Well, I asked my band director if there was any song that I could play my real clarinet on instead of my bass, just for old times' sake, seeing as I'm graduating in a couple months and won't have another chance. Turns out that the bass is indespensible on all eight songs. But now that I've given her the idea, she wants me to do a solo, making me the ONLY person in the seven year history of the band so assigned. Annoying. I mean, I could play the piano, but a clarinet solo isn't my idea of fun.
ANYWAY, I actually found a decent song to play, that I just might like doing. Behold. Arranged by me, almost entirely. Any comments or suggestions?
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
Very nice, reminiscent of the song Picard plays on his flute, or is it the same tune, I'm not very good with music. The piano kinda overshadows the clarinet in some areas but overall very nice.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
It sounds very familiar, but I can't place it...
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Yeah, the piano overshadowing the clarinet is a problem with the volume levels that'd be a pain to fix, because I'd have to go through 200 notes individually and fix each one. Didn't really matter THAT much, since I just made the MIDI so I could print out the sheet music.
And yes, it is the theme from "The Inner Light". The variation from that particular ep, not the one from "Lessons", which was inexplicably different...
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
Well done! Let us know what the Band Director says. It would be interesting to know that a song from a trek ep was making the rounds.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Well, I got listened to today. The lady thought it was quite good, for someone who hasn't picked up a clarinet in nine months, and who had only printed the music two hours before.
The only trick to this should be that I'll have to switch from bass to soprano within about two minutes...
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
I still say Jay Chattaway (one of my favourite Trek composers, in any case) strayed too dangerously close to the melody from "Over the Sea to Skye" when he composed the Ressikan flute song.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Oh, so that's what it is. I guess if i had seen that other post that was just before mine, I wouldn't have been so confused...
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Tom: If that's the old Irish song I'm thinking of, then yeah. Was it intentional?
And out of curiousity, he's one of your favourite Trek composers? Assuming we're talking about TV, being one of your favourites out of 4 isn't especially high praise, is it? (Or is there someone other than Jones, Chattaway, McCarthey and Bell that I've forgotten).
I don't think the Trek format has ever really given any of them much opportunity to show us what they can do. I loved Chattaway's work on "Tin Man", before the producers told him that he wasn't boring enough. Ditty Jones on "Best of Both Worlds". And McCarthy for "A Call To Arms". Has Bell had a stand-out episode?
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
quote:The only trick to this should be that I'll have to switch from bass to soprano within about two minutes...
Are you going to be jumping up from your seat in the second row and running to the podium to perform next to the conductor? If not, all you need to is get your hands on a clarinet stand for the soprano and lay the bass on the ground (I recommend pulling the mouthpiece and neck off -- you don't want to suck on a reed that was just sitting in a spit pool from the trumpet player behind you). One year in orchestra, we played selections from Carmen and the clarinetists had to switch from B-flat to A. Whichever one wasn't being used was stored assembled under the seats.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
My Dad is always switching back and forth between bass clarinet, bari-sax, alto-sax, and clarinet. He has them all on little stands arranged in a crecent just to his left. It seems to make the transition much easier (Although the big dufus is always accidentally wearing a couple neckstraps at intermission). His clarinet stand wasn't much and it folds up small enough to fit in the case. You might want to get one (or make the school get you one!).
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Well, it's not so much the physical act of switching as the PLAYING. I've got a sore in my mouth from moving my teeth around on my lip so much yesterday, trying to find the right positions.
Posted by Malnurtured Snayer (Member # 411) on :
quote:I've got a sore in my mouth from moving my teeth around on my lip so much yesterday, trying to find the right positions.
How ... dirty. Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
All right, here's what you do. Go to the drug store and by an oral sore medication. Here, the stores carry a brand called Kanka which is used on canker sores. It's a brown-ish liquid that you just apply over the sore. It deadens the area and forms a protective layer over it.
Once you get this stuff, start using it immediately and reapply about every two hours or so. Within about four days, the sores will either be gone or will have subsided considerably.
But, if you're anything like me, you're going to be lazy and wait until the last minute. Here's what you do then. About an hour to thirty minutes before the performance, apply the stuff to the sore. Then drink some water and talk to anything that will listen: cats, walls, ghosts, dandelions. That will loosen up the medication that's covering the sore so that it won't feel so weird when you're playing.
Oh, and try not to get any of it on your tongue.
Posted by U//Magnus (Member # 239) on :
I wonder. Is there like a Frank Zappa of Clarinets? (Probably not. The clarinet is about as cool as a door. A wooden door with a rusty handle.) But, anyway. What would he say about clarinet solos?
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
quote: I wonder. Is there like a Frank Zappa of Clarinets?
There was one, but he's dead now. One of the old Swing band leaders. Benny Goodman I believe, but like everything else, I get those guys mixed up.
[ April 02, 2002, 12:44: Message edited by: Kosh ]
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Well, I did it. Went quite well. Had a little trouble staying synched with the pianist, but we got it figured out. Sorry I don't have a recording for y'all. Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
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