1 Course: CA1004 Degree project
30 Credits 2020
Master of Classical Music Performance Kungliga Musikhögskolan
Supervisor: Sven Åberg Examiner: Håkan Björkman
Martino Moruzzi
” Clarinet Praxis”
How to best prepare for orchestra life. Advice and interviews with some of the main principal clarinetists in Europe.
The sounding part of the project is: Martino Moruzzi Master Final Exam
Table of contents
1.Abstract: ... 3 2 Method: ... 5 3. Result: ... 11 What is the difference between preparing an excerpt such as from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony when you have just started your career and when you have played it many times? ... 11 What is the difference between preparing a concert with the chief conduc-tor and preparing it with a guest conducconduc-tor? ... 13 What is the role of the principal clarinet ? What are the main responsibili-ties? ... 14 How can one best prepare very difficult excerpt such as Béla Bartók’s ”The Miraculous Mandarin”, Igor Stravinsky’s ”The Firebird” or Dimitri Shoshta-kovich’s Ninth Symphony? ... 15 What is the difference between the role of second clarinet with the obliga-tion of bass clarinet and being solo bass clarinet in an orchestra? ... 16 In my opinion the most complex excerpt from a psychological and technical point of view for bass clarinet is the second movement of Dimistri Shohsta-kovich's violin concerto. How can I best prepare it?... 16 What is the best way to manage the probationary period before obtaining a permanent role in an orchestra? ... 18 What is the difference between playing an excerpt during an audition and playing it in the orchestra? ... 18 4. Conclusion ... 20 5.References ... 23
1.Abstract:
This topic for the present thesis arose from the very reason I came to study at the KMH Royal College of Music of Stock-holm where I have the opportunity to approach orchestral life in a direct manner, playing and collaborating with the great orchestras of the city and also to focus on orchestral repertoire, especially those excerpts which are required for auditions.
In the last year I have spent a lot of time trying to understand how an orchestral musician can manage time better and pre-pare for any kind of situation, precisely because I have had so many chances to participate in major projects that the uni-versity has offered and also in long tours around Europe, Can-ada and Central America. The theme of the present thesis, therefore, is what how I find the life in the orchestras I’ve worked with. Tours show directly that playing and travelling for long periods of time can interfere with what we call the "physical form of the instrumentalist". The same thing hap-pens when working for weeks on different productions, es-pecially when you still must study and learn what may be a huge orchestral repertoire.
An orchestra can be a place for meeting and learning, but in the long run you need to carve out a personal study space to better prepare for the sometimes-frenetic life of a musician. My own experience and the reports of other musicians have shown how complicated it is to make all the commitments coincide; in fact, thanks to this unusual research on a subject rarely discussed formally I have learned directly and indi-rectly how to organize successful the personal way of prac-tice.
In the research carried out, questions were asked to under-stand how orchestral musicians prepare some orchestral pas-sages. I wanted to put attention to specific details, for exam-ple, sound control, the articulation of the various technical passages.
I’ve chosen where possible regarding excerpts that not only have advanced my own experience but are also very im-portant in the clarinet repertoire. In addition, I also wanted to talk about how important (and often essential) it is to have a flexible way of playing both in rehearsals and in concert.
In presenting this research, my intention is also to discuss some facts from my personal experience as an orchestral mu-sician and answers to many questions I have prepared for my teachers and perhaps future orchestral colleagues. The aim of this research is produce a report that is of use for any mu-sician: one who already has worked in an orchestra or is still doing auditions, but also for teachers and students entering this environment, so as to allow everyone to explore and bet-ter understand this aspect of a musician's life.
This has been a very interesting undertaking for me, and I be-lieve an important one as it follows one of many paths, we musicians all take to reach the same goal.
2 Method:
The method adopted to further my investigation was in the form of interviews with leading wind instrumentalists (clari-nettists) from some of the great European orchestras. I had the opportunity to interview Andreas Sundén, Principal clar-inet of the Stockholm Radio Orchestra, Mats Wallin, solo Bass Clarinet of the Stockholm Radio Orchestra, Hermann Stefans-son, currently my teacher and Principal clarinettist of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and finally my for-mer clarinet teacher, Paolo Beltramini, Clarinet Soloist of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano.
