughlin (creator of the website Clarinet Space), who both tweet regularly about their musical endeavors. Anthony McGill writes about his profession as a chamber and orchestral musician, and Jonathan Cohler has tweeted about the ClarinetFest in Porto and other international festivals. Commercial companies such as Vandoren, Rico, and Légère post about new products, exhibiting at conferences, and even special discount offers for their Twitter followers.

We invite readers to visit to see who we're following, and give recommendations to help us expand our list. Here is who we've found on Twitter so far:

David H. Thomas (@DTclarinet)
Kyle Coughlin (@KyleCoughlin)
Anthony McGill (@mcgillab)
Jonathan Cohler (@cohler)
Rico (@RicoReeds)
Vandoren (@VandorenUSA)
Legere (@LegereReeds)
Clarinet Jobs (@ClarinetJobs)

Kalmen Opperman and Richard Stoltzman in a Live Radio Interview

As announced on a "Klarinet List" email thread, a radio interview of Kalmen Opperman and Richard Stoltzman is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, November 25th at 10am (Eastern time) on WKCR-FM. The live streaming interview by Carl Shoonover can be accessed by the radio station's website wkcr.org or can be heard in the New York area on WKCR 89.9 FM. This interview precedes the 90th Birthday Celebration of Kalmen Opperman at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, December 1st. The tribute concert to the esteemed teacher will be hosted by Stoltzman (former student of Opperman) and feature performances by Adam Ebert, Joel Rubin, Alex Bedenko, Orlando Tognozzi, Paul Neubauer, Fred Sherry, Mika Yoshida, and the Kalmen Opperman Clarinet Choir with Opperman conducting the ensemble.

iPhone clarinet apps

"Clarinet in Reach" is a new iPhone app developed by John Ferland of Music in Reach along with Anthony McGill. Its features include a fingering chart and trill fingering chart, a dictionary of musical terms, audio files of clarinet etudes, and instructional videos for clarinet. Content will continue to be added as this tool for clarinet students and players is expanded.

Visit the Music in Reach site for more information or to purchase the app (currently on sale for $1.99).

Another iPhone app, "clarinet" by musicofex, boasts the ability to actually turn your phone into a clarinet, similar to the popular Ocarina app by Smule. It includes sampled sounds from the B-flat, A, E-flat, and bass clarinets, as well as the ability to create new sounds by manipulating the wave forms. The app gives you the ability to record your performances and share them online. You can even send the output to your computer using the musicofex MIDI tool, effectively using your iPhone as a MIDI controller. Don't plan on selling your R-13 too soon though; according to the website, "almost every key on the Boehm-system (standard) clarinet is included." Almost? Oh well, we didn't use those trill keys very much anyway.

Visit the music of expression site to learn more and listen to songs others have created with the app ($1).

We'd love to hear comments from anyone who has tried these apps - let us know how they work!

Clarinet Commission Collective

The Clarinet Commission Collective is a new project founded by clarinetist Jeremy Eig that aims to "help individual clarinetists pool their resources to commission works from major composers." With an artistic advisory board including Larry Combs, Richard Hawkins, Alan R. Kay, Anthony McGill, and David Shifrin, this project is bound to result in high-quality new works for clarinet. The first commission, from composer Paul Schoenfield, is already in the works.

There are many ways to participate in this project: a $50 donation will get your name printed in the score, and $250 earns you the right to present your local premiere of the piece. The Clarinet Commission Collective (or Clarinet Co Co) encourages group donations, so this could be a great project for a university clarinet studio. Kudos to Jeremy Eig for this great idea, and we look forward to seeing the results of this project!

Kari Kriikku

Check out this blog posting by Alex Ross (a music critic for The New Yorker) which features clarinetist Kari Kriikku's playing on two sample tracks filled with a cacophony of city-like noises from the 1985 composition Kraft by Magnus Lindberg. Kriikku is a native of Finland and has studied with Alan Hacker, Leon Russianoff, and Charles Neidich. A supporter of contemporary music, Kriikku is a member of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and the Toimii ensemble (founded by Lindberg in 1980). If you are interested in hearing more of his playing, take a look at this YouTube video of his performance of klezmer, Arabic, and Portugese medleys with the Tapiola Sinfonietta.

