Orchestral Excerpts for the Clarinet

a teaching guide

by

Sean Osborn

Orchestral Excerpts for the Clarinet: a teaching guide

Introduction

Orchestral excerpts are among the most important things to teach the career-minded

clarinet student because one of the most common way to make a living as a clarinettist today is

by playing in an orchestra. In order to be hired, one must first posses the ability to play the

instrument well, and the most common choice of music at an orchestral audition to demonstrate

this is orchestral excerpts.

When teaching orchestral excerpts to clarinet students it is important to teach from two

distinct angles: how to play the excerpts in an orchestral rehearsal or performance, and how to

play the excerpts at an audition. Often one will play them the same in both situations, but

occasionally one must tailor one's performance to the situation.

In the summaries that follow I will attempt to point out ways to assist the student in

performing the pieces from both a technical and musical standpoint, discuss the current

performance practice of these pieces, and highlight trouble spots, common pitfalls, and passages

of particular interest to an audition committee.

I believe that the order in which one teaches the excerpts should be tailored to the

individual situation and student, but for the purposes of this paper, I will assume that one is

teaching an undergraduate freshman at a university whom one expects to have for the next four

years. Freshman are unlikely to grasp the complete musical significance of Beethoven and

Brahms right away. However, I recommend starting with the most common pieces to be

performed in a quasi-chronological order. When the student is older and preparing for an

audition, teachers will be re-visiting many of the pieces already studied. The student should then

have the musical sophistication to understand the music, and will already be fundamentally

familiar with the pieces. While the excerpts are initially listed by commonalty with relation to

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their appearance on auditions, I recommend that for the long-term, one teaches the excerpts in

the order in which they are discussed.

Finally, listening to the pieces is of utmost importance to proper performance either in the

orchestra or at an audition, and whenever possible orchestral parts should be used for study

instead of excerpt books.

Most common first clarinet parts asked for auditions

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Key: t = technicaltt = technically difficultttt = technically very difficultm = musical (slower, phrasing more important)mm = musically difficultmmm = musically very difficult

Class #1 - On virtually every audition

Beethoven: Symphony #6 - mvmt. 1 (t, mmm), 2 (m) , 3 (tt)Beethoven: Symphony #8 - mvmt. 3 (mmm)Brahms: Symphony #3 - mvmt. 1 (mm), 2 (m)Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night's Dream - Scherzo (tt)Rachmaninoff: Symphony #2 - mvmt. 2 (mm)Respighi: Pines of Rome - mvmt. 3 (mmm)

Class #2 - On almost every audition

Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite #2 - tttBeethoven: Symphony #4 - mvmt. 2 (mm) (less common - mvmt. 4 - tt)Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919) - Variation of the Firebird - ttt (less common the

Infernal Dance - ttt+)Prokoviev: Peter and the Wolf - Cadenza (ttt)Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue - Opening Solo (t)Schubert: Symphony #8 (Unfinished) - mvmt. 2 (mm)Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol - mvmt. 1 (tt), 3 (tt), 4 (tt)Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6 - mvmt. 1 (m)Brahms: Symphony #4 - mvmt. 2 (m)Mendelssohn: Symphony #3 (Scotch) - mvmt. 3 (t)Sibelius: Symphony #1 - mvmt. 1 (m), 3 (tt)Kodaly: Dances of Galanta - page 1 (m, t) (less common - last page (t, mm))

Class #3 - Common

Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique - mvmt. 3 (mm) (less common - mvmt. 2 (t,m), 4 (m))Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel (tt)Strauss: Don Juan (m)Shostakovich: Symphony #9 - mvmt. 2 (mmm), 3 (ttt) (less common - mvmt. 1 - t) Shostakovich: Symphony #1 - mvmt. 1 (t), 2 (t), 4 (ttt)Rossini: Semiramide Overture (t)Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin - first two calls (ttt) (less common - third call - ttt)Tchaikovsky: Symphony #5 - mvmt. 1 (m) (less common - mvmt. 2 (m), 3 (t))

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Brahms: Symphony #1 - mvmt. 2 (m) (less common - mvmt. 3 (m))Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade - mvmt 2 (tt, mmm), 3 (tt), 4 (tt)(less common - mvmt. 1 (t))

Class #4 - Less Common, but should be known by all

Borodin: Polovetsian Dances (tt)Tchaikovsky: Symphony #4 - mvmt. 3 (ttt)Rimsky-Korsakov: Coq d'Or Suite - mvmt. 1 (ttt)Beethoven: all symphonies (varies - mm to tt)Brahms: all symphonies (#2 = m,t)Dvorak: Symphony #9 - mvmt. 3 (mm)(less common - mvmt. 4 (m))Ginastera: Variations Concertantes for Orchestra - clarinet variation (ttt+)Rossini: Figaro's Aria from "The Barber of Seville" (tt)Shostakovich: Symphony #5 - mvmt. 1(m), 3(mm)Smetana: Bartered Bride Overture (tt in "c")Tchaikovsky: Franchesca da Rimini (m)

Class #5 - Occasional, Important to know

Stravinsky: L'Historie du Soldat, Petroushka (tt, m)Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra (t, m)Debussy: Nocturnes (tt)Dukas: Sorcerer's Apprentice (ttt)Mahler: Symphonies #6 (mm), 7 (tt/mm), and 1 (m)Mendelssohn: Fingal's Cave Overture (m), Symphony #4 (tt)Mozart: Symphony #39 (trio of mvmt. 3) (m)Moussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain (m)Puccini: Tosca - Act III tenor aria (mm)Rachimaninoff: Piano Concerto #2 (mm)Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnole (mm,tt)Rossini: Barber of Seville Overture (t)Shostakovich: Symphony #10 (tt)Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite (t, m), Suite #4 "Mozartiana" (tt in "c")Verdi: La Forza del Destino Overture (m)Weber: Der Freischutz Overture (m)

Second Clarinet - in order of comminality

Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night's Dream - Scherzo (tt)Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite #2 (ttt)

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Tchaikovsky: Symphony #5 - mvmt. 1 (m)Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnole (tt)Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra (t)Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique (t)Smetana: Moldau (t)Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919) (ttt)

Eb Clarinet -in order of comminality

Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel (ttt)Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique (tt)Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite #2 (ttt)Ravel: Bolero (m)Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (m, t)Shostakovich: Symphony #5 (t)Shostakovich: Symphony #6 (ttt)Copeland: El Salon Mexico (t)Ravel: Piano Concerto in G (tt)Prokoviev: Symphony #5 (t)

Bass Clarinet

Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite (tt)Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite #2 (ttt)Strauss: Don Quixote (t,m)Ravel: La Valse (m)Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel (tt)Wagner: Tristan and Isolde - Prelude and Liebestod (mm)William Schuman: Symphony #3 (ttt)Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (tt)

Mozart - Symphony No. 39 in Eb major K. 543

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This symphony is an excellent introduction to orchestral excerpts for many reasons: most

clarinet students are already familiar with Mozart because of the concerto, it is neither

technically nor musical difficult, and it is a common audition and performance piece - especially

for orchestras made up of younger players. While only the trio of the menuetto is ever asked for

at auditions, I recommend studying the entire piece because it is engaging, and it provides proper

perspective on the solo. The eight bar phrase that comprises the clarinet solo in the trio is a

simple question and answer. Play elegant and expressive skips (especially the C - Bb) while

keeping the tempo. The phrasing should not be too complex: I recommend moving to the third

bar of each four bar sub-phrase, then away. You may vary this to your taste to make it more

interesting.