The interview proved to be a good method because the mu-sicians responded directly from their real experience and al-lowed a better understanding of everyday working life in an orchestra.
Interviews were based on specific questions regarding or-chestral passages, preparation of the specific passage, per-sonal preparation both mental and physical, but above all on how to organize one's time for personal study or to prepare other concerts and / or engagements outside the hectic life of the orchestra, such as recitals, chamber music concerts, university lessons or master classes.
Two books introduced me to this subject and helped struc-ture some of the research processes for this task: “A Voice from the Pit" by Richard Temple Savage and "Becoming an Orchestral Musician, a guide for Aspiring Professionals" by
Richard Davis. As for this last book I wanted to focus on the fourth chapter where there is a very interesting section con-cerning the orchestral excerpts.
Of note is that these interviews deal with themes that all mu-sicians face when playing in an orchestra. For example, I was interested in some passages for clarinet and bass clarinet which I consider very difficult both from a technical point of view and from the point of view of preparation and execu-tion. Specifically, during the interviews, I went into the deep meaning of the excerpt, such as one from Ludwig Van Bee-thoven's Sixth Symphony, a page that is not technically diffi-cult but very demanding from the point of view of phrasing, legato and the various articulations requested by the com-poser.
Excerpt from the first movement from the sixth symphony by L. V. Beethoven
Excerpt from the second movement from the sixth symphony by L. V. Beethoven
Another complex piece in my opinion is from Dimitri Shosta-kovich’s Ninth Symphony, an excerpt that requires maximum concentration, where the third movement of the symphony is performed practically alone (with the accompaniment by the two bassoons), a technical passage that requires great technical mastery of the instrument especially for the articu-lation, but also an intelligent use of support and air.
Excerpt from the third movement from the ninth symphony by D. Shostakovich
A further excerpt on which I focused in the interviews was "The Miraculous Mandarin” by B. Bartók, very complex from a musical and technical point of view, because it is an almost cadenced passage, in the sense that usually the conductor leaves the "Soloist" very free but also requires great flexibility in order to fit into the big orchestral framework.
The last excerpt I decided to focus on is Dimitri Shostako-vich’s Concerto for violin and orchestra, a requirement for all bass clarinet auditions, technically difficult. It is very psycho-logically complex, during the first movement and with very little playing, which does not allow the musician to "warm up": as soon as the first movement is over he is catapulted into the frantic second movement to start directly with the bass clarinet solo.
Excerpt from the second movement from the first violin Con-certo in a Minor by D. Shostakovich
The questions were designed to help to understand how to best prepare for each type of situation. The interviews were divided into two parts, the first being a discussion of the preparation of the steps while the second part was on how to be flexible within an orchestral or chamber group, or simply when playing alone.
Below are the questions asked during the interviews:
What is the difference between preparing an excerpt such as from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony when you have just started your career and when you have played it many times?
What is the difference between preparing a concert with the chief conductor and preparing it with a guest conductor?
What is the role of the principal clarinet? What are the main responsibilities?
How can one best prepare a very difficult excerpt such as Béla Bartók’s” The Miraculous Mandarin”, Igor Stravinsky’s” The Firebird” or Dimitri Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony?
What is the difference between the role of second clarinet with the obligation of bass clarinet and being the solo bass clarinet in an orchestra?
In my opinion the most complex excerpt from a psychological and technical point of view for bass clarinet is the second movement of Dimitri Shostakovich’s violin concerto. How can I best prepare it?
What is the best way to manage the probationary period be-fore obtaining a permanent role in an orchestra?
What is the difference between playing an excerpt during an audition and playing it in the orchestra?
3. Result:
It was very interesting to see how the various Clarinettists that I interviewed all in a certain sense responded and com-mented in a similar way. No-one was clearly different. Some of them were surprised at the questions and it was very in-teresting to see and hear what they had to say as they ex-plained themselves through anecdotes or sometimes with very precise almost scientific analyses.
