Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

A sampling of things I am thankful for:

My wonderful friends and family
My two amazing sons and awesome husband
Talented and inspiring students
The best colleagues
Frost School of Music, University of Miami
MiamiClarinet
Clarinet, Clarinetists, Clarinet rep....
Good Reeds!!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Chamber Music

I am in the midst of some great chamber music making. It is truly one of my favorite things to do. I feel blessed to have the wonderful opportunities to perform amazing music with treasured friends and colleagues.

I think that what enamors me the most about chamber music is the ‘team spirit’ involved. Most musical decisions are made as a group; including larger issues such as tempo, structure, character...as well as finer details like articulation length and dynamic shadings. At the same time, thousands of decisions are made by the individual in any given rehearsal or performance. I love that you can hear every line at all times; the blending of phrase, intonation and color is so fantastic. These decisions, both group and individual, come together for the greater good, so to speak. It is truly a case of the final product being greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt. Love it.

I would love to hear some of the chamber music you are all playing these days! For those interested, here are some of the pieces I am currently involved with:

Rage against the machine, Scott Stinson. An exciting, new quartet for two Bb’s and two Bass clarinets

Sextet for Strings, Clarinet, Horn and Piano, Dohnanyi

Two, Scott Flavin. A brand new, beautiful duo for Clarinet and Violin

Quintet for Winds and Piano, Mozart

Suite for Clarinet, Violin and Piano; Milhaud

Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, Khatchaturian

Trio for Clarinet, Horn and Piano; Gustav Jenner

Trio Pathetique, Glinka

Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium

Last weekend I performed at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium. What a wonderful experience on so many levels! For those that may not know, it is a three day symposium filled with performances, clinics and exhibits. The evening concerts included, among others, Stanley Drucker, the Chicago Trio, Dmitri Ashkenazy and Alessandro Carbonare. As you would imagine, all were exciting and inspiring performances.

The exhibits were open all day - Backun, Luyben, Woodwindiana, Muncy, WoodwindBrasswind, Buffet, Yamaha, Selmer, Rico...the list goes on and on! It was such fun to look through all the music, try instruments, mouthpieces, bells, barrels...I am not one to experiment too much with setup. I play what I like and don't change very often. But---this was fun!!

I performed on the final day with the MiamiClarinet Quartet. This group is actually sort of an offshoot of this blog. The quartet included Danielle Woolery, Teaching Assistant and Mancini Fellow at the University of Miami, Dr. Dawn McConkie Courtney, Professor of Clarinet at Emporia State University, and Dr. Michael Walsh, Professor of Clarinet at South Dakota State University. Dr. Courtney and Dr. Walsh are both former students of mine and hold degrees from the University of Miami. They were once my students, they are now my colleagues and friends.

For anyone interested in clarinet quartet repertoire, we played some great new works. The first was Nebulous by Derek Sherron. He is also a former student of mine, and holds a degree from the University of Miami. He is currently pursuing the Master's Degree in Composition at New England Conservatory. It is a three movement work that is exciting, intense, beautiful...a great piece. We also played an amazing work by Scott Stinson, Professor of Theory and Composition at the University of Miami. It is entitled Rage against the machine, and is incredibly exciting. It is scored for two Bb's and two Bass Clarinets, giving it great depth of range and color. We thought we would end by bringing a little Miami to Oklahoma and played an arrangement of mine, Miami Beach Rhumba.

In short, we had a blast and look forward to the next time we can get together. The Symposium was terrific and I urge you to check it out for next year. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend ICA in Austin in a few weeks but I hope many of you will be going. If so, add a comment, I would love to hear about it!

Happy summer,
Dr D

A New CD to listen to!

Listening to music is an amazing, enlightening, inspiring and emotion-provoking experience. As musicians we listen to music for so many reasons – to enjoy, to experience, to learn, to study, the list goes on. We should listen to those pieces that we love and cherish; we should listen to those pieces that we don’t yet know as well. We should always be striving to broaden our musical horizons. Listening is an ideal way to do this.