Free Clarinet Sheet Music Online (September 2009 column)

IMSLP.org

The International Music Score Library Project, or IMSLP, is one of the best sheet music resources on the web. Created in February of 2006, IMSLP is an online classical music library for solo, chamber music and orchestral works. IMSLP is a wiki, which means that it relies on the collective efforts of users who create and edit content. Anyone can edit pages or contribute scans of music, although IMSLP has many dedicated administrators who create guidelines for the site and review submissions for copyright infringement. The IMSLP is based in Canada, so all music available on the site is either public domain in Canada or has been submitted by a composer or arranger under a Creative Commons license. For more information about copyright law in Canada, the U.S., and other countries, visit IMSLP's public domain info page.

To find clarinet works on IMSLP, the best place to start is with the List of Compositions Featuring the Clarinet. Clarinet works are listed by genre, with about 50 solo works and 125 chamber works. The "Clarinet and Piano" works include sonatas by Brahms, Reger, and Saint-Saens, as well as the Debussy Première Rhapsodie, the Gade Fantasiestücke, and the Schumann Three Romances. The list has concertos by Mozart, Weber, and Spohr, with some double concertos. Unfortunately, the solo clarinet section contains only a handful of pieces (perhaps because much of this literature is still under copyright). The chamber section is lengthy and includes 12 of the Reicha woodwind quintets, the clarinet quintets of Mozart and Brahms, and many other works, listed by instrumentation.

Orchestral works are well-represented in the IMSLP, making it a valuable resource for orchestral musicians and those learning excerpts. Not only are scores available for score study, but many clarinet parts are available for download in their entirety, such as those for all of the Beethoven symphonies, Borodin's Polovetsian Dances, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol and Scheherazade (with parts in A and transposed to B-flat). Of course, many later works such as those by Richard Strauss and Stravinsky are still under copyright, so if you're looking for twentieth-century orchestral works, the best option is to purchase the part itself or in a collection such as the Orchestral Musician's CD-ROM Library. For help finding orchestral parts on IMSLP, see the List of Orchestra or Band Pieces with Parts Available.

Each IMSLP entry contains one or more music files in PDF format. The entry for the Mozart Concerto includes scans of the full score and orchestral parts, the score for an arrangement for clarinet and string quartet by Oliver Seely, and the piano score for the Schletterer arrangement of the concerto for viola published in 1860. Entries also contain information about the opus number, composition date, publication date, movements, and instrumentation of the work. Depending on the work, much of this information is still incomplete, but will likely be filled in as more people contribute to IMSLP by editing these entries.

The quality of the files on IMSLP is hit-or-miss; some are poor scans, some are missing pages, and some of the solo parts are not the same edition or arrangement as the scores. Also, a few of the files have been typeset in Finale or other music notation software. In some cases, this makes them more readable than the originals, but there are obvious drawbacks; the accuracy of articulations, expressive marks, and even the notes may be in question. While the quality and availability of scores and parts vary, there are some great finds waiting to be discovered. For example, the page for the Brahms Sonatas Op. 120 includes a high-quality scan of the 1895 Simrock edition - the first published edition of the work - complete with score, clarinet parts, and the viola and violin transcriptions.



IMSLP ran into legal trouble in 2007, when the site was shut down in response to a cease-and-desist letter from Universal Edition. All music was removed from the site between October 2007 and June 2008, while IMSLP worked out the legal complexities of copyright law in various countries, and sought financial and legal support. Now, works such as the Berg Vier Stücke, with a copyright just outside of the 70-year limit in some countries, are treated delicately on IMSLP. These types of works often have a disclaimer stating that while the work is considered public domain in Canada, the European Union, and elsewhere, it is likely not public domain in the U.S. Much work goes into research and forum discussions about copyright to avoid violations; in the case of the Berg Vier Stücke, an IMSLP forum discussion cites evidence that the Vier Stücke were first self-published by Berg in 1920 and published by Universal Edition in 1924 with only minor error corrections, making them technically legal for download in the U.S.

IMSLP is still growing and has much room for improvement. For example, a user has created a page with a "List of Compositions with Orchestral Cello Parts," but no such page exists yet for clarinet, leaving us to sift through individual pieces. The Rose etudes are clearly public domain, but as this article went to press, only one scan of the 40 etudes had been uploaded, and this with several etudes missing and out of order. But as we have seen with the rise of Wikipedia, the nature of a wiki is that the more people use and contribute to the site, the more accurate and complete the wiki becomes. Even simply rating the quality of the scans you access can be a helpful contribution. With the participation of users who upload scans, research copyright information, and contribute to the wiki in other ways, IMSLP could soon become the most valuable online music resource for musicologists and performers alike.