Beethoven

All of Beethoven's symphonies are staples of the repertoire, appearing in concerts by

professional as well as student groups. Many different ideas exist about interpretation in

Beethoven. After studying Beethoven with many people (in particular, conductor Otto-Werner

Müller), I am a strong believer in a few things. First, Beethoven's dynamic scheme consisted of

only four levels: f, p, ff, and pp - mp and mf do not exist in Beethoven symphonies! You should

therefore divide the dynamic scale you can achieve on your instrument into four equal parts. This

means there is a lot more dynamic range to a Beethoven piano or forte, then to a Mahler piano or

forte, and you can add considerable expression to each phrase without going outside of the

marked dynamic. This also means that forte is exactly halfway between piano and fortissimo,

and should be played accordingly, and not too strongly, unless of course the music (or conductor)

demands it. This leads to: Second, Beethoven often writes f before the climax of a phrase is

reached - therefore you should not stop your crescendo just because you see the marking. Third,

Beethoven sometimes abbreviated sforzando with sf and sometimes with only f. Some of the best

examples of this can be seen in the second movement of the ninth symphony after letter "A"

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where you have a f at the beginning of each of sixteen bars in a row. Familiarity with

Beethoven's works will make it obvious whether f indicates a forte or a sforzando. Lastly,

Beethoven has provided us with metronome markings for all the pieces, and these are almost

universally followed by all ensembles.

Symphony No. 1 in C major Op. 21

This symphony, and Beethoven's 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th symphonies almost always

appear on auditions only when included in the requirement to prepare "all Beethoven

Symphonies". The first symphony contains no solos of note for the clarinet. However, there are

a few passages to study more closely. There is the short solo after E in the first movement - listen

to how the grace note (which is usually played on the beat) has been played up until then and

imitate it. Discussion with the conductor may change the way you play it. In the third movement

Trio, second strain, the clarinet is at the top of the chord. Be sure to start strongly enough to

allow for a suitable decrescendo. In the last movement, insert slurs over two notes as needed to

be able to play the articulated runs as fast as the strings. The best place for the slurs is on the 4th-

5th notes of the run.

Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 36

The second movement of this symphony contains quite a bit of exposed clarinet solos,

including the primary statement of the theme. The trill should be done tastefully and with only 5

or 7 notes. The crescendo should also be tasteful, and should near a f before the subito p. Keep

in mind Beethoven's dynamic scheme and things will be expressive without being blatant or

gross. Intonation with the Bassoon is very important in this movement, and should be checked

before the first rehearsal. The sforzandos should be played as pressure accents rather than as

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stingers (as they often are in the faster movements). The other movements of this symphony

have very little that is exposed or difficult for the clarinet.

Symphony No. 3 in Eb major "Eroica" op. 55

Beethoven balanced his orchestrations very well for the orchestras that played his music.

Today it is common practice to play with a full string section, which is four times the size of

Beethoven's, and not double the winds. This creates obvious balance problems, which are

particularly troublesome in "Eroica". In this symphony, like the first, the clarinet has little of

major importance. The solos are fleeting and not difficult, the first of which is at the beginning

of the Allegro con brio. This solo is in octaves with the horn and flute, and is the second

statement of the main theme. There is much to play as part of a woodwind trio or quartet in this

piece, and sometimes the clarinet line may be easily lost in the texture due to register. Do your

best to avoid this. A good example is mvmt. 1 measures 57-61. One tricky spot to be ready for

is when the whole orchestra drops out in mvmt. 2, measure 47 leaving you alone for two beats.

Another spot of near-aloneness is the beginning of the coda of the scherzo. In the last

movement, after letter C, you will have to play this passage as loudly as possible - it is basically

the clarinets against the rest of the orchestra. The accompaniment figure in measures 367-74

should be played slightly separated and bouncy - you are the only one playing this figure. Later,

the second clarinet has a similar solo.

Symphony No. 4 in Bb major Op. 60

The fourth symphony of Beethoven has many long exposed passages for the clarinet and

the second movement solos occur on nearly every audition. The first movement finds solos at

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letter C and after H that are thematically the same. Follow the general line of the phrase up and

down dynamically, and avoid having the downward 7th in the fourth bar of the recap. solo wreck

this line. Play the legato lines as legato as possible and the short notes very short. This seems

self-evident, but this movement is an exercise in contrasting note lengths and playing extremes

here is better.

The second movement's first solo is really a duet in octaves with the flute beginning in

measure 10. The meandering line of the phrase is continuous for the next seven bars, and if one

weren't playing a clarinet, one wouldn't breath at all. Try to mask your breaths, and play the

seven measures as if they were one phrase (as they are). I recommend breathing after the bottom

E in bar 12, and again two bars later after the long G. If you need another breath, take it after the

E in the next bar. Discuss breathing and phrasing with the flute player prior to the first rehearsal

if possible. You may stagger your breaths or phrase them together - neither is more correct.

Letter B is a true solo, over the top of pizzicato strings. The phrasing is more or less the same as

letter F, which is the main audition passage (because it is higher and therefore more difficult), so

I will discuss only letter F.

Start the solo at letter F very softly, even though it is only p, because you will be heard no

matter how softly you play over the strings, and you will then be able to make more expressive

crescendos. Cantabile is the key word for this passage. Drive toward the Bb in measure 2, make

it expressive (possibly with a subtle <>) come away dolce on the sixteenth notes and fade out on

the down beat. Do not play the C overly long! If the conductor is sensitive, you will be able to

add a little retinuto for the sixteenth notes. If you would like to do the same rubato in an

audition, you risk the possibility of the committee thinking the rest that follows is either too long

or too short. If you don't do the rubato, you run the risk of sounding boring. Often, second-

guessing a committee is a lose-lose situation: do what you want. Slur into the C in measure 3,

and play the Db with the two side keys. The strings have a regular rhythm at this point, so no

more rubato is allowed, and you must NOT be late on your entrances. In an audition, the whole

committee will be subdividing in their heads to see if you can count rests - so be precise. Take a

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small breath or none at all before the next passage, so as to disturb your body as little as possible.

