I Can Play It: online music lessons

The most common environment where music lessons take place are in a teacher's studio or local music store, involving an exchange of physical interaction between the teacher and student. Yet with the technology readily available on the Internet, players can find alternate sources of instruction with one click of the mouse button. These online lessons can provide opportunities to learn from the experts without ever having to leave the house. Although taking online lessons has its drawbacks (absence of personal response and immediate feedback to one's playing), the numerous advantages, such as receiving instruction from renowned performers thousands of miles away or viewing the lessons at your convenience, can make them worthwhile. Online instruction works best used as a supplement to a player's one-on-one coaching.

One superb site that offers instruction for various instruments is Icanplayit.com, where you can subscribe to short lessons on clarinet, piano, other instruments, and music theory. British clarinetist Emma Johnson gives her thoughts and advice on various topics that apply to all levels of clarinet playing. Each of the 32 mini-courses lasts between 3-5 minutes long and includes demonstrations by Johnson along with diagrams, musical examples, and excerpts illustrated. Emma Johnson's pleasant approach and engaging manner draws in the viewer, whether she is executing a beautiful phrase or explaining how embouchure position affects intonation.

In addition to discussing the fundamentals, Johnson also highlights areas concerning technique and agility, fingerings, breath support, adjusting reeds, and ideas on performance practices. The chosen musical excerpts are from the standard repertory and much attention is given to Schumann's Fantasiestűcke, No.1. Lesson #30 exclusively covers the piece, providing the viewer with a mini-master class on the movement, followed by a heart-felt performance by Emma Johnson in the subsequent lesson.

Although a subscription must be purchased in order to view all thirty-two lessons, Icanplayit allows viewers the chance to watch five mini lessons free of charge.

Mate Bekavac - Carmen Fantasy

Slovenian clarinetist Mate Bekavac has attracted attention in the clarinet world for this performance of his own arrangement of themes from Bizet's Carmen for clarinet and orchestra. In this exciting arrangement, Bekavac uses the extreme altissimo range and violin-like acrobatics to achieve an impressive effect. Extended techniques such as flutter-tonguing and glissando add a fresh perspective to these well-known themes, while still remaining true to the style of the piece. The fifteen-minute video is in two parts:




While information on the web about Mate Bekavac is scarce, a short bio mentions his studies with Bela Kovacs at the University of Graz and with Charles Neidich at Juilliard. Also, check out this thread at the Clarinet BBoard about Bekavac's video, including discussion about embouchure technique for extreme altissimo.

And if the Carmen Fantasy left you wanting more, perhaps this video will serve as an encore - it's Bekavac performing Guisganderie (by Faustin and Maurice Jeanjean) accompanied by what appears to be a student clarinet quartet.

Ivo Papasov and his wedding band

Dominating the Bulgarian wedding-music scene, clarinetist Ivo Papasov is well-known for his distinct improvisational and folk-influenced sound. Papasov quickly became popular in 1974, but his wild clarinet playing did not sit well with Bulgaria's communist-ruling party. In 1982 he was arrested and sentenced to a labour-camp, only to be reprieved three weeks later. Papasov attained international recognition only after landing a contract with Hannibal Records in the late 80's. This YouTube video offers a sample of why Ivo Papasov and his Wedding Band have such a large following.

Robert Spring's warm-ups

Some clarinetists are naturally gifted with the ability to tongue fast, while others may have to work a little harder. And then there are some who blow everyone out of the water -- like Robert Spring. In this video, Spring explains and demonstrates his daily warm-ups which consist of long tones, Klosé scales, Langenus arpeggios, and tonguing exercises. As his warm-up routine progresses, Spring continuously increases the speed to the point where he reaches a single-tonguing speed at the metronome marking of 240 beats per minute! Warm-ups in the video are also outlined in a supplementary article and staccato exercises found on the Clariperu website. Much appreciation goes out to Clariperu for producing such a great video and to Robert Spring, who lends inspiration to many clarinetists!

Gary Gray interview from LA Chamber Orchestra blog

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has just released the last portion of a five-part interview with Gary Gray. Professor of clarinet at UCLA and former clarinetist with the LACO, Gray speaks with interviewer J. Robert Bragonier about his long and successful career, including his experience with the saxophone and jazz.

In case you don't make it over there, we'll give you a shortcut to a video of Gary Gray performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Grammy Award Orchestra last February. Also check out Gray's website - it includes several articles and information on his teaching methods.

