Tuesday, November 24, 2009

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.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

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!