This helps you to maintain the placement of high notes in your mouth, mind, lips etc., and eases

the entrance of the D. Try to enter on the D both softly and solidly - this note is the whole reason

for this exerpt to even be on an audition. Play the motive expressively - this is also important to

show the committee that you are not scared by the passage, but are comfortable with it. Take a

huge breath and play the next motive in answer to the previous, but land on the A very softly to

make the crescendo. The C can be stretched and G shortened ever so slightly, but do NOT be

late to the A. I recommend a small dim. and tenuto on the C with a little dip in the phrase going

to the G. This creates a loop effect in the phrasing of the motive. All of this intricacy on two

notes contrasts nicely with a slow, steady crescendo on the A. During the crescendo, think not of

getting louder, but of getting nearer or bigger to about the level of a Beethoven f. This will help

you keep your tone even as you change dynamics. The subito piano comes on the downbeat of

the next measure, not on the G. This subito may be used to create another "loop" phrasing to turn

the musical direction around. If you absolutely must, take a quick breath after the F. Play a real

32nd-note at the end of this measure ,neither a sixteenth nor a 64th. Diminuendo to the 32nd-note

C and play as softly as you can. This crescendo should be quite large. You are joined gradually

by the rest of the orchestra during this note, so be sure you are still heard as the primary voice as

they enter. You may breathe after the downbeat of the next measure. Play graceful and legato

triplets. After leading to the Bb from the A play a slight dim. at the very end of the measure

leading to the p marked on the F in the next measure. Play a full (but not longer) 8th note and

release. Adhere to Beethoven's tempo and do not to play too slowly at an audition.

Letter E is a reprise of the opening duet, with a variation. Be precise with your rhythm

on the triplets, and make the sf as pressure accents. G is another reprise followed by arpeggios

traveling through the orchestra. Follow the line of notes dynamically and pretend to play the

first note of the flute's (after your last note) - this will help you to hand off your line well.

The Scherzo presents little solos with no problems. The last movement, on the other

hand, has some quite difficult passages. At letter A, the alberti accompaniment solo must be

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played loudly enough to be clearly heard, and staccato. The sixteenth note solo is an excellent

reason to learn to double tongue. While not marked with a dynamic, a Beethoven p is

appropriate. In an audition, you may play the passage as slow as 152 to the quarter-note, if you

can tongue it all. Otherwise, add a slur or two (or three or four) for two notes and play it at 160.

The first place to add a slur is from the C before the grace note to the D after it. This slur is

extremely well masked by the grace note. The next place to add is preferable at the end of the

passage, going from D to C in the final measure. It is likely that you will be able to start at

tempo and tire as the passage progresses, so adding slurs at the end is preferable. Doing this

enables you to remove them at the last instant in performance if you don't need them. Other

good spots are from the C to the B at the beginning of the second measure, and from the top A to

G in the third measure. Be sure to play the pp as a subito, and the ff as well. In auditions, the

excerpt usually ends after the first note of the ff.

Symphony No. 5 in c minor Op. 67

This most well known of Beethoven's symphonies has a few nice clarinet parts, but finds

its way to auditions rarely. The first clarinet solo is at measure 67 in mvmt. 1. Do not drag or be

late. The cadence is on the D in measure 70, so a nice little cresc. leading to it is appropriate, as

well as a little dim. away from it. In measure 130, the two clarinets are alone for this motive, and

should be in perfect time. The entrance is easy to be late on, and it's often hard to play the right

dynamic, articulation and intonation here. Do not try to play overly soft unless asked to, and it

will be easier.

The second movement finds the bassoon and clarinet in often in octaves for many little

solos once more. The solo 7 measures before A is thematically important. Play the 32nd-note

metrically correctly, and do not play the two Bbs as a unit - between them is where the phrase

breaks a little, the second note leading towards the quarter note. The same applies to the motive

whenever presented again in this piece. The solo after A is a great place to show how many

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different colors you can make on one note. Start with a healthy f. You may choose to start the

note with only air and no tongue to avoid a hard attack, but do not ease into it or be late. As you

approach piano, you can take all color out of your tone, and gradually add it back over the next

three bars - this allows you to be expressive without crescendoing. The real cresc. starts as you

move into the F#. Play legato intervals and drive to the suspended downbeat of measure 55.

Break slightly after the G and re-attack the F. If you absolutely need a breath, it can be taken

here. The rest of the woodwinds join you at the f. Be sure to make a nice subito surprise at the

end of the phrase on the D. At measure 107 try to match the articulation the bassoon does, unless

you have strong feelings about the way it should go (conductors usually do about this passage).

If you do, discuss it with the bassoonist ahead of time. A variety of lengths can be used here, and

all have their merits. During the solo/sectional passages after the fermata it is important to not

play to vertically - make space after the eighth-notes, but do not let it destroy the line. In

measure 166, you and the bassoon have to play short notes in a long line without rushing or

dragging - this is difficult but important to do. Play the eighth and quarter-notes very long -

almost out of time, and the short notes very short. Think the meter in a slow one, and you will

keep the proper line in your phrasing. Play measures 177-79 very legato, even when you re-

articulate the B in 178. 185 is another balance problem, and you must play as loudly as possible.

The coda solo in beginning in 229 should be played pp and very dolce - you will be heard. A

little loop and dim. on the last dotted 16th/32nd up to the high Bb is quite nice to do, and it sets

you up to make a huge cresc over the next 9 measures.

It is good to have the beginning of the scherzo memorized so that you may watch the

conductor and play the solo with him. This is a hard spot for them, and they will be quite upset

if they don't see your eyes and/or you are not together with them. The short As that you play at

the end of the movement should be as short and soft as possible. Play them a little louder if you

have to, rather than longer. It's OK to sound pecky here - you're imitating a very short pizzicato.

The only thing of importance in the last movement is the reprise of the scherzo where the

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clarinets play a duet. Be bold, and don't shy away from the dissonance. Imitate the phrasing this

passage had in the scherzo when played by the f horns.

Symphony No. 6 in F major Op. 68

This is the most popular piece to have on any clarinet audition and presents new

challenges to every clarinettist each time they refine their ability and standards. In the first

movement, you have a few little solos before the main audition one. Despite not being the

melody, some conductors will insist that you play loudly in the 8 bars leading up to B. If you can

get away with it, defer to the 'cello melody in this passage. Four bars before D should be played

sprightly. Legato slurred notes, short staccatos, a general <> for the two bar motive, and a slight

accent on the D all help this passage come alive. Take a cue from the oboe for phrasing, as they

play similar thing many times in this piece before you do. During the solo that begins in

measure 426, it is good to play dolce for most of the time. A wonderful exception is to make the

skip of a 6th and the three notes that follow it in measure 429 espressivo with a little swell

upwards through the triplet and more legato notes. You may even be able to stretch them

slightly, because you can steal time from the longer G. Hand off to the oboe well at the end of

this passage.