Transposition Chart

Anyone who has ever played in an orchestra is well acquainted with joys and pains of transposing the clarinet parts. In efforts to help alleviate such stress, clarinet enthusiast Graham Nasby devised a transposition chart which outlines techniques to apply when sight-transposing. Organized to facilitate quick reference, each pitched-clarinet part is given with tips for transposition, such as moving key signatures up or down, and adding or subtracting sharps or flats to the original key. Clef adjustments are also notated in the chart. A list of the parts notated are divided into two sections: Ab piccolo, Eb, D, C, Bb, A, F basset, Eb alto and the lower clarinet family of Bb bass, EEb contra-alto, BBb contra-bass, and Tuba (C bass clef). In the chart, conversions written in bold font signify more frequently used transposition, while the less frequent transpositions remain in regular font. A few of the "rare" transpositions have yet to be completed, and Nasby has omitted an entry for A bass clarinet transposition. Nonetheless, this easy-to-use guide can help the orchestral clarinetist sight-read parts until transposition becomes a learned skill.

As a side note to Nasby's web site, the "Misc" link contains general information on the clarinet family, concert band instrumentation, and numerous musical jokes (some good and some bad!).

ClarinetFest wrap-up; looking ahead to 2010

Hopefully everyone has made it home safe and is beginning to recover from ClarinetFest 2008 in Kansas City. Before we left yesterday, we were able to catch most of Guy Yehuda's concert of solo clarinet music (which was great), as well as the University of Florida Clarinet Ensemble. The clarinet choir premiered one original work as well as four arrangements. Matt Johnston's arrangement of Holst's Second Suite in F was a real standout - with percussion added, this piece is a fantastic approximation of the original that would be a real joy to play. Though the arrangements were technically demanding even for a college group (especially the Mendelssohn Scherzo), they were all very well done and collectively make a great addition to our clarinet choir repertoire.

We already knew that the 2009 festival would be in Porto, Portugal; in Kansas City we found out that the 2010 ClarinetFest will be held in Austin, Texas. So, as ClarinetFest 2008 came to an end, we decided to take a look to the future by talking with Richard MacDowell, professor of clarinet at the University of Texas at Austin.
Looking even farther to the future, we also learned in Kansas City that ClarinetFest 2011 will be hosted by Julia Heinen at California State University in Northridge, CA (in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley). Jane Carl set the bar high with her fantastic job of organizing the festival in Kansas City, and we look forward to the many ClarinetFests yet to come!

Kansas City: Day 4

Getting off to a late start this morning, we arrived at the "Lesser-Known Works for Clarinet" recital in time to hear Eric Mandat's Folk Songs. Gregory Oakes pulled off the extended techniques with ease, including the difficult movement in which the performer must blow across the upper joint to produce a flute-like sound.

Next we were off to the ICA business meeting, where we were invited to formally introduce the Clarinet Cache column and blog to the board and members in attendance. At the meeting, we had the pleasure of hearing from Antonio Saiote about ClarinetFest 2009, which he will host in Porto, Portugal. Also discussed were the recent election results of ICA officers for the upcoming year, and much thanks were given to Jane Carl for her work organizing the festival, and to the current officers for their contributions to the organization.

The afternoon concert of recent works for clarinet, clocking in at over two hours long(!), had an assortment of styles and performers represented. One highlight was Belgian clarinetist Stephan Vermeersch playing v.runchak.b.clari@net (2004), a work by Volodymyr Runchak which depicted the life of an e-mail message. Following Vermeersch was Garry Evans (pictured below), with the Sowerby Sonata and Robert Jager's playful new work Aphorisms. Kathleen Jones ended the recital with a premiere of Divertimento Caribeno 2 by Sonia Morales (sister of Ricardo Morales).


The last concert to be held at the Unity Temple was an evening of jazz with Stephane Chausse and Paquito D'Rivera. The mellow, delicate playing of Chausse was sometimes obscured by the drums, but this was probably due the church acoustics rather than any fault of the performers.


Chausse's very satisfying performance could have only been topped by Paquito D'Rivera himself. Indeed, upon taking the stage, D'Rivera remarked, "I told him don't play so good... now I have to work double!" After a few tunes with the talented rhythm section, the audience was treated to a surprise when Chausse and Larry Combs took the stage with D'Rivera.


