At this point it’s gotten hard for me to imagine doing a full recital on a single instrument. I enjoy getting to play several, and audiences seem to enjoy the variety. And since this was my first faculty recital at my new gig, I wanted each of my students to hear me perform something from the core repertoire of their instrument.

I would like, ultimately, to be able to put together a full recital of woodwind pieces without making any special concessions for the fact that I am playing multiple instruments. In this case I did play it a little on the safe side: I chose a program that was not overwhelmingly technical, and I programmed something short of an hour’s worth of music so that I could take a few extra minutes between pieces.

One note-to-self for next time: I experienced a few onstage symptoms of not being thoroughly warmed up on each instrument (water in oboe toneholes, low note response issues on bassoon). I purposefully avoided playing too much on the day of the recital, but I think I can find a better balance the next time around.

And now, without further ado:

Hindemith: Sonate (oboe)

Play

Bernstein: Sonata (clarinet)

Play

Osborne: Rhapsody (bassoon)

Play

Dubois: Concerto (alto saxophone)

Play

Department of Music
Delta State University College of Arts and Sciences
Recital Hall, Bologna Performing Arts Center
Monday, February 15, 2010
7:30 PM

PROGRAM

Sonate for oboe and piano
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

1. Munter
2. Sehr langsam – Lebhaft

Sonata for clarinet and piano
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

1. Grazioso
2. Andantino – Vivace e leggerio

Rhapsody for bassoon
Willson Osborne (1906-1979)

Concerto for alto saxophone
Pierre Max Dubois (1930-1995)

1. Lento espressivo – Allegro
2. Sarabande
3. Rondo

NOTES

Paul Hindemith wrote his Sonate for oboe and piano in 1938. In that year, he left his native Germany and settled briefly in Switzerland, in part due to increased scrutiny on his family because of his wife’s Jewish ancestry (he would emigrate to the U.S.A. two years later). The Sonate is a particular favorite of mine because of its no-nonsense approach to form—no time wasted on frivolous introductions or transitions here—and because the composer’s conscientiously idiomatic oboe writing reveals a deep affinity for the instrument.

Leonard Bernstein’s Sonata for clarinet and piano was his first published work, written without a commission in 1941-2 (the composer completed it at age 23). In an interview later in life, Bernstein expressed his affection for the piece despite a certain “student element.” The element to which Bernstein referred may, in fact, have been the strong influence of Hindemith, with whom Bernstein had come into contact as a student at the Tanglewood summer music program. This influence is most evident in the first movement; the second betrays Bernstein’s interest in jazz. The piece represents a true equal-partner collaboration between clarinet and piano, rather than clarinet solo with piano accompaniment.

Another of Hindemith’s American pupils was Willson Osborne. Osborne’s 1952 Rhapsody for bassoon is the most frequently performed of his works, few of which are well known. The Rhapsody’s copious expressive markings and frequent tempo and meter changes suggest that Osborne found standard musical notation somewhat rigid for his flowing musical lines.

Pierre Max Dubois wrote a number of works for the saxophone family, including this charming Concerto for alto saxophone in 1959. Fellow Frenchman Jean-Marie Londeix, who commissioned the piece, was apparently unhappy with the first movement’s opening solo section, and rewrote it to his own satisfaction. The composer approved the rewrite, and the piece was published in that revised form. The second and third movements are a sarabande (a very old, very sensual Spanish dance) and a lively, romping finale.

–Bret Pimentel

Dr. Fischer was a protégé of Eugene Rousseau, and, over the past 30 years at the University of Georgia, established himself as a major force in classical saxophone performance and teaching. His close associations with composers like the late Jindřich Feld fueled an influx of new compositions for the instrument. He was active and involved with the World Saxophone Congress and the North American Saxophone Alliance, and was making plans to host the latter’s 2010 conference.

Read the UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music announcement here.

Here are a few things that I learned from Dr. Fischer.

Some things about saxophone playing:

• You shouldn’t have to strain for the altissimo notes. Relax and let them come.
• Every note is part of a larger musical gesture. Every note.
• There’s something to be said for keeping the fingers close to the keys and closing them with a feather touch, but it’s also worth exploring larger, more aggressive movements for fingering. Saxophone keys aren’t flute keys.
• Every sound is interesting and beautiful and musical. If the composer calls for key pops or multiphonics or flutter tonguing, commit to making those sounds really work musically. Practice them like you mean it.
• Sometimes, what you really need is to struggle with a piece that’s way over your head. Other times, what you really need is to play a piece that you can absolutely nail. Do some of each.
• A pleasing tone doesn’t mean much without good pitch and rhythm. Don’t just work on fundamentals, work on all the fundamentals.
• One of Dr. Fischer’s favorite things to say to a student after a recital was, “That was terrific! But next time, use a reed.” It was a joke. Or was it?

Some things not about saxophone playing:

• Relationships with other people are more important than anything, even music.
• Take time to talk to people. Hear their stories, and share yours. Everything else can wait.
• Every birthday deserves a celebration, complete with singing and cake.

I had the privilege of visiting the DSU campus last month, and fell in love with the charming campus, the outstanding music faculty, the state-of-the-art performance and recording facilities, and, of course, the bright and friendly students, for whom I got to present a performance and masterclass.