The solo that starts at letter K is on almost every audition, and sometimes they want you

to play the two measures before K to set the tempo - I prefer this. The embellished stepwise

sequence up (B, C, D) should be followed dynamically, without destroying the subito f. Play

each motive with identical nuance, and be absolutely precise about the placement of the

sixteenth-notes. It is a common error to play them too quickly an the eighth too long. You may

lead into the f with the last two notes before it. The whole orchestra plays the next arpeggio

with you every time, and in performance, you may drop out here to catch a breath if you need to.

Play all the triplets fairly short and bouncy. Show the phrase in measures 480-2, by making the

second note of each measure a new beginning leading towards the next measure. The next few

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measures should be played the same way, but are easier because they are f. Play each repetition

more strongly than the last, and reach your climax in measure 488, where you immediately start

a dim. The main thing the committee listens for in this passage (aside from absolute precision) is

a real dim to a real pp without getting slower or playing longer notes. This is difficult and

requires much practice, but is worth the effort. Little accents on the low B each time can help.

In performance conductors may slow down or even do this whole passage in a slower tempo.

You cannot anticipate this preference at an audition and I recommend playing it at the written

tempo of 126.

The solo at the end of the second movement is even more common on auditions then the

first movement solo. The solo in bar 7 is in octaves with the bassoon, and the phrasing is similar

to the last solo. The one difference of note is the fp in bar 12: crescendo up to the f and play a

very sudden p without sounding harsh. The solo at letter D is often heard on auditions with the

bar before D, so that you may more directly indicate your tempo to the committee. Make a nice

swell in this bar - up and back, with the Bb as the high point. This solo is heard primarily to

catch you not counting your rests in the proper tempo. Subdivision is extremely important. In a

way, listening for that makes no sense, because in performance, with the conductor beating and

the strings playing running sixteenth-notes, it is very hard to play too early or late. Each of the

three entrances bordered by rests should be done with a little swell surrounding the appogatura

eighth-note. Try to keep the line through the rests if you can. Do not hold the quarter note overly

long - fade it out exactly in time (this helps you stay accurate during the rests). The grace notes

can be played a few ways, but I recommend against articulating them. I prefer to play the last

two sixteenth-notes preceding them and the three grace-notes as a unit of 5 notes. I also play this

unit slightly across the bar line, so that I am a little late to the down beat. This is OK, because

you can make up the time on the long notes, and as long as you end in time, you will not destroy

the line. Playing them this way gives you a little more time to play them gracefully. If you

prefer, you may play all 5 more quickly and reach the eighth-note F on time. The pick ups to

measure 73 are the last in the sequence of four entrances, and the harmony finally moves to a

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cadence. Help show this by a nice blossoming crescendo to the C. Come down dynamically on

the arpeggio, and play the following phrase (which is an embellishment of what you've just

played) similarly, ending at a nice piano. The grace notes should be played at the approximate

speed of triplet sixteenth-notes (comprising the length of an eighth-note in total), a little faster is

OK, but not too fast or they are ungraceful. Take a huge breath before the grace-note in bar 74

(it's the last you may have in the excerpt), play the grace-note barely shorter than a sixteenth-

note, and start this all piano. Cresc. through the next bar to the subito in the bar after. During

this bar of 24 sixteenth-notes, a little nuance/rubato can be done during the half-step from B to

Bb. Try to show the relationship over the bar of C to B to Bb to A at the top of the arpeggios. It

is common to slow down at the end of the last arpeggio, but by no means is it necessary. Reach

the lower end of a Beethoven f by the end, and play a nice piano in the next bar. You may be

more contrasting at an audition, because you are not trying to cut through a thick orchestration.

Watch out for rushing in this bar, as the articulation makes you want to move ahead. At the

subito, a little phrasing to follow the line is nice, or to go contrary is nice. If you can play a nice

pp high D, do the contrasting. Hesitating after the D slightly is a nice effect. The eighth-notes

should be shortish, but not pecky (but not mooshy either), with lots of space between them. If

you need a breath here, take one after the lower D, and play the spaces between the notes large

enough, so that your breath space is no larger. You may slow down and slightly lengthen on the

last two notes a little to set up the trill. I like to begin long trills like this slowly and accelerate

the trill. Others like to play them all fast. Be true to yourself, because you will be bound to

offend someone on the committee no matter what you do (and I believe this is a good approach

to all such decisions regarding an audition - don't try to second-guess a committee unless you are

certain that the conductor is there and insists on hearing a particular passage a particular way.)

However you play the trill, crescendo through it and stay heard over the thickening orchestra.

Pretend to play the resolution, but do not, and you will phrase the end properly. The rest of the

movement is not heard at auditions, but the Coo-coo bird motive in bar 131 should be played

very short and pecky, and in perfect time with the oboe.

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The third movement is rarely heard at auditions. The solo starts with three notes out of

the blue answering the oboe in measure 114. Play dolce and with a dim up to and through the D.

Measure 122 is played in the same vein, but starting with the second beat of bar 123, you are in a

new statement of the theme. There is no time to make a break with tempo, so you must set this

new phrase apart from the previous one with dynamics. Play the four notes previous to this p,

and abruptly start the new phrase (on the D) with a healthy mp. Accent the tied notes over the

next three barlines for a nice swing - remember, this is peasant music. Climb dynamically to the

long note, but still save a lot for the monster cresc that follows. Drive all the way to the bottom,

and then play a big subito p. The G must be soft, but loud enough to be heard - especially at an

audition. If you are playing in a boomy hall during you audition, you will not have the usual

acoustical padding of an audience and may have to tailor your performances a bit to suit. This

subito p is a good case. You may have to play it louder to be heard in a boomy hall that is still

reverberating from your crescendo to ff. Play the tempo indicated if you can articulate all the

notes, or maybe as slow as 100. Otherwise, add a slur somewhere - I recommend form the A to

the F# in bar 132. The solo at letter B is never on auditions. Play it in a nice meandering,

peasant dolce - you've heard this theme a number of times at this point - play it in a similar

fashion. Accent the tied Gs a bit to show the syncopation.

The last two movements are also never on auditions. The short pleading solo of mvmt. 4

is a chance to put as much expression as you can into only three notes. I like to play the second

set of three both piu pp and piu espressivo - this avoids a cheesy echo effect. You may play the

second entrance more strongly if you like. The clarinet opens the fifth movement (after the

storm). Play simply. Drive to the bar line at the beginning of bar four and back away from it.

You may be able to push and pull the tempo ever so slightly along with the dynamic - I think this

helps the phrasing.

Symphony No. 7 in A major Op. 92

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This symphony again has little of importance for the clarinet. The rhythmic cell of the

first movement (dotted-eighth, sixteenth, eighth) is important to learn correctly. Practice playing

the passages without the sixteenth-note first, and get the eighth-note in its proper metrical place.

Then add the sixteenth-note without changing the placement of the eighth. It is common to play

the sixteenth and eighth too early, ending up with a duple-like rhythm instead. Be sure to play

the difference when the dotted-eighth-note is changed to an eighth-note with a sixteenth-note

rest.

