French composer Guillaume Connesson wrote his “Disco-Toccata” in one morning in 1994. This piece is written for clarinet and cello, and is influenced by disco music: strong beat and specific melodic formulas. The amazing energy of the piece comes from the fast tempo, which gave Guillaume Connesson the idea of the baroque toccata. You can…
Read more...Emilien Veret “Clarinettes urbaines”
Do you know Emilien Veret? No? Let me introduce him: he is a french clarinetist in Paris, and has a great project: “Clarinettes urbaines”, which means “urban clarinets” in French (easy, isn’t it?) He plays the Bb clarinet and the bass clarinet, and also beatboxes! He uses loop pedals to create his jazz-world-electro-classical-and-many-other-music-styles-inspired compositions and…
Read more...“Crossing the break” T-shirt
When you learn playing the clarinet, crossing the break is a big step! Because between A and B, or Bb and B, you’ll need to move almost all your fingers. Maybe a little joke could make it easier? Let’s transpose Neil Armstrong quote “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”…
Read more...Ismail Lumanovksi, a great clarinet player!
I just discovered Ismail Lumanovski a few days ago, through a video a friend of mine shared on facebook: I was so enthusiast that I spent half a day searching all I could find about this fabulous clarinetist, yet pretty unknown here in France… Is he well known in the United States? Let me know…
Read more...Erroll Garner – Misty for clarinet trio
Misty is originally an instrumental ballad written in 1954 by the pianist Erroll Garner. Then Johnny Burke added lyrics, and the tune became quickly a jazz standard. Here is a great version by Sarah Vaughan in 1964: You can download the sheet music, arranged for clarinet trio:
Read more...Mozart London sketchbook #1 for clarinet trio
Mozart wrote the London sketchbooks K15 when he was just 8. I arranged the first one for clarinet trio. Preview: Listen: Download: If you are looking for classical clarinet trios, you may be interested in Haydn London trio #1!
Read more...Carrot clarinet!
Incredible but true! Clarinets can be built from almost everything, the proof in this video: Linsey Pollak, an australian instrument maker, makes and plays a carrot clarinet! He makes other instruments, too, like watering can clarinets, rubber glove bagpipes, garden hose contrabass clarinets! See more on youtube. Obviously, what makes a clarinet is not the…
Read more...Mozart: Essen, Trinken KV.234
A three-voice canon by Mozart (KV 234), transcribed for 3 clarinets. Preview: Listen: Download: If you are looking for classical clarinet trios, you may be interested in Stamitz trio in G!
Read more...Schubert – String Trio D471 for 2 Bb clarinets and 1 bass clarinet
Franz Schubert After Bach concerto in D for 2 violons for clarinet quartet, another transcription of mine has been released by Klarthe. This time I arranged a Franz Schubert’s piece for clarinet trio (two Bb clarinets and a bass clarinet): the String Trio in B flat major D.471. It was written in September 1816. Franz…
Read more...Modes of limited transposition
Olivier Messiaen Here are new exercises for advanced clarinetists : the modes of limited tranposition, compiled by french composer Olivier Messiaen. For further information about these modes, please visit Wikipedia. Practicing these modes on the clarinet is very useful: when playing Messiaen’s music, you will be already familiar with his way of composing,other composers, like…
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