It goes without saying that no definitive conclusion was reached, or absolute answers given (in my opinion very diffi-cult to find) to the various questions asked. In this conclusion the answers to the questions were analysed singly and sum-marized in order to identify the information” collected” from these great musicians.
What is the difference between preparing an excerpt such as from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony when you have just started your career and when you have played it many times?
Almost all the musicians I interviewed responded in a similar way. In fact, from the answers they gave the big difference was experience; but what is experience?
The experience is the thing that allows you to grow as a mu-sician. After having had the opportunity to play the piece or the excerpt several times and on different occasions, the ex-perience allows many factors such as muscle memory,
breathing techniques and rhythmic perception to be imme-diate and not having to take time for personal study.
According to all four of the musicians interviewed, experi-ence is what helps us to play without having to spend hours and days studying the various orchestral solos. For example, for most of them the first time was a great thrill, also because the excerpt is well known within the clarinet world and the backbone of the audition repertoire.
All the interviewees confirmed that they had prepared the passage in a certain way, for example, by studying their own part also the orchestral score, but also by listening to the symphony. The big difference for most of them was that, at the beginning of their career, it was difficult to find the right balance and timing with the orchestra, a skill developed through experience. When it is the moment to play alone, especially this solo, at first one cannot fully know the various subtleties and colours to use. Only by practicing and accumu-lating experience can these be achieved smoothly.
However, their preparation of this work (and even others) now is completely different from the early years of their ca-reers. Thanks to the years spent playing in an orchestra many of them have found various time-saving stratagems to keep in form. In a passage such as this one, it is necessary to rec-ognize where to be sweet while expressing great personality and how to best prepare for this while being careful about articulation which must be delicate but also present (such as in the third movement of the symphony). It may be assumed that after many years playing in an orchestra a certain indi-vidual knowledge and awareness of playing is developed, very different from that at the start of one’s career.
The advice of all four musicians is always to have material or exercise that can put you at ease and that will not affect the result of the solo and obviously prepare the right articulation required by the piece. For example, a useful exercise sug-gested from maestro Andreas Sundén, is to study the articu-lation in a relaxed way in order to prepare this kind of ex-cerpt. At the beginning always slowly to find the right sound and support without having to bite too much. Little by little that we find the right sound or that we like, we begin to in-crease the speed until we get to the right time. For the suc-cess of the exercise it is essential that the muscles of the jaw and lips are relaxed and not stressed.
What is the difference between preparing a concert with the chief conductor and preparing it with a guest conduc-tor?
This question led to a deeper understanding of the special link that exists between a member of the orchestra and the conductor. Most observed that the music we played is al-ways the same, but each time you must be able to react and be particularly attentive to the suggestions or demands of the conductor.
The big difference between a permanent conductor and a guest conductor lies in the success of a long-term project. A permanent conductor usually has a vision directed towards the future unlike one who perhaps conducts the same or-chestra only a few times a year. The permanent conductor is a very special figure for the musicians of an orchestra, be-cause during the year there is the opportunity to share and work in-depth on some aspects that a guest conductor can-not do. A stable conductor figure is very important because
he or she knows each musician in the orchestra well (espe-cially in the wind and percussion section) and because the musicians know him and consequently can find the right chemistry needed to all work together.
Another major advantage of being able to work with a per-manent conductor is to be able to predict how he would like some ideas to be expressed.
Turning instead to the figure of the guest conductor, all the interviewees confessed that when they meet a new one, they usually have a tendency to propose their way of playing, es-pecially in the so-called solo passages, although some con-ductors ask them to change small things in their way of play-ing.
For this reason, all of them they have absolutely advised and suggested studying the various excerpt in different ways, above all to study the timing, articulations and different col-ours, all this will make the work between the musician and the new conductor much easier.
What is the role of the principal clarinet? What are the main responsibilities?
The role of the principal clarinet within the wind section is certainly very important; in fact, the principal clarinet is part of the so-called lead quartet including flute, oboe and bas-soon. The most important role in this quartet is that of the flute, seated in front of the clarinets and the bassoons and visually the most suitable one. Clarinets and bassoons are
Obviously the role of the first clarinet within the section of the clarinets is to lead the whole section, but nowadays, as one of the interviewees pointed out, all the wind instrumen-talists are soloists who support each other when they play as a section or in a duet. The lead quartet within the wind sec-tion serves not only to guide the whole secsec-tion but also, through the various personalities and types of playing, to cre-ate a real alchemy and mixture of sounds.