The second movement has nice solo after letter D 16 bars. This is another balance

problem spot. Try to play a Beethoven p while still being heard soaring over top of the orchestra.

The staccato markings on the triplets should not be taken too seriously - play separate but not

short. The woodwinds join you on the long G, so take any breath you need after one of these and

hide it in the orchestration. 11 measures before the double bar is a solo again. Come out of the

texture at a nice Beethoven f, and dim. in one bar to the p where you continue your dim. up to the

E. Change direction on the E and begin a new cresc. rapidly to the next long G at a nice

Beethoven f. This helps all the new instruments entering sound a little less sudden. Keep

growing through the end of your line, and pretend to play the note on the down beat of 4 before

the double bar. Throughout this movement, there is the motive quarter, eighth, eighth. The

strings play the theme and two variations of it before you get to. Listen to their stroke and try to

imitate it. You will have to play it exposed at the end.

The only thing difficult about the scherzo is playing the rhythm in the trio. Be precise

with the eighth-note, and you should have no trouble. There is nothing of note in the last

movement, but study it anyway because you will play this piece often.

Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93

On nearly every audition, the eighth symphony is smaller in scope than any other

symphony since the second and is full of important clarinet material. The first movement is

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either in a fast three or a slow one - often both, depending upon the music. The first solo is in the

fifth bar of the piece, and is the "answer" phrase to the phrase of the first four bars. The high

point of the phrase is the A half-note, and its stressing should be followed by a slight dim. Do not

clip the D in measure 7, as you think might be stylistically correct In most cases like this, we are

taught to play the last note of a two note slur clipped, but the common performance practice

these days is to play these figures longer in this piece only. I'm not sure why that is, but it is very

important to remember, especially in the Trio when taking auditions. The next big first

movement solo comes 8 bars after letter D. It is the opening phrases again, but this time all in

the clarinet solo. Again, don't clip the end of the two-note slur. Of course if you have not been

told one way or the other, it is always safe to imitate what you have heard the rest of the

orchestra do up to that point.

In measure 244 begins another small solo, in answer to the previous tutti version. Begin

at a healthy p level with a slight pressing accent on the syncopation tie. After the A in 246, a tiny

break and a small stress on the D is nice to illustrate the skewed rhythm of the passage. The next

two bars contain suspensions and the resolving notes (C# and B respectively) should not be

rushed through and perhaps even stretched a little to give the listener a chance to hear the

resolution before moving on to the subsequent figuration. The second of these two bars, the one

with the ritard. in it, should be felt in 3 and played with a slight echo in dynamics as well.

The big solo of this movement is 4 measures after letter G. In a flatter key, it is again the

primary motive. Do not try to play pp, and be smooth with all of your connections. Make sure

the articulation in bar 307 between the two Ds is heard. Putting a slight accent on the second D

and following it with a small crescendo upwards is good. Doing the same in the next two bars

helps the modulation along.

The second movement is never asked on auditions, but is difficult to play correctly. This

movement is Beethoven's homage to the metronome, and the soft, short, light notes in the

woodwinds, aside from being very difficult to play soft, short, light, and together, are meant to

represent a metronome. Play them as steadily as you can. If you have to make a choice, play

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shorter rather than softer. If you take smaller breaths and don't have as much pressure behind

each note, they may come out easier. Remember to stop each note with your tongue for

maximum shortness.

The third movement is a return to the conservative Menuetto that Beethoven began

rejecting with his second symphony, and the trio is a huge clarinet solo that is on virtually every

audition. It is often on the first round of auditions because it illustrates many things about a

players ability all at once. It demonstrates intonation in every register, rhythm, nuance, legato

and above all: control. In spite of the staccato markings, NO note in this passage is to be played

short. This seems contradictory, but it is just never done. Don't bounce, don't clip.

The first strain of the trio is easy and is quite a nice warm up for the difficult second

strain. As with every excerpt, be in time and at the correct tempo, but committees are very fussy

about the speed and rhythm in this excerpt and will be merciless if you are off at all. The

pickups to measure 49 should be very dolce and simple. Play an exact triplet in the next bar,

neither rushed or stretched, but very smooth. Do not emphasize the notes, or play them with less

volume as you might other figuration. Maintain the cresc. line through them. The two Bs at the

end of the bar are fairly legato and lead to the next bar. After the dotted-quarter note B, you may

dip a little in nuance to let the last three eighths of the bar lead to the next. In measure 51, move

through the first two beats with increasing expression, and make a real jump back to p on the

third beat. Again here be very careful not to distort your rhythm in the slightest degree. Helpful

in making the subito sound more dramatic but not gross is to play the first two beats as if they

were marked espressivo and the last again dolce. Filling up the second beat in time as much as

you can without distortion also helps this affect. Unless instructed not to, play the repeat and

count all the measures rest religiously. Some people like to hear repeats the same, but I prefer to

play repeats with heightened contrast.

Measure 55 starts the high passage. Begin at about mp with long but articulated eighths

and play bar 57 as an echo. 58 should start at 57's level but cresc. through the bar to a higher

level than you had in 55. A true forte is required in 60, because you are playing above the entire

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orchestra, and you need the contrast so that you can play the next passage in a healthy p and still

sound soft by comparison. Measure 61 should be phrased identically to measure 49. Do not take

time in 62, but be as smooth as you can with the big skips. Half-holing on the second D of the

measure will help it come out without popping or being too soft. Crescendoing through this

measure is both a help and a hindrance, but it must be done or it will be too boring. Committees

like this piece to see how well you can phrase. Beethoven is not as juicy as Tchaikovsky or

Ravel, but here is your chance to be expressive. The cresc. makes it harder to play the skips, but

you also don't have to play a p high D at the end of the bar. Keep the cresc. right up to the bar

line, and then fall back to a very dolce p in bar 63. Find a fingering for the high G that does not

fail and stick with it. I use the overblown B (thumb/reg. LH-1, RH-fork and Ab/Eb key) and then

"yodel" down to the B. The change in registers provides a little break of its own that nicely

mimics legato articulation there so I don't have to tongue the B and break up the line. In any

case, all articulation in this passage should be legato. Measure 66 is easy to rush in an audition -

be careful. The D is the down pulse and the Gs are the embellishment of it. Do not bounce on

the Gs. The G in 67 belongs to the others, and not to the eighth-notes that follow, so flow

downward with phrasing beginning on the F#. This is the model for measures 71 and 73. 70 can

be played with a little more cresc. on the Gs than in 66. The articulation should be one of a flat

rock skipping across a pond. Articulate with only a little separation (NOT short) through the line

and don't let the tonguing break it up. Play even crescendos in bars 72 and 74 making sure that

the B is louder than the high D arriving at a Beethoven f by the end of the bar. Do not take time

on the subito p, and be careful of rushing throughout measures 69-75. Measure 75 has a slight

dim. Be sure to start loud enough in the next bar to get good contrast from your pp in the

penultimate bar. In this bar the phrase breaks between the 3rd and 4th eighth-note with the latter

belonging to the last bar. You can show this phrase-break with a slight cresc. through the last 3

eighths which will also help you by giving you a higher dynamic in which to play the last bar.

