Required recordings, fall 2013

ByBret Pimentel

As you know, I require my university woodwind students (oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone) to grow their personal listening libraries by a minimum of one recording per semester. Here are this semester’s picks. They are all available from Amazon on CD or MP3 or both (links provided), and also on iTunes.

Carolyn Hove: English Horn & Oboe

Oboists get some key English horn repertoire this time around, as performed by the reigning queen.

Carolyn Hove: English Horn & Oboe

Amazon (CD)

Repertoire: Hindemith Sonata; Salonen Second Meeting (oboe); Marvin Pieces; Persichetti Parable; Carter Pastorale; Stevens Triangles IV

Michael Collins: The Lyrical Clarinet

Some good undergraduate-level repertoire here, played, of course, well above the undergraduate level.

collins

Amazon (CD) | Amazon (MP3)

Repertoire: Burgmüller Duo; Finzi Five Bagatelles; Baermann Adagio; Saint-Saëns Sonata; Pärt Spiegel im Spiegel; Reade Suite from “The Victorian Kitchen Garden;” Poulenc Sonata

Martin Kuuskmann: Nonstop

I was taken by Kuuskmann’s virtuosic playing, but also by the cheeky programming: Bach followed by Berio, and his convincing interpretation of Jobim is a pleasant surprise on a bassoon recording.

kuuskmann

Amazon (CD) | Amazon (MP3)

Repertoire: Bach Partita BWV 1013; Berio Sequenza XII; Pärt Spiegel im Spiegel; Schnyder Sonata; Körvits Song for a Distant Friend; Kertsman Nocturne and Lullaby; Randalu Rignana; Jobim Inutil Paisagem

Timothy McAllister: In Transit

I usually try to stick more or less to established standard repertoire, but my saxophone students hopefully get their horizons expanded a little this time (though the Albright Sonata may qualify as a standard at this point).

mcallister

Amazon (CD) | Amazon (MP3)

Repertoire: Etazady Streetlegal; Albright Sonata; Babbitt Accompanied Recitative; Wanamaker Sonata Deus Sax Machina; Zupko In Transit

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    Know your foreign musical terms

    ByBret Pimentel

    This is a bit of one of the excerpts that I provided for my saxophone students to play at their beginning-of-the-semester band auditions.

    "Excerpt

    I heard some very fine playing during the auditions, but many of the students were fooled by the “senza vib.,” with some going so far as to use fairly extreme vibrato at the beginning of the note.

    As my blog readers already know, of course, senza vibrato means without vibrato. Read More “Know your foreign musical terms”

  • Required recordings, fall 2009

    ByBret Pimentel

    I’m requiring each of my applied students at Delta State to purchase a recording of their instrument this semester as a sort of textbook. A number of them have confessed to me that this will be the first such recording they will own. I plan to require a different recording for each instrument each semester, so that, over the course of several semesters of study, the students will begin to build their personal libraries of great players playing great literature.

    The purpose of this, of course, is to help the students develop good aural concepts of tone, phrasing, expression, vibrato, ensemble, and so forth. To try to learn to play an instrument well without a solid aural concept is like trying to learn a foreign language from a textbook. You might pick up a few things, but you’ll be sunk unless you get to really hear—over and over—how the words and phrases sound.

    Here are the recordings I’ve selected for this semester. They are recordings of some of the most admired and relatively current performers (all are actively performing except for the late, great Mr. Mack), performing core solo literature. There’s no flute recording because I’m only teaching reeds, but maybe something like this would have been a good choice.

    Oboe: John Mack, Oboe

    John Mack, Oboe

    Repertoire: Schumann Three Romances, Saint-Saëns Sonata, Hindemith Sonata, Poulenc Sonata, short pieces by Murgier, Berghmans, Planel, and Barraud. Read More “Required recordings, fall 2009”

  • Review: Improve Your Doubling, by Chris Vadala

    ByBret Pimentel

    Improve Your DoublingI only know of one etude book geared toward woodwind doublers, and it’s Chris Vadala’s Improve Your Doubling: Advanced Studies for Doublers (Dorn Publications, 1991).

