DWFO rambling
May. 3rd, 2026 04:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivverI've finally buckled down and started to practice my DWFO part in earnest. I've been poking at it for the last couple of months, but now I'm actually devoting some time to it.
It might sound like I'm not taking it seriously by not practicing until now (it's due the middle of next month), but honestly, this is a clarinet part and it is just not that difficult (a good middle-schooler could play it). Clarinets are not all that important in an orchestra, and most of the time, they just provide background. Now, if I played violin, I'd have been practicing every day for the past two months, because their parts are complex.
The clarinet part does have a couple of difficult bits. The first is a passage in C#, which has seven sharps. I know that doesn't mean much to most people, so all you need to understand is that band music rarely has music in which clarinets have even four sharps. Orchestral music is written differently and often has many sharps. The bottom line is that I am not used to reading music with that many sharps, so it's difficult to remember them, and thus I'm sometimes hitting wrong notes. So, I've marked up my music to remind myself which notes should be sharp, and that's solved the problem.
The second is a passage where the clarinet switches back and forth between notes on the beat and afterbeats. Again, that doesn't mean much to most people, and I really can't think of an analogy outside of music. Anyway, it's only a short passage (eight measures, maybe?) but it really messes up my timing, so I've been concentrating on that, out of the entire piece.
We were given a click track, which is an MP3 of the music with the beat laid over it, so that we can hear the beat (which is what the conductor would be doing if we had one) as well as what the rest of the orchestra is doing, and it really is almost as good as playing with the group in person (except I'm playing it off my phone and it's not loud enough -- I can't find my Bluetooth speaker). When I make my recording, I'll be listening to the click track on headphones, so that I stay in time with the rest of the orchestra but the click track won't be heard on the recording.
I did have to buy a studio mic (and the DWFO provided specs on what that mic needed to be able to do). I did buy one of the cheapest I could find, but it should serve. I just hooked it up to my computer yesterday and used it on a Google Meet call and at least it works. I'll be practicing with it later this month to prep for the actual recording.
And slightly related (well, it's about music), I've decided to rejoin the local "marching" band (in quotes because it's less about marching and more about concert music). I used to be a regular there back before the pandemic, but the old conductor (my friend Tim) retired from it and the new conductor, Daniel, extended the season from just the summer to the rest of the year, and I just wasn't interesting in committing to that. It's still that way, but I decided I wanted a second music night and I missed that band. So, this year, I'll be doing clarinet for concert and sax for marching. So far it's been fun, but we'll see if I'm exhausted by it come September. :)
Also another reason, I know Daniel now and have great respect for him as a musician and a teacher, so I wanted the opportunity to play for and learn from him again. And he's changed the direction of the band away from Tim's old-timey music and towards jazz and more modern pop/rock, which is more interesting to me.
It might sound like I'm not taking it seriously by not practicing until now (it's due the middle of next month), but honestly, this is a clarinet part and it is just not that difficult (a good middle-schooler could play it). Clarinets are not all that important in an orchestra, and most of the time, they just provide background. Now, if I played violin, I'd have been practicing every day for the past two months, because their parts are complex.
The clarinet part does have a couple of difficult bits. The first is a passage in C#, which has seven sharps. I know that doesn't mean much to most people, so all you need to understand is that band music rarely has music in which clarinets have even four sharps. Orchestral music is written differently and often has many sharps. The bottom line is that I am not used to reading music with that many sharps, so it's difficult to remember them, and thus I'm sometimes hitting wrong notes. So, I've marked up my music to remind myself which notes should be sharp, and that's solved the problem.
The second is a passage where the clarinet switches back and forth between notes on the beat and afterbeats. Again, that doesn't mean much to most people, and I really can't think of an analogy outside of music. Anyway, it's only a short passage (eight measures, maybe?) but it really messes up my timing, so I've been concentrating on that, out of the entire piece.
We were given a click track, which is an MP3 of the music with the beat laid over it, so that we can hear the beat (which is what the conductor would be doing if we had one) as well as what the rest of the orchestra is doing, and it really is almost as good as playing with the group in person (except I'm playing it off my phone and it's not loud enough -- I can't find my Bluetooth speaker). When I make my recording, I'll be listening to the click track on headphones, so that I stay in time with the rest of the orchestra but the click track won't be heard on the recording.
I did have to buy a studio mic (and the DWFO provided specs on what that mic needed to be able to do). I did buy one of the cheapest I could find, but it should serve. I just hooked it up to my computer yesterday and used it on a Google Meet call and at least it works. I'll be practicing with it later this month to prep for the actual recording.
And slightly related (well, it's about music), I've decided to rejoin the local "marching" band (in quotes because it's less about marching and more about concert music). I used to be a regular there back before the pandemic, but the old conductor (my friend Tim) retired from it and the new conductor, Daniel, extended the season from just the summer to the rest of the year, and I just wasn't interesting in committing to that. It's still that way, but I decided I wanted a second music night and I missed that band. So, this year, I'll be doing clarinet for concert and sax for marching. So far it's been fun, but we'll see if I'm exhausted by it come September. :)
Also another reason, I know Daniel now and have great respect for him as a musician and a teacher, so I wanted the opportunity to play for and learn from him again. And he's changed the direction of the band away from Tim's old-timey music and towards jazz and more modern pop/rock, which is more interesting to me.