The reason I’m writing about this is that I just heard a new recording that is dear to my heart on many levels and I want to share it with you. It is entitled Wolf Rounds, and was just released by Naxos as part of their Wind Band Classics series. (NAXOS 8.572439) The performers are the Frost Wind Ensemble at the University of Miami, Gary Green, Director, with Glenn Basham, violin and Tim Conner, trombone, soloists.

The pieces on the CD are Ladder to the Moon, by Michael Daugherty; Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble, by David Maslanka; and Wolf Rounds, by Christopher Rouse. The performers are of course from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, so all of the clarinetists are/were my students. The conductor and soloists are friends and colleagues at UM.

The composers are all inspiring, the pieces fantastic and the performances incredible. Ladder to the Moon is based on the urban landscapes of Georgia O’Keeffe. It is scored for solo violin, wind octet, double bass and one percussionist. It is high energy, exciting music and Glenn Basham, solo violin, is fantastic. (as is the clarinet soloist!)

The Trombone Concerto is incredibly beautiful and heartfelt music. It was written as a memorial to Christine Nield-Capote whose passing was a terrible loss to all who knew and loved her. She was a very special musician, teacher and friend and she is terribly missed. Along with beautiful trombone playing by Tim Conner, there is a solo cello line, played by Ashley Garritson (UM graduate student) which is simply stunning.

The CD ends with Wolf Rounds, which was premiered by UM at Carnegie Hall in 2007. It is based on a series of circular musical ‘loops’, cycling and overlapping. Mr Rouse describes this idea of loops bringing to mind wolves (lupus) circling their prey, which in turn brings to mind the circular nature of the piece – hence the title Wolf Rounds.

I hope you will take a few minutes to listen to this wonderful new music. Each piece is a tremendous addition to our wind repertoire. And as a last thought I will say, since most if not all of us reading this blog are clarinetists – there is some GREAT clarinet playing on this cd!! And to those of you reading who performed on this recording – congratulations to all of you, I could not be more proud of you. 

Dr D

Happy New Year!

Just a quick note to wish you all the very best in the new year. It was a year ago that I started this blog and it has been great fun for me to share some clarinet talk with you. I am thankful for those of you that return to check out new blogs and for those of you who are stopping by for the first time. I have had visitors from nearly every state and well over 50 countries. I am thankful for all of you.

We have so much more to talk about! Look for a new blog in the next week or so. As always I am open to suggestions, so comment or email your ideas about topics!

Have a healthy, productive and prosperous new year!!

Dr D

Auditions

 

Its college application season! For many of you this will mean college auditions are coming up in the next few months. This month I would like to share some thoughts about this process from the auditioner’s perspective, in the hope that this may give auditionees some insight into what goes on.

 

Let’s start by looking at the audition itself:

#1 and vitally important – the audition begins the moment you enter the room. You will project an image to the audition committee from that moment, potentially several minutes before you even play a note. Enter respectfully yet confidently, smile, make eye contact, and say hello. Organize yourself so that you have everything you need at your fingertips. Don’t rustle through a folder to find your audition sheet, don’t pull all your music out and organize it into the order you want. Have that all ready before you walk in. And of course, dress and act professionally.

 

Introduce yourself; name, where you are from, your intended major, and the pieces you have prepared for the audition (unless that is specified and you had no options).

 

#2 While you are performing;

Don’t give away your secrets! Don’t advertise mistakes by making a face, shaking your head, slumping your shoulders, etc. Once you have made a mistake there are only two options; the audition committee noticed it or they didn’t. If they did, they know you also noticed it so let it go. If they didn’t notice – don’t alert them!

 

Having said that, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. I believe most university studio professors would much rather hear a musical, committed performance that may have a mistake or two, than a safe, note-perfect performance. Speaking for myself, when I hear auditions for incoming freshmen I am looking for potential as much as anything. It is usually quite easy to tell the difference between someone who may be exhibiting some problems due to lack of training or nerves and someone who is having problems due to lack of preparation. I look for someone who shows a command of the clarinet, but equally important to me is someone who clearly shows a love for music and a desire to commit to it.