    Mr. Vadala is on my list of “notable woodwind doublers,” and certainly he is an outstanding player on single reeds and flute, but I think what makes him really notable in the (tiny) world of woodwind doubling is that he jumped on the opportunity to establish himself as an expert in the field, by writing this etude book and by contributing a semi-regular column, “Tips on Doubling,” in Saxophone Journal throughout the 1990’s. If you find yourself in the odd position of trying to do scholarly research on woodwind doubling (like I do, now and then), you find a lot of Chris Vadala and not much of anybody else.

    So. I’m generally leery of anything that is “for doublers.” I don’t want, say, a clarinet mouthpiece “for doublers”—I want a clarinet mouthpiece for clarinetists. What do I want to sound like when I play the clarinet? A doubler? No. And so I find the idea of an etude book “for doublers” to be a little problematic—wouldn’t I be better off using the tried-and-true etude books for each individual instrument? Read More “Review: Improve Your Doubling, by Chris Vadala”

  • Required recordings, spring 2011

    ByBret Pimentel

    Once again it’s time for required recordings.

    This semester, I’m having my each of my students add a good chamber music recording to their library. The students required to buy these recordings are technically enrolled in applied lessons, which means they study solo repertoire, although I do also coach some of them in chamber music. But even those whose degree requirements don’t specify chamber group participation ought to have at least the most passing of acquaintances with chamber music for their instrument.

    For the saxophonists, choosing a format was simple enough—the saxophone quartet is the only significant chamber music setting with saxophones (although I did consider using this recording).

    For the other reed players, I considered some options (double reed quartets, clarinet quartets or choirs, bassoon quartets…) but ultimately settled on a wind quintet recording for the clarinetists and double reeders. This may be the only chamber recording I require any of them to buy during the course of their 4-year (well, hopefully 4-year) education—I could possibly choose one more in another couple of years—and I wanted to make it count. The wind quintet tradition is rich and, in woodwind terms, long.

    As usual, I was looking for good collections of fairly standard repertoire by exemplary musicians, reasonably priced and readily available. I had to steer clear of some tempting wind quintet choices by outstanding European groups, since I wanted to make sure my students are absorbing American-school ideas about tone. I also gave strong consideration to a great 2-disc set by the Utah Saxophone Quartet (which includes a couple of my former teachers; incidentally, all four members are really excellent doublers and they play some nice clarinet quartets on this recording, too), which I ultimately passed on because it’s not (yet?) available on iTunes and I’m trying to be 21st-century enough not to demand that my students buy physical discs.

    So here’s what I finally settled on:

    Borealis Wind Quintet, A La Carte: Short Works for Winds

    Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

    Repertoire: Rota Petite Offrande Musicale, Farkas Hungarian Dances, Beach Pastorale, Schuller Suite, Grainger: Walking Tune, Turrin: Three Summer Dances, Persichetti: Pastoral, Milhaud: La Cheminee du Roi Rene, Briccialdi: Potpourri Fantastico

    This album was nominated for a Grammy award in 2006.

    New Century Saxophone Quartet: Standards

    Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

    Repertoire: Singelee Quartet No. 1, Desenclos Quartet, del Borgo Quartet, Mintzer Quartet No. 1, Torke July

  • ClariMate review follow-up

    ByBret Pimentel

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

    Almost two years ago I posted a review of the ClariMate digital clarinet mute by Buffet-Crampon. My conclusion at that point was that the ClariMate was an interesting concept, but with some technical issues.

    At that point the ClariMate seemed to be positioned mostly as a tool for practicing the clarinet silently. I found that to be a bit of a stretch, maybe having limited usefulness for practicing fingerings but far less helpful with matters of tone production.

    At that time, some of the promotional materials also suggested that the ClariMate could be used as a MIDI controller. That turned out to be incorrect, and a Buffet-Crampon confirmed that the feature was “not publicly available yet.”

    There is now some MIDI functionality available. A dual purpose of silent practice plus MIDI capability is reflected in the current advertising copy (found at the ClariMate US website as of mid-September 2024): “Silent Practice, Digital Play,” “ClariMate is a Reversible Hybrid Instrument and Digital Practice Mute for Bb clarinets,” “Opening the door to silent practice and the world of digital music.” This is bolstered with some videos of prominent clarinetists using the ClariMate as a MIDI controller.

