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Old 07-21-2011, 09:01 AM   #5 (permalink)
VEGANGELICA
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Originally Posted by djchameleon View Post
hmm you have inspired me to look up some clarinet pieces.

When I was in grade school my music teacher told me that I should learn to play clarinet I guess because of the shape of my mouth or the space between my teeth. I don't know she was a bit eccentric.

She would look at people's hands and their jawlines and all kinds of things to determine what instrument they would be good at playing and mines ended up being Clarinet.

I wasn't able to play and learn because my mother would have to pay for the instrument and she didn't have the funds at the time.

Maybe one day I will buy it and practice on my own.
Hey, I had a space between my teeth, too...and ended up playing the clarinet!

About your teacher: in my opinion, using "musical eugenics" to match children with instruments does kids a disservice since I think anyone can play any instrument if she or he really wants to. Most important is that the kids *like* the instrument.

I wanted to play the flute, not the clarinet, but I couldn't get out a note out of the flute the first time I tried to play one in elementary school. I recall an adult said my lips might make it difficult to play the flute well. Since I got a note out of a clarinet the first time I tried one, that's the instrument I selected for band, fearful of flute failure.

It wasn't love, though, and I think that an instrument paired with a child should feel like love. I never really liked the sound of the clarinet, which for me is an acquired taste that I only fully acquire when the song is Brahms Sonata No. 2, 1st movement.

I'm sorry your mom didn't have the funds at the time to buy a clarinet for you. I'm glad you are inspired to investigate the clarinet a little more now.

I've inspired *myself* to look for the remnants of my past clarinet life that I still have (besides the clarinet). I found my old Brahms Sonata No. 2 sheet music, several decades old and still almost good as new! I also found the first page, but only the first page, of a clarinet solo I used to play by Ernesto Cavallini Ernesto Cavallini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Now I'm investigating more of his clarinet pieces.

Ernesto Cavallini - Lontano dalla Patria / Romance for clarinet (1871)
Fabrizio Meloni -Clarinet

Playful and romantic, as the name suggests. Kind of fun:



Ernesto Cavallini - Adagio and Tarantella - Adagio e Tarantella per Clarinetto
This is the solo I played but never liked much because it just seems like a lot of noodling and showoffery (?) without much of a melody. Maybe someone else will like it, though.

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