 

#3 After you play:

Thank the audition committee. Gather your belongings and leave the room, remembering that the audition is not over until you are out of the room. Remain professional throughout. Finally, give yourself a BIG congratulations!!

 

Let’s back up now and look at the days and weeks prior to the audition.

 

#1 Preparation is everything!

Common sense, right? Yet it is surprisingly common for people to choose audition repertoire late in the process, to wait too long before beginning truly detailed practice. You need to give time and attention to all the details of your music as much in advance as possible. This will leave time for the pieces to mature, so your musicianship can shine through. At the audition you will want to be able to focus on music-making not note playing.

 

#2 Change the order:

Practice the pieces in different orders so you are able to play anything the committee might ask, in any order they ask it.

 

#3 Dress rehearsal:

Schedule a dress rehearsal for yourself. Gather friends and family and play through everything for them so you feel some of the excitement you’ll feel at the audition. This is a huge confidence booster. Preferably schedule this well in advance so you have time to deal with any problems that may come to light.

 

 I wish the best of luck to those of you who are applying and auditioning for college in the weeks ahead! This is a very exciting process – enjoy it!

 

Dr D

 

I have been a little slow with blogging lately…The last time I wrote it was the beginning of the school year. We were all, students and teachers alike, excited by the seemingly limitless promise that a new year holds. Time flies by and here we are, now about half-way through the semester for most of us, deep into the routine. Classes, practice, rehearsals, concerts, papers, projects, midterms…the list goes on.  Perhaps the excitement has dwindled, the lure of the ‘new’ dimmed a bit. It happens. Even with the best of intentions, even with the best priorities, outside responsibilities can threaten to derail progress. Unlimited practice time is filled up with other responsibilities.

 

 How to come through this period and keep the energy and excitement alive? Its not easy but it is simple. The answer is - ROUTINE. Hopefully you have established a practice routine that is thorough, efficient and encompasses all your needs as a clarinet player. Now is the time that routine will pay big dividends. When every minute counts, you want complete efficiency in your practice. Not only do you need  to learn all the rep you are required to play,  you need to continue to make steady, discernable progress as a clarinetist.

 

These are two separate items; learning rep and making progress with your clarinet skills. It is important to keep these clearly separated in your mind, especially during unusually busy periods. Of course learning rep can and does lead to improved clarinet skills. However it is not the most efficient means toward that end. Specific goals and specific skills practice is infinitely more effective in this regard. What this means is that every day you must have a clearly defined goal in mind; something about your playing that you are trying to improve. It may be one goal that you focus on daily for a period of time. It may involve two or three goals you are working on concurrently. Either is fine provided you are clear and specific in your goals. Along with this you have specific exercises designed to reach your goal.

 

So lets go back to your ROUTINE. Every time you practice - let me say that again - EVERY time you practice you need to follow your routine. Your day starts with your warm-up routine. It is followed by skills practice. This is followed by rep and etude practice. This routine gets threatened during busy weeks. It is incredibly easy to forego the warm-up. Equally easy to skip skills practice and jump straight into rep. This is counterproductive. You must stick to your routine. If so, you will continually be improving your clarinet skills, ultimately making the rep/etude portion of your practice that much more efficient and productive. You MUST preserve the skills portion of your practice. These skills are most often directly related to the rep or etudes you are currently playing. Consequently your progress in that area is so much more profound if you are dealing with the underlying issues involved, rather than specific passages.

 

For those of you without or in between teachers, I am happy to help you set up your personal practice routine. Please feel free to ask questions about goals and which exercises are the best suited to help you meet those goals.  You can either comment directly to this blog or email me privately at mdonaghue@miami.edu.

 

Good luck with the rest of your semester and remember to check back in a few weeks for a new blog!

 

Dr D