I’m looking forward to getting started at Delta State, where I will teach all of the reed instruments (oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone), woodwind methods, and other music courses. Classes start August 17th!

Delta State University's Bologna Performing Arts Center

The Fightin' Okra–I kid you not

• Flutists
• Oboists
• Clarinetists
• Bassoonists
• Saxophonists
• Players of folk, ethnic, or period woodwinds
• And, of course, woodwind doublers

I mostly like to include personal websites. I don’t really take the time to seek out bio pages from, say, orchestra or band websites, or university faculty bios, or MySpace pages, although I am generally happy enough to add them if someone submits them for inclusion (email me). I’m not picky about ability level–people on these lists range from enthusiastic beginners to world-class professionals.

The folk and ethnic woodwind players list currently only includes musicians who play multiple ethnic instruments or play ethnic instruments in addition to one or more major modern woodwinds, but I’m open to expanding this in the future and I welcome submissions.

Depending on your web browser, if you hover the mouse pointer over a person’s name, you may see a little tooltip pop up, showing you what instruments the person plays. (Try this one: Bret Pimentel) There are a few on the doublers list that only show one instrument; these are cases where the player’s homepage indicates woodwind doubling ability but doesn’t specify which instruments.

While searching through websites, I had a few thoughts about musicians’ homepages. If you have one, or are thinking about getting one, consider the following:

• Custom domain names are cheap and at least 1000% more professional than hosting on free sites. Spring, for example, for www.bretpimentel.com rather than www.geocities.com/bpimentel.
• By all means, include some quality sound clips. But don’t force them on your visitors–let them click “play” to listen, rather than having the music start automatically and unexpectedly.
• Especially if you are a professional or semi-professional player, be clear about what you do. A surprising number of musicians’ websites make you search long and hard to find out what instrument(s) they play.

Here are a few highlights:

• Does material affect tone quality in woodwind instruments?: Why scientists and musicians just can’t seem to agree, March 2007
• Buying woodwind instruments, January 2005
• Multi-instrument method in Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s “Creole Love Call”, December 2002

Also, don’t be shy about pointing out broken links, etc., while the dust is settling around here. Thanks!

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the most common combinations of instruments called for. I’m including a table at the end of this post that shows every combination that occurs 10 or more times on the current version of the list. The first column numbers the rows for convenience in referring to specific data; the second column indicates how many times that particular combination occur.

Six of the top seven “combinations” are actually “straight” books, calling for only a single instrument (or multiple instruments within the same family, such as flute plus piccolo). The fifth most common “combination” on my list is a question mark, which indicates that I know (or have reason to believe) that a reed book exists, but don’t have specific information on the instruments required.

The most common “straight” book is clarinet only (I use “clarinet” on the list to mean B-flat or unspecified clarinet, and “clarinet in A” when I know that is what is used). If you include lines 13 and 14, which call for clarinet plus bass clarinet, or B-flat clarinet and A clarinet, the total count of clarinet-only books is 399. This would seem to imply that if you play only a single instrument and want to work in musical theater, then clarinet may be the best option. However, this fails to take into account a number of other things–for one example, it seems to me that “straight” books have become less common as pit orchestras have shrunk, so clarinet-only players may be less employable in theater now than they once were.

Bassoon alone comes in second, followed by flute only and oboe only, though if flute-plus-piccolo and oboe-plus-English-horn books are included in the counts, they each outnumber the straight bassoon books. Straight saxophone books are relatively rare, with 19 alto-only books and 16 tenor-only. No combination of multiple saxophones occurs more than 10 times, unless it also includes other woodwinds.

The most common true doubling book is piccolo, flute, clarinet, and alto saxophone, with 80 occurences. Another 184 doubling books are subsets of this group of instruments. Adding tenor saxophone to the group adds 110 more books.

Doubling combinations with oboe/English horn most often use clarinet and/or tenor saxophone, totaling 69 books.

The most common low reeds book is clarinet, bass clarinet, and baritone saxophone (27 books); adding bassoon and/or flutes adds more possibilities for the low reeds player.

Among the “rarer” instruments, alto flute is the only one that appears on this list, though it appears with relative frequency in the full list. Its infrequency here is because it is used in such widely varying combinations of instruments. Its appearance here (line 50) is as part of a straight book with flute and piccolo.

Of the 1983 books included here, 616 are doubling books. Of these, fully 584 call for clarinet. 355 call for flute, 266 call for alto saxophone, 182 call for tenor saxophone, 162 call for piccolo, 128 call for bass clarinet, 74 call for baritone saxophone, 69 call for oboe, 59 call for English horn, 33 call for soprano saxophone, and 25 call for bassoon.

Dr. Bret Pimentel, D. M. A.

The University of Georgia

May 9, 2009

I am happy to include on the list woodwind doublers of any skill level, as long as their website gives some indication of their inclination toward multiple woodwind instruments.

Check out the list, and click the email link if you want your site included or know of one I’ve missed.

• Some solos with the UGA Jazz Ensemble on clarinet, alto saxophone, and flute
• Some stuff from my November recital:
  • Excerpts from the Poulenc flute Sonata
  • Excerpts from the Britten Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for oboe
  • An excerpt from the Schumann Romances for oboe
  • An excerpt from the Feld Elegy for soprano saxophone
• And a little holiday fun, with me playing four recorders of various sizes