In general, everyone made me understand that the role of principal clarinet also depends very much on who one is play-ing with or in which orchestra; in this latter case the clarinet-tist may have two main functions: the first is to merge and mix its sound with the section to create a superior sound quality, and where this type of sound already exists within the section, the lead may give musical "impulses" to the sec-tion.
How can one best prepare very difficult excerpts such as Béla Bartók’s” The Miraculous Mandarin”, Igor Stravin-sky’s” The Firebird” or Dimitri Shostakovich’s Ninth Sym-phony?
The answer generally to this question was” practice”. So, I in-vestigated further to find out and understand how they pre-pared, and still prepare, these passages.
All confirmed a radical change in their way of studying; be-fore, at the start of their careers, they spent hours preparing physically and mentally. Now they have less time, given the demands of a private life and working in an orchestra.
One of the interviewees explained that when you work for so long in an orchestra, in a certain sense you must be very care-ful about the way you study. You need to understand how to make the best use of the short time available. As already writ-ten in response to the first question, you need to know which are the difficult parts of the passage and be able to solve any problems.
Speaking generally of these passages, the interviewees ex-plained the importance of knowing how to listen and adapt to any type of difficulty, but also how to work intensely when the opportunity arises. In fact, one always tells his students” Study while you are young!” because in later years it will be-come increasingly difficult to study and organize your time.
Asking the conductor for help through a comparison or dur-ing rehearsals may provide an opportunity to resolve the dif-ficulties of a passage; for example, in the " Wonderful Man-darin" by Béla Bartok, the section work and communication with the conductor is very important for its success.
I would like to add how much for me section rehearsals are always a place where all the musicians question themselves and their colleagues. I think section rehearsals are not only essential to be able to get the same sound and control into-nation but also serve to experiment or try new things that during normal orchestral rehearsals you don't have the op-portunity to do.
Another thing that I managed to extrapolate during one of my interviews, regarding this topic is, when acquiring only one position, is to have the various orchestral excerpt always
cipal clarinet in an orchestra it is very important that you al-ways practice the most important passages from the orches-tral repertoire.
What is the difference between the role of second clarinet with the obligation of bass clarinet and being the solo bass clarinet in an orchestra?
In my opinion the most complex excerpt from a psycho-logical and technical point of view for bass clarinet is the second movement of Dimitri Shostakovich’s violin con-certo. How can I best prepare it?
I decided to combine these two questions following the in-terview with the Solo bass clarinet of the Stockholm Radio Orchestra, Mats Wallin, specifically on these two questions, although the other three interviewees also answered these two questions. In the clarinet repertoire we find ourselves in the same situation when facing certain passages.
Starting from the first question, I would like to clarify that there is no major difference between the position of second clarinet with the obligation of the bass clarinet and the posi-tion of Solo Bass clarinet. When you’re the solo bass clarinet in an orchestra you might be invited to another orchestra to play as a” specialist” of this instrument.
If you are the Solo bass clarinet you also have a certain weight within the section which could affect the various musical de-cisions of the section or, if it is required, together with the
section of the bassoons, become the background of the sec-tion, i.e. in support of the wind section with your own sound.
As for the second question in this case the keywords are: "keep cool". Obviously in these cases you must have an ab-solute preparation, based on a combination of mental train-ing, mental focus and muscle memory that is obtained with intelligent study and a lot of concentration.
Great help can be given by the choice of material; in fact, when preparing for a performance the general advice (as re-gards clarinettists) is to learn how to select a reed that allows the instrumentalist to be free. From the point of view of physical preparation it was suggested that I try the following exercise during the various study sessions: just after the break the passage should be played as if in a concert to test mental and physical reaction without stopping until the end of the solo. This exercise enables the understanding of where we are in the preparation process and obviously is a good work-out.