    Reliability

    As I mentioned in my full review, I had some issues with my unit, including sporadic inoperability and a persistent failure to complete the “reed calibration” process in the apps. (Calibrating the reed ostensibly makes it possible to bend pitch by applying more or less pressure to the reed. This is a common feature of many wind controllers, though I don’t think it’s an accurate reflection of how pitch is manipulated on the clarinet.)

    To their credit, members of Buffet-Crampon’s ClariMate team have stayed in touch over the last couple of years, and ultimately offered to exchange my ClariMate for a new unit. I have spent a little time with the new unit and I do find it to be more stable, though it’s not clear to me whether that’s due to a defect in the previous one or to improvements to the firmware and apps.

    I did manage to complete the reed calibration process in the Windows app, but only after many attempts with the new unit. And I still find that I do not have any real control of pitch bends. Most of the time the pitch is completely unaffected no matter how much or how little pressure I put on the reed. I do hear very occasional small bends while playing, but they are not intentional and I can’t figure out how to make them happen on purpose.

    MIDI features

    I also experimented a little with the new MIDI functionality. The ClariMate website now offers free “MIDIMate” software, a rudimentary soft synth for Windows and MacOS with a handful of sounds. I was also able to use the ClariMate with another Windows soft synth, and with a music notation program for note entry, though both were considerably more glitchy than MIDIMate or the ClariMate apps.

    In researching the new MIDI capabilities, I did a web search for “ClariMate manual” and clicked the first result, a PDF hosted on the ClariMate EU website. It contains this text: “MIDI will work in USB or bluetooth mode via Windows or MacOS, and in bluetooth mode via Android and iOS. We recommend using MIDI in USB mode to reduce latency as much as possible.” I was unable to get ClariMate MIDI working with my Android device, and a representative has now confirmed that MIDI is “not yet available on Android, but should be soon.” He also pointed me to a more up-to-date version of the manual, which does not include the misleading text. (If you are looking for a current manual, you should visit the ClariMate website to make sure you aren’t looking at something outdated.)

    The fact that MIDI capability was falsely advertised at the ClariMate’s launch, and that Android MIDI was falsely mentioned in a recent user’s manual, seem consistent with an apparent pattern of over-promising and under-delivering. That’s concerning when selling a not-inexpensive gadget to tech-savvy clarinetists, a finicky bunch if ever there was one. The older manuals should probably be removed from the ClariMate websites so they will disappear from Google results, and it would be responsible of Buffet-Crampon to be precise and truthful about which features are and aren’t available.

    Use cases?

    My ClariMate has mostly stayed in its case. I am fortunate to have a space where I can practice out loud, and if that were to change I don’t think the ClariMate’s silent practice functionality would suit my purposes. And the MIDI compatibility pales in comparison to the capabilities and reliability of my Akai wind controller. If you are a professional or semi-professional musician and finding good uses for the ClariMate, I would be curious to hear about them.

    I’m grateful to the ClariMate team for their ongoing communication and support, and I hope this device will be a first step toward continuing innovation.

  • Required recordings, spring 2010

    ByBret Pimentel

    As I explained back in August, I’m having my university students purchase a required recording every semester.

    The purpose of this, of course, is to help the students develop good aural concepts of tone, phrasing, expression, vibrato, ensemble, and so forth. To try to learn to play an instrument well without a solid aural concept is like trying to learn a foreign language from a textbook. You might pick up a few things, but you’ll be sunk unless you get to really hear—over and over—how the words and phrases sound.

    I’m discovering that it’s a challenge to make the recording selections meet all the criteria I’d like. For example, I would like for each one to:

    • Be by a major soloist, preferably living
    • Contain very standard literature that my students should know, without too many repeats from previous selections
    • Contrast with last semester’s selection (for example, if last semester’s recording was music with piano, I tried to pick a concerto recording this time around)
    • If at all possible, contribute to a sense of diversity

    The last one has been a challenge. So far my two-semester tally, selecting recordings for four different instruments, is six white men and two white women. I’d like to improve on that in the future, though I do think that, ultimately, what comes through the earphones is more central to this project than the colors or genders represented on the CD covers. I’ve got a few ideas for future selections and welcome additional suggestions.

    Here are this semester’s selections: Read More “Required recordings, spring 2010”

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