Combs, Chausse, and D'Rivera performed an incredible rendition of Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia." We thoroughly enjoyed the concert, and so did the rest of the audience - they demanded an encore performance from the three clarinetists as well as a second encore from D'Rivera. Overall, it was a fantastic event to end the series of evening concerts.

Kansas City: Day 3

One of the best parts of the shuttle bus ride is passing by the Nelson museum, where one experiences a warped sense of dimension when viewing these giant badminton birdie sculptures. ....But where's the raquet?

Friday morning began with a potpourri recital highlighting local talent in the Kansas and Missouri area. Both new and standard pieces were presented in a variety of ensemble instrumentation. One definite crowd pleaser was a performance by Allison Storochuk of Scott McAllister's piece, X3, arranged for clarinet, violin, and piano. Cheryl Melfi's excellent performance of Chen Yi's Chinese Ancient Dances brought an exotic element to the recital, with its pitch bends and microtones. Due to the overlapping of concert schedules, we weren't able to attend the clarinet music from Brazil, but other festival participants gave it great reviews.

Warming up the subsequent audience in the Spencer Theater, the clarinet duets of Jonathan Cohler and Howard Klug alternated with Robert Spring and Jana Starling. Klug and Cohler began with a premiere of Simon Sargon's Birds of a Feather..., which the audience seemed to really enjoy. Each piece seemed to be exponentially more virtuosic than the last, building to Spring and Starling's thrilling performances of works by Libby Larsen and Roshanne Etezady.




The night concert on Friday consisted of standard works for clarinet and orchestra, plus a premiere of a Charlie Parker tribute work by Antonio Fraioli. Though each of the performances was stellar, the standout seemed to be Michael Wayne's flawless rendition of the Weber Concertino.

Kansas City: Day 2

Thursday was jam-packed, a day full of great concerts. Although the event organizers have done a fantastic job of programming this year, we can't make it to everything, so feel free to comment and share your ClarinetFest experiences!

The day began at 9 AM with some electronic clarinet duos: the World Woodwind Duo (Dwight Frizzell and Thomas Aber) and Clarion Synthesis (Gerry Errante and D. Gause). The works on this program each used electronics in slightly different ways, although they were all composed within the past six years. Several works were interactive, keeping Gerry Errante busy with foot pedals, Max/MSP cues, and microphones.

The electronic extravaganza continued later with the session "Making Multimedia Manageable" with Mary Alice Druhan. After a short presentation about the issues of performing on multimedia works (synchronizing your part with fixed electronic accompaniment, programming effects pedals, working with visuals) Druhan gave an excellent performance of three multimedia works. Especially notable was "A Dream Fantasy" (1973) by Merrill Ellis, an electro-acoustic pioneer who left a lasting legacy at our very own University of North Texas. Quite a lot of work went into putting on this piece - the film projections were adapted to VHS, the slides were converted to PowerPoint, and the audio tape was transferred to CD (not to mention the extensive percussion setup). Well worth the effort, this twenty-five-year-old work still holds its own with the multimedia works of today.



The exhibit hall was somewhat of a zoo, with people crowded in narrow aisles - some even continued to test instruments as the fire alarm was going off!

The afternoon featured a concert of new works from Latin America, with Kathleen Jones and the D2 clarinet duet. Jones and several of her colleagues and former students at the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico played Klarinet 3.2 by Alfonso Fuentes, in which each movement of the duet series was written specifically for her to play with each person. Rounding out the Latin program, Colombian duet D2 played lively rhythms native of their country. Two of the programmed pieces were written by one the clarinetists, Mauricio Murcia.

A few other highlights from the day for us were Paolo Beltramini's performance of the Francaix Tema con Variazioni, and Evan Ziporyn on bass clarinet performing David Lang's Press Release.

The evening concert of all-star clarinet ensembles was a real treat. Francois Houle performed his own clarinet quintet Of Spheres Unbound, along with Bonnie Campbell, Roger Cole, Eric Mandat, and Evan Ziporyn. The five were placed in different locations on the stage and balcony for a compelling antiphonal effect. Ziporyn (who had a very busy day!) also performed in his own clarinet quartet Hive, a very well-received piece involving a great deal of trilling used to somewhat minimalist effect.

The Chicago Clarinet Trio of Wagner Campos, Larry Combs, and Julie DeRoche closed out the program with works by Bermudez and Combs himself. The concert finished much earlier than Wednesday night so that everyone could get to the "post-concert entertainment" sooner, according to Combs.

We're looking forward to what today brings, and wish everybody a happy Fourth!