The last bar is usually played with a rit. and always with a dim. up to the high G. My favorite

fingering for this G is: Thumb/Reg. LH-1,3 RH-1,2 Ab/Eb. Whichever fingering you find, make

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sure it's infallible and in tune! If you are out of tune on this note, it will hang in the air until the

orchestra starts up again or you play your next audition excerpt. Of course, it doesn't have to be

the same fingering as in measure 63.

The last movement is not asked on auditions, but it doesn't hurt to be ready to play it. The

biggest solo happens twice pretty much in the same manner (measures 236 and letter I). Without

bouncing, make sure the articulation is audible between the two Es and As. The quarter-notes in

measure 239 should again be played along the line and not too short (the skipping rock again).

The last four bars can be more expressive than the first four or less, or completely different. Just

don't be boring and play it the same.

Symphony No. 9 in d minor, Op. 125

An unqualified masterpiece, Beethoven's ninth symphony has great passages for

everyone. It is long and the clarinets play nearly continuously throughout. If possible, play this

piece with assistants. They will help with volume where needed and give you ample recovery

time for your solos. This symphony is full of more contrast than the others and the changes turn

on a dime sometimes. Be alert, and be brave.

The first movement has no true solos of more than a few notes, but much to play in

octaves and thirds with the rest of the woodwinds. Play real sixteenth and 32nd notes wherever

marked and do not confuse the two.

The scherzo's problems are confined to playing articulated descending octaves quickly

without squeaking and getting the dotted-quarter/eighth/quarter motive rhythmically accurate (as

in the seventh symphony). The trio, however begins with the clarinet playing the same theme

four times in a row. It's a short passage and it goes quickly. While one could tire of hearing the

same four bars four times with the same phrasing, do not try to vary it too much - it goes by too

quickly. One fun phrasing to do is to poke lightly or heavily (or both at different times) the

syncopated D that connects the sub-phrases.

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Depending on the tempo, the third movement can either be torture for breathing or no

problem. Try to work out with your section where to breathe. I recommend staggering when you

can. If you have assistants you can even use them sometimes to help you. There are many small

clarinet duets throughout the movement, and all are basically the same in that they require

maximum expression and legato. Again, do not confuse p and pp.

The beginning of the last movement is sometimes at a speed requiring the insertion of a

few slurs. It is loud enough that no one will hear if you need to add some. Another option is

leaving out a not here or there. Be careful of all the sudden tempo changes. Motives from the

previous movements are inserted in the introduction. The 6/8 variation of "Ode to Joy" should

be quite cute and bouncy. Play pp and beware of getting lost because beat 2 increasingly sounds

like the down beat as the passage continues. There are pitfalls which are rather obvious in this

movement such as playing smoothly and quietly up to the high D fermata after letter R when at

this point in the piece you are exhausted. Another is the fast light articulation to be had in the

following passage. If all the woodwinds play as short as they can, the ensemble, which is usually

quite difficult, will be better.

Franz Schubert - Symphony No. 8 in b minor (Unfinished)

Another mainstay of the audition repertoire, this little jewel of a piece has many pitfalls

in and out of the solo passages. In the first movement, the first theme is stated beginning in

measure 13 by the clarinet and oboe in unison. It is usually best to get together with the oboist

before hand to go over intonation. When playing this with the strings, it is often difficult to find

the beat in their repeated 16th notes. If the conductor does not help keep you and the oboist

together, particularly on the eighth-notes, ask the oboist to nod a little and follow them. Try to

keep expression to a minimum until the hairpin, where you can really wail. Measure 29 should

be played a little louder than p so that the clarinets are heard above the clearing fp and the

sustaining instruments. The syncopations after A are difficult to play soft enough and without

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dragging. Playing each first note a little louder followed by a small dim. will help, and will

phrase nicely. If you are on time with the first note, the rest should follow quite easily. Beware

of the string rubato and go with it. Sing a little on the suspensions such as in bar 52. Get VERY

soft during the decresc. and take it all the way to niente. The sf in this piece are with more

pressure than striking. Play them deeply. As with Beethoven, modern performance practice lends

itself to certain balance problems. One such problem is 6 before D - play as loudly as you can.

At the end of the movement, you and the oboe play a stripped down first motive in measure 352

with a HUGE cresc. up to f and back. Here the difficulty is making the change without going out

of tune (be careful not to go flat), or changing the tone color or balance between you at all.

Beforehand practice will also help this.

The second movement is what is asked on most auditions. Recent performances have

reversed the trend of playing this movement too slowly. It is marked Andante con moto, and

should really go at about an eighth-note=96. At this tempo, you may even be able to play the

long solo in one breath!, but be ready for a wide variety of tempos for this movement. The big

solo beginning in measure 66 is over syncopated strings. Be sure to enter and move on time.

Precise conducting here helps, but you can't always count on it. There are little sfz in the strings,

and sometimes the conductor will stretch to accommodate them, leaving you in the learch. Be

ready for anything during this solo. This solo is beautiful in it's architecture and is a great

opportunity to show what you and the clarinet can do. Color is key. Take a huge breath and start

as softly as you can, but with a precise attack. Do not cresc. on the E. Press into the G at a subito

higher dynamic, using breath only for the change. I find it helpful to move my body for this a

little too. Fade the hairpin all the way through the bar and to the F# where you are again pp and

rather colorless. Play the A similarly to the G, but with ever so slightly more expression -

remember, you have a long way to go. This contrast between the desolation of the unaccented

notes and the dispair of the accented ones can be quite beautiful. Before the 5th bar of the solo is

the least obtrusive place for a breath. Though you've just started to play, if you grab a quick

breath here, you may not need another one at all. You now have two bars to play a shortened

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version of your previous expression and get from pp to f. The arrival of f is in measure 72 and

that C should be louder than it was when accented in 71. This forte should be glorious, soaring,

exultant, and big but NOT loud (i.e. crass, harsh, etc.). Do not press on the f here. Almost

immediately, you must return, in two bars, to pp. During your dim., you can also drain all color

from the sound and arrive below pp by the end of bar 73. You can then change direction when

you get to bar 74, add a little expression and move the phrasing forward. The chord changes

there can help you. Also adding the expression can give you a slightly higher dynamic from

which to make the final dim. Play from here seemlessly, practically glissing from note to note

with your legato. Beginning in 77, play each repeat of the E-G softer, fading away in color and

dynamic. You may slur to the final B, as you will be playing so softly no one will notice, and

articulation here may destroy the line. You may choose to make more expression out of the final

interval of a fifth, or to continue the fade. Either is acceptable and both are beautiful in their own

way. If you absolutely must, you may breath before the final G, but do not be late. Fade out on

the B as only a clarinet can, arriving at a nearly inaudible level by the beginning of the final bar.

