[The Clarinet- the ability to adapt ]

Research conducted into the clarinet’s ability to blend and adapt sound in order to perform repertoire from the different instrument families. Primary focus on articulation and sound concepts, such as vibrato and instrumental limitations.

For my masters project, I will perform works originally written for other instruments. My plan is to perform 2 concerts, one focusing on strings and the other woodwinds. I am from a family of musicians, and have always been surrounded by lots of different music. So a lot of my favourite music to listen to isn’t actually clarinet repertoire, but more for violin or cello; this is one of the inspirations for the project.

Project Reasoning

The performances will provide great challenges for my musicianship and technique, which is an exciting prospect. I will try to strike a good balance; choosing repertoire that will fit the range of the clarinet, but will also push me to develop my sound in the different registers. For instance, flute and violin repertoire would be great for work on high register playing; the speed of air required for lighter articulated passages. Works written for cello, would be great for obtaining richness and finesse in my mid-low register playing on the Bb and A clarinets, and tone quality for the bass clarinet.

One piece I am interested in learning is the presto from J.S Bach’s first violin sonata as it presents many challenges. This piece is sometimes performed by clarinet players because the range fits well for the instrument and there are very few chords or double stops, just one melodic line throughout the movement. However, it is very challenging as there are virtually no rests to breathe in and every note is articulated, so I will have to learn to circular breathe very well whilst articulating with precision. I believe that whilst adapting these pieces for the clarinet, it is important to be faithful and honour the original instrumentation. To articulate in the manner a string player would with their bow strokes. To achieve something like this, perhaps I would use a medium strength reed with a relatively long tenuto attack on the notes in order to imitate the longer bow strokes of the violin.

I am looking forward to branching out and playing repertoire I usually do not. Bach is one of my favourite composers, and it saddens me that the clarinet didn’t exist when he composed.

Other pieces of interest are the Bach cello suites, which I would perform on the bass clarinet. This would pose similar challenges to the violin sonata, however with the larger scale of the cello, the length of articulation would have to be exaggerated to accommodate the longer bow. I would also aspire to achieve a more transparent sound to represent the friction of the bow on the string.

This sort of research is very relevant to my course. I have an internship with the Oslo Philharmonic, and it is crucial that orchestral musicians understand how other instruments function. In that, the first clarinet knows how to blend with a double bass section or the first horn. Even though I won’t necessarily be playing with these instruments in my masters project performances, my desire is to work with other musicians when preparing, to understand the qualities and limitations that their instrument’s possess.

The clarinet is a transposing instrument, so there are possibilities to play on different clarinets which makes adapting other music more feasible. It is quite common that clarinet players don’t practice enough on the auxiliary instruments like bass or Eb clarinets (myself included), so this project provides a nice opportunity to work on my technique with these instruments.

I have been influenced by many musicians, such as Martin Frost; he often plays music written for other instruments and can create very convincing performances. I think this is one of the reasons he is so great; learning music outside the core repertoire has pushed his technique and musicianship to an incredibly high level. Also, the Brahms clarinet sonatas and chamber music are very convincingly performed by viola players, the Zukerman and Barenboim recording of Brahms 2nd clarinet sonata is a recording that stands out in particular.

I believe that, great melodies written by composers like Brahms, Schumann and Schubert are transferable. I have come across trombone players performing the Schumann oboe romances, and the interpretation still works because the melodic writing in that piece is so strong.

Potential works

Timeline

Deciding the repertoire (August- September 2021)

Gathering research material (June-August)

Repertoire preparation, practice and meeting with musicians (September-April) If it is possible to consult with professors from the music school, this would be very much appreciated.

Decision made on structure of project performances (October 2021) I will decide to use one of the project structures outlined below

Concerts (2 between March-June)

Completing the written element (January-April 2022)

Project structure

I had different ideas for this in terms of what instrumentation I would focus on and how I would divide up the concerts. I thought about using brass and woodwind, or vocal music. Also chamber music with clarinet replacing solo instrument. But in the end, I settled on having two performances focusing on the differences between playing wind instrument and string repertoire.

Woodwind

Strings

My ultimate goal for this project, is to create convincing performances of this other repertoire. Of course, a convincing performance is always desirable, but I feel that the main challenge that this project presents, is convincing violinsts, flute or cello players that these pieces can be performed on the clarinet. That is a difficult thing to achieve.

Project Reflection

As my master project currently stands; I have completed the first part of the recitals performing the woodwind repertoire.

In that concert, I played works written for bassoon, oboe and flute. One challenge it presented straight away was that for every piece, I played on a different clarinet. Bb, A and Bass clarinets. So I had to factor that in with warming up the instruments, and adapting the way I use the embouchure and air in order to accommodate the changes.

The master project has been a very interesting experience so far and I feel that I have learned a lot and am still learning more as the process continues- also in ways I did not expect.

As I anticipated, the repertoire I chose has been challenging for my technique. Which makes sense as these are not pieces written for the clarinet. In a way this has been both positive and negative. Positive in the sense that it has been a good challenge for me, and has pushed my technique in a good direction, but also negative in that it has been a bit overwhelming at times.

Alongside this project, I have also had many concerts and orchestra projects happening simultaneously, so it has been hard to distribute the time evenly, such is the challenge of a musician`s life.

This is especially true for works such as the Prokofiev flute sonata, a piece that is so epic in length and musical content, it`s the sort of work that needs time to understand and mature well for the musician. I was able to have a lesson with Tom ottar, who gave me lots of great advice for the piece.

Unfortunately I didn`t get as much time with that piece as I would have wanted, so I adapted and managed to do the best performance I could.

However, it was well received and I think that the members of the audience, felt that these pieces can also sound good on the clarinet as well as for their original instrumentation.

The programme was also very taxing to perform. I wisely chose to share the recital with a colleague of mine performing his master project on bassoon. This was a good choice for both of us as it meant that we could have a break in between pieces.

This is something I particularly needed before and after the Schuman romances for oboe. That piece is exhausting to play, as there are virtually no bars rests in the piece, especially in the second movement. Reflecting on the recording, the fatigue presented some intonation issues. This is something I will try to consider for the second part of my master project which I will now perform in the spring of 2023.

Looking ahead, for the string repertoire, I will try to have the best stamina and great reeds for the recital, so fatigue won’t be an issue. I plan to perform the pieces for string teachers at the school. I think that is particularly important with the solo Bach, as bringing out the musical lines is so important. I played some of the presto from Bach 1st violin sonata for a violinist and she was saying that that is something that really needs to be taken care of. It happens more automatically with a string instrument as they have to make bow crossings.

Repertoire List

R. Schumann- Three romances for oboe op.94

Prokofiev- Flute sonata op.154

Saint saens- Bassoon sonata 1st mvt- op.168

Schubert- Arpeggione sonata

C. Schumann- Romances for violin

J.S. Bach- Violin partita- Double

Cello suite no.2- Prelude

Violin sonata no.1- Presto

R. Schumann oboe romances recording

Saint saens bassoon sonata mvt 1 recording
Prokofiev flute sonata