Another exercise suggested me was to imitate or recreate the physical situation of the concert; the exercise consists in recreating the high heart rate that occurs during a solo or during a performance by running up and down stairs until reaching that limit and then playing the passage directly without taking a breather. Although it is right to prepare mentally, before a performance there is a moment of abso-lute concentration that allows the right focus to be found with which to face the performance.
What is the best way to manage the probationary period before obtaining a permanent role in an orchestra?
All confirmed that at the beginning of their careers work was extremely demanding; in fact, preparing the parts properly and listening to them required a huge amount of effort. How-ever, once this period has passed (inevitable for everyone) everything becomes easier. In a way, there is a great ability to anticipate what is about to happen, especially in contem-porary music. When a piece is written clearly and sensibly, musicians can understand in advance what will happen. It of-ten happens with new pieces that are performed as a world premiere. Various musical experiences such as chamber mu-sic, or other styles such as Jazz or Klezmer, allow the devel-opment of an ability to know how to best manage oneself even in the most difficult situations.
What is the difference between playing an excerpt during an audition and playing it in the orchestra?
This question aroused great interest in all the interviewees and consequently a passionate response from them, to-gether with other concepts reported below.
The basic concept from the multiple responses was the con-firmation that very often a musician examined during an au-dition is in a very uncomfortable situation. First, pressure at the time of the audition greatly affects the success of the test, consequently this type of situation must be managed in the best possible way.
In addition, all of them confided that playing a passage during rehearsal is not like playing it as part of the orchestra; in fact, the trick is to be able to calibrate and understand how to find the right swing and balance during the audition. This (unfor-tunately) will only be achieved if you have already had the opportunity to play solos in a real situation. A striking exam-ple is the "Scherzo" taken from "The Midnight Summer Dream" by Felix Mendelssohn. In fact, the part is indicated as ”piano”, but in the general dynamics of the orchestra it be-comes Mezzo Forte, therefore when playing in the orchestra you will need to know how to find the right dynamics for the passage to be successful.
During an audition, however, it is a completely different story. Since” slowly” is written in the part, during the audition there is often a tendency to play it much more slowly than when played with the orchestra. Furthermore, when the jury themselves play in an audition or (very often the candidates themselves) a tempo is often adopted that does not match the version of the ballet, which obviously is much slower.
The advice from Maestro Beltramini was to recreate, in your mind, all the instruments that should play together with the soloist during the execution of the passage, unfortunately with the risk that if the right sound cannot be found, every-thing could be very heavy. The general discussion is certainly very complex. The jury needs to be impressed by giving eve-rything during the audition.
I would like to finish and conclude this section about excerpt played during audition and I would like, to take the wise words of Jonathan Goodall principal Horn of the BBC philhar-monic of Manchester taken from the book Becoming an
Or-” I look for a combination of things. They definitely need to be accurate in getting the notes right, and these days it is very important to have good reading ability phases on knowing the repertoire well; and so in auditions, I would definitely hear some standard excerpts that they really should know, along with an element of pure sight-reading, just to see how they cope. Some players are really ’clued-up’ in audition: you can tell that they have done the work. Other, however, think that it’s OK just to come in and play their piece well. If you were to give them Strauss’s Don Juan and they plays the big tune at the wrong speed, that would be totally unacceptable. Re-cently, many candidates got the tempo all wrong in some standard Brahms. It was surprising because they all have am-ple opportunity to listen and learn.”1
As you can deduct from this small excerpt, it is very important that during the auditions you arrive well prepared and obvi-ously be ready to deal with the excerpt that are requested at the moment, for this a general advice given to me by Maestro Hermann Stefannson is to always listen to one or multiple versions of the piece so as to understand and be able to learn the piece thoroughly without doubt and be able to demon-strate skill in playing it.
1 Richard Davies, Becoming an Orchestral Musician: A Guide for Aspiring Professionals, 1st
ed. Published by Giles de la Mare Publisher Limited 53 Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 IJD, 2006. Chapter 4, page 96.
4. Conclusion
Fortunately, or unfortunately there will never be an absolute conclusion for this type of topic, but after this research I shall take up a completely different way of working, facing situa-tions and studying.