Do not hold over the written value, because the Oboe enters in the next bar.

After playing ff and then resting for nearly 27 bars, you must play measure 138 as

Schubert wrote it: ppp on a high note with an expressive accent. Do not be late. Have some air

moving through your instrument in the bars preceding it and take time during the rests to imagine

what it feels like to play the Bb. Anyone can play this warm, but you must practice playing it

after sitting there for 3 minutes.

The second big solo is merely a restatement of the Oboe's first solo. You will be able to

play it in one breath no matter how slowly. Instead of being desolate and dispairing, you are now

in major mode and can be a little more cheerful in your expression. The cresc. here leads to the

glorious return of the motive of bar 231 followed by its docissimo echo. Try to play an exact

32nd note without being flippant. Everything here must be very smooth as well. Play a nice

cresc. with the Flute in 263 without pressing. The solo beginning in measure 276 can be with

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much expression and a relaxing of dynamic into the tonic of 280. Six bars later you will be able

to play a true ppp without being covered, so take advantage of it. Just don't be late entering.

Gioacchino Rossini - Overture to Semiramide

Rossini Operas are mainstays of the repertoire, as are their orchestral overtures. The

chief demands placed on the clarinet in all of Rossini's music are to play lightly and quickly. The

overture to Semiramide is typical of this. While the main solo asked on auditions is in the

middle of the Allegro, there are a few other pitfalls to point out. The figure at letter A at first

looks difficult, but with practice can be played as fast as needed and with the proper rhythm.

Accenting the staccato note a bit helps play the off beats without rushing. Letter A begins a

typical "Rossini" crescendo - widespread in all of his works. Always save a bit of volume for the

final push at the end of the long crescendo passages.

The first difficult spot for the clarinet comes in the Allegro, 6 measures after letter G.

The woodwinds all toss around this figure and it is important not to be late. Usually played quite

swiftly (a quarter note equal to as much as 152), you may insert a slur from the fourth to fifth

notes in the run if you need to. Don't be late, and don't rush the figure. In performance it is OK,

even preferable for the first note of the run to pop out, but in audition this is not as kosher.

Thinking of the first three notes as a pickup to the fourth beat of the bar helps you to enter at the

top in p. Beginning 4 bars before H the passage is now easier, and you are in octaves with the

flute. Don't forget to crescendo into H. The rest of the orchestra will be getting quite loud at this

point and you still need to be heard. Also be careful not to slow down and/or get heavier as you

get louder.

The passage usually asked for on auditions begins after K. This solo is over pizzicato

quarter notes in the strings. While it is fast, it needs to sound relaxed and unhurried. Play the

first bar with the grace notes close to the quarters, and play the quarters on the long but separated

side - not short. The hairpin in the first bar should go all the way to a Rossini forte, which is

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close to a Beethoven f, and come all the way back to p by the fourth beat of the second bar.

From here on out there are generally two schools of playing this solo. One is to be fairly simple

and let the line speak for itself, the other to play with dynamics and color as much as possible in

the short figures of the solo. While the latter can border on trite and contrived if overdone, this is

opera and I prefer it to the former. Having said that, you may think of the first bar as quarters

leading all to a rather bold G which retreats in dynamic and color to a dolce p. The next four

notes can be quite cute in the following manner: A small hairpin down is played over all four

notes; give a little poke accent the F to make light of the fact that the figure is played on the

weak beat; clip the D, but do not play it early; play a short E and a soft and short C. Repeat the

figure in the same manner but piu p. For the third time play louder than the other two and start a

small cresc. that continues through the C major arpeggio up to the high C. Play this C

reminiscent of the G in measure 2 of the solo. This illustrates the architecture of the solo nicely.

Repeat the B-D-C-A figure as you did the earlier triplets: p, piu p, meno p/cresc. leading to the

D. Following the long high D the next 5 notes really belong in to the phrase that continues in the

next bar, so make a bracket in your mind between the D and the A in the 10th bar after K. This

will of course be easier if you again have phrasing reminiscent of the G in the second bar of the

solo and start the triplets again p. Playfully move through the next bar careful to keep all twelve

note in even rhythm without crushing the two that are slurred. A slight poke accent on the

articulated beats is both playful and reminds one of the figure at letter A. A small cresc. through

this bar is good, but save for a much bigger cresc. in the next bar. In 12 after K, you can stretch

slightly the octave leap for dramatic and charming effect. It is from the top D that you should

begin a large cresc. through the whole bar. Arriving f at the G in the next bar, play each beat-

long cell softer than the one preceding it and still with the accent on the articulated beat that this

figure gets. Counting 5-4-3-2-1 to yourself while you play this bar and the final note in the next

is a perfect way to illustrate the attitude with which this dim. should be played. This is an awful

lot of discussion for a 10 bar solo that should sound like an unconcerned walk in the park, but a

little nuance goes a long way with this cute and refreshing piece. Of course, this solo can be

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played with a wide variety of acceptable phrasing as long as it does not contradict the character

of the piece.

The rest of the overture is merely a recap of themes already played. When the Allegro

triplet solo comes back, you are playing the lower-octave line, which drops out after a few bars.

Barber of Seville Overture and Figaro's Aria

Currently Rossini's most popular Opera, The Barber of Seville is widely adored in and

out of Warner Brothers' cartoons. The beginning of the overture is always in 8, but the length of

the pickup sixteenth-notes are rarely agreed upon. Some conductors prefer them played as 32nd-

notes because of the slow tempo. Be ready for anything.

This Overture, even more than Semiramide, is about short and light notes! Beginning in

the 11th bar of the Allegro play short, almost pecky notes. Play the 32nds in the next bar very

quickly and with little accents so they don't sound like pickups. Clip the dotted-eighth-notes

almost in half. All of this is played with the Flute and Violins. After letter E, you have the

answer part of the B theme. Do not drag, and play all the notes very short. Crescendo through the

bar of Gs and press into the G#. Play the same phrasing two bars later, but about a half step up

in dynamics. In bar 100 play very short quarters, and don't be afraid of the gaping silence you

are adding and use that as an excuse to rush - these quarters must be unhurried. Fall off of the

half-note dynamically, and play a very sprightly ending. The three note cell in measure 102

should be as follows: a long first note, clipped second and soft third. This nuance gives a nice

shape to the cell as you dim. through the bar like as if you were sliding down a banister to the

final note in bar 103. Following this, you play the same thing again up an octave.

After switching to the A clarinet, you get to play the entire second theme in a solo

beginning after letter I. I think it is important to provide as much contrast between the motives

that make up this theme as possible, in the same way that the characters each display a different

mood with different music often simultaneously during the opera. In that light, play the second

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and third bars after I very dolce and legato, with the accent as a stress rather than a punch. Sort

of like Bartolo's awkward love answered by Figaro's scheming. The rest of the solo is the same

as before - even the fingerings, though in a new key.