Other Sites

While many web sites offer a general collection of sheet music, the web site of The Clarinet Institute of Los Angeles is specifically tailored for the clarinetist. Managed by David Schorr, this website not only contains archives of sheet music, but also has numerous videos, MIDI files, and recordings of works ranging from standard to lesser-known compositions. Presented in PDF format, all of the sheet music can be downloaded legally due to copyright expiration or because the music has been donated for public use. With over 420 works listed, you can browse through solo works, duets, trios, pieces for clarinet and piano, chamber works, and clarinet ensembles, downloading desired parts and scores at your discretion. You can also purchase a data CD with all of the music files conveniently cataloged and ready to print for only ten dollars. The site has recently widened its instrumental spectrum to include similar discs with sheet music for wind quintet, flute, and oboe. This web site is an excellent resource for anyone looking to add to their musical library.

As mentioned in the March 2009 Clarinet Cache column, the home page of Woodwind.org offers a listing of free music and MIDI files. Here, Mark Charette compiled links to notable sites such as "Oliver's (mostly) Clarinet Music Page" run by Oliver Seely. Oliver Seely is a clarinetist and chemistry professor emeritus from California State University at Dominguez Hills who has created Finale versions of many solo and chamber works.

While Seely's collection is extensive, be aware that some of the music files are without articulations or dynamics. If you don't have Finale, head over to Charette's "mirror" of Seely's page, where he has translated the Finale notation into PDF format. Woodwind.org also has links to sites with files of manuscripts designated for research purposes and web sites of various composers who have provided their music in PDF files for public use.

Looking for traditional and popular songs? Try perusing the listing of clarinet music at 8notes.com. Most of the selections are simple arrangements of popular melodies such as "Amazing Grace" and "The Entertainer" for clarinet with piano accompaniment, appropriate for beginner to intermediate clarinet players. For an upgrade of service and content, the site offers a yearly subscription that authorizes access to hundreds of compositions, allows you to print music without the commercial advertisements and to request separate instrument parts, and also offers free transposition of the parts. This is a good source for teachers looking for pieces with easy piano accompaniment so that they can play along with their students.

The general free sheet music sites that often come up in searches, such as Free-Scores.com, leave something to be desired. Cluttered with advertisements and difficult to navigate, Free-Scores.com is not the best place to start when looking for a piece online. In comparison to the aforementioned sites, its content is quantity over quality, with many of the pieces presented in poor Finale notation. However, many composers have contributed new compositions to the site, so it could be a good venue to discover contemporary works and connect with composers.

One last site worth mentioning is Paolo Leva's Clarinet Music and Scores blog. Leva regularly posts sheet music in PDF format with commentary, including original arrangements and some works from other sources.

Searching for online music can be quite frustrating, and we have likely only reached the tip of the iceberg. We hope to have shown you what we have found to be the best and most important sites for free clarinet music. If you think we have missed something, please email us.

We encourage clarinetists to support their favorite publishers, and do not condone the act of copying or downloading music that is still under copyright protection. However, copyright law exists for a reason, and when the copyright expires on a piece of music, it becomes public property. Publishers may not be happy about the fact that the Internet has made it easier for people to obtain copies of public domain music without purchasing it from them, but this does not mean that publishers will be obsolete in the twenty-first century. In the US, publishers still hold copyright on much of the music printed after 1922, and besides, nothing can replace a scholarly edition of a work such as the Mozart Concerto, with a preface, printed on quality paper. Those publishers that understand their role in the digital age will continue to remain relevant and economically viable for many years to come.

Websites discussed in this article:

8notes.com

The Clarinet Institute of Los Angeles

Free-Scores.com

IMSLP's Copyright Information Page

IMSLP's List of Clarinet Works

IMSLP's List of Orchestral Parts

Oliver Seely's (mostly) Clarinet Music Page

Paolo Leva's Blog

Woodwind.org's Music and MIDI page

Woodwind.org's Mirror of Oliver Seely's Site

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Additional sites we learned about after publication of this column:

EPSA Publishing is a Spanish-language site offering free downloads of primarily Argentinian music. Sheet music can be searched by genre (including a large collection of tangos) and instrument, and many compositions include clarinet. Registration is required to download sheet music, and the user agrees to credit the composer/editor if the music is used for performance.