However, one thing that I was able to discuss, test and un-derstand was precisely how to deal with the themes and keys that play a fundamental role in the success of everything we prepare; in this case, the importance lies in flexibility.
During all four interviews this theme came up every time; in fact, besides being indispensable, it reveals the identity of a musician. Before going on to discuss this vast subject, how-ever, I would like to explain what being flexible means to me.
The word” flexibility”, among its many meanings, is also a way of living one's life as a musician. Not only does it mean being able to grasp meaning and making one’s own, but it is certainly one of the essential tools that allow, in my opinion, the success of everything a musician can offer to his audi-ence.
In fact, for me being able to find a way to be flexible is every-thing, also because not only does it help in the everyday mu-sical world but also in everyday life; it allows us to be reactive to all the stimuli that today's society presents, though for many it could be a cause of disturbance; for me, however, it
I think being flexible may also at times have a negative effect on our personal and artistic growth, but for me the most im-portant thing is to always be able to distinguish what might be constructive. Through this process, sometimes very com-plex and long, there is the possibility of forming a versatile and flexible mind that does not stop at appearances, but on the contrary helps to look for answers and solutions that may even take you far off course needlessly.
In my opinion everyone can be flexible in a certain sense, but the difficult thing is to know how to accept ideas, many of which may go in the opposite direction to ours.
To learn this skill a musician needs to succeed in being open to any type of artistic experience that presents itself. For ex-ample, we must be able to accept all the interesting pro-posals that can help us grow musically, with this I do not want to say that we must do everything that happens to us, indeed we must know how to discern from what could be useful to us for our musical growth. Obviously, however, common sense is also needed to discern the right path to take without losing sight of the final goal. Surely being able to find the right experiences can help a lot to create great variety in our way of playing.
In my opinion these types of experiences can be found very easily and are within reach of everyone. One of the most im-portant things in music is to be able to communicate! Surely the ultimate goal (if we are talking about a classical music concert) is to be able to stir the emotions of an audience, to convince them with our own way of playing but also to let the spectator live the music being played.
Also, important is to find the right frequency and connection with colleagues with whom one has the opportunity of play-ing. One of the situations that can help in the development of this "skill" is the chamber music environment; this type of experience plays a fundamental role for all musicians not only from a physical point of view but also from a psycholog-ical one. This type of activity helps the development of listen-ing skills, trylisten-ing to capture in detail what is belisten-ing played, try-ing to propose new thtry-ings and interact with the proposals from the other members of the group.
I also firmly believe that playing in an orchestra is in many ways like playing in a chamber music group; obviously all the parameters are different and consequently requires great versatility and flexibility in dealing with colleagues and one’s own way of playing.
Perhaps I will only find the definitive answer to the question of what it means to be flexible or to be a great musician only towards the end of my career. I trust that those who read the present thesis may find part of those answers to the ques-tions that all young musicians ask themselves every day dur-ing their study routine.
5.References
Tempel Savage, Richard. A voice from the pit: reminscences
of an orchestral musician. 1st ed. Published in the United
states of America by David and Charle Inc. 1909.
Davies, Richard. Becoming an Orchestral Musician: A Guide
for Aspiring Professionals. 1st ed. Published by Giles de la
Mare Publisher Limited 53 Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 IJD, 2006.
Stefansson, Hermann. Principal Clarinet at the Philharmonic orchestra in Stockholm, Clarinet teacher at KMH (Kungliga Musikhögskolan), interview Stockholm Konserthuset, 2nd of october 2019.
Beltramini, Paolo. Principal Clarinet at the Orchestra della Svizzera-italiana, Professor at the Conservatorio G. Nicolini of Piacenza, interview Lugano LAC, 11th october 2019.
Sundén, Andreas. Principal Clarinet at Swedish Radio Sym-phony Orchestra, Clarinet teacher at KMH (Kungliga Musikhöskolan), interview Stockholm Berwaldhallen, 16th of december 2019.
Wallin, Mats. Solo Bass Clarinet at the Swedish Radio Sym-phony Orchestra, interview Stockholm Berwaldhallen, 14th of november 2019.