Figaro's first Aria of the opera is the one with the famous "Figaro, figaro, figaro......".

The aria is about how Figaro is so in demand as a confidant and problem solver that he gets no

rest. The line above is his mimicking of all the people constantly calling on him. Baritones like

to sing this one FAST so be ready to play up to a dotted-quarter note equal to 184, though at an

audition a crisp 168 is acceptable. The key in an audition, of course, is to be a clean, clear, crisp

and short as you can. The difficult and exposed part begins in measure 17 (sometimes letter A),

and is a perfect imitation of people chattering away. Play the grace note before the beat, but as

close to it as possible, and make sure the beat gets a little accent. If you don't do both of these

things, the figure will come out sounding like six even sixteenth notes. Clip the eighth at the end

of the first beat, and don't rush to beat two. The Gs should be very short and even, as should the

bars with only six eighth-notes in them. This whole passage is another "Rossini crescendo" so by

the time you get to the high notes you can play them at a comfortable mf. Save a lot for a big

final push in the last six bars making your cresc. all the way to the last high C. Keep the volume

increasing through the last three notes - it makes for a lot of bravura.

Felix Mendelssohn - Scherzo from "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

This piece is a mainstay of both principal and second clarinet auditions. Though I will

mostly address the only the first part, what I say can quite easily be applied to the second. What

the committee is usually looking for in this excerpt is how cleanly one can articulate a fast

passage, not how fast one can articulate. True, if you play it too slowly, they will think that you

cannot articulate quickly, but first prize does not go to whoever tongues the fastest in this piece.

The Scherzo has been performed and recorded at a dotted-quarter-note equal to anywhere from

69 to 96, but 88 is the best speed to prepare cleanly. This is quickly enough to show your speed,

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but not so quick as to be frantic. It also has the virtue of being a speed nearly everyone can

handle, and one where if the adrenaline of an audition makes you play faster, you'll still be able

to make it. The mood in this piece in performance and in audition is light, quick, capricious,

sparkling, sprightly - nothing heavy, difficult or pushed. Remember at all times the character of

the piece is a representation of some rogue fairies.

General pitfalls of this excerpt are playing the group of four 16th notes crushed together

in time, playing too softly and not having some notes speak, not playing the full value of rests,

and notes popping out - particularly when going over the break. I find it much easier to play this

whole piece without lungs full of air. You don't need a lot of air except in a few spots, and the

less pressure behind each articulated note, the easier it comes out evenly in piano. Something

else I have tried is playing with very little jaw pressure. Depending on your reed, this can be

quite effective. The danger there is scooping the pitch on notes in the clarinet register.

Generally, I think that a forward tongue and a rock-solid embochure on a responsive reed

sending a thin and very focused stream of air aimed right at the reed is best. Lots of embochure

and tongue support with little diaphragm support works best for me.

The beginning is marked p, and only p. Do not try to play pp. Remember that you are

under the flute melody, and do not over-power them. In the first bar is the primary rhythmic cell

of the piece and the hardest one to play correctly. Do not crush the 16th notes. Practice this

slowly with the metronome on 8th notes, making sure each 16th is in the right place. It is

remarkable, even fast, how much time you really have to play these 16th notes. It's more than

you really need. Playing them correctly in rhythm has the added bonus of giving you the time to

play them shortly. Playing them short adds to the sprightly nature of the piece and just sounds

better. Play the notes in bar 2 exactly alike and very short. I recommend playing the B in the

clarinet register rather than "on the side". Properly supported, the difference in color is

negligible and it will ultimately sound better than the weak upper chalumeau notes. Just be

careful not to accent the B. I usually play the whole bar with my right hand down and already

fingering the B on the right. The passage at L requires the B on the left because of what follows

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it though. The accents in bars 6 and 7 should be quite sharp and a little accent in the same place

in bar 5 is appropriate. Bar 10 and 12 should be very short with a nice falling off shape. Bar 15

is the first time the clarinets have the melody. Start at a healthy mf and play a very even dim. Play

the first note of this run secure, but not accented. The C at the top should be a soft p, and the

notes of the next bar should be at the same dynamic level. Follow the same character through

letter A. Letter A is the motive on only one pitch and therefore is much easier to rush - be extra

careful here. Again a sharp accent 5 and 7 bars after A. Start the cresc. at the low end of p, and

follow it through the next 6 bars until the bar of rest. The 16th note bar needs an added hairpin up

in dynamic to the top C within the overall cresc. The hemiola trill bars that follow should be as

jaunty and sprightly as possible. Short notes and at least 5 note trills with little accents to bring

out the hemiola. The last two notes before B should also be short and cute. In an audition, this is

where you will skip to letter D to keep playing. However, I recommend practicing the passage at

letter C because it is difficult, and learning it is helpful for playing the audition passages better.

6 bars after letter D begins a short recap., the main difference being the arpeggios. They

should be played with a secure but unaccented bottom note followed by a dim. to the top B. Do

not accent when going over the break. For these bars only, more diaphragm support helps. Play

3 before E softer than 4 before, and 2 before softer than 3 before. Think of the phrase during

these bars as if you were sustaining the notes, but play them very short. Lead into E with a small

cresc. in the bar before, coming up to p at E. Grab a big breath and start the sustained notes

making sure not to be sharp on the first low B, as is easy to do. Play the crescendo evenly

heading all the way to the sf note. Where ff is written is NOT the high point of the cresc. - the sf

is. To the overall smooth cresc. it is nice to add a bit of "terracing" or small accents each time

you change pitch. By the time you reach the dotted-quarter-notes, you can play them with real

pressure accents that are sharp, but not stinging, with each note louder than the one before. At

the ff you can be a little heavy, but don't slow down and be sure to save some volume to make a

big difference on the sf. Play this note short, so the sound can clear and the flute be heard. The

clarinet answer phrase will be easier to play if you don't breathe during the rest. You've taken a

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huge breath for the cresc. so you don't need the air, and you don't want a lot of pressure from

your lungs so you can play nice and light. I even exhale a little through the rest. You can breath

after the 16th notes. At an audition, it's best to hear the flute 16th in your head during the rests so

that you come in at exactly the right time and in perfect rhythm. Continue to dim. through your

16ths. You may accent every fourth note a little to help with the phrasing and rhythm - this also

usually prevents rushing. F is pretty much the same except that you start the dim. this time in

stead of the flute. Be sure to still play the sf and short 16ths, even though you are starting ff.

Most auditions end either the bar before G or four bars before that.

Other important passages are the very exposed duet 12 bars before K, which must be light

as always, and has a tendency to sound either late or behind in performance. L is the same as the

opening but you should be fingering the B on the right so that you can play the different scale in

the 8th bar of L. Follow the same phrasing pattern here, and make the accents at M quite sharp

and quickly back to p. There is a short solo after O with the Flute. Decide ahead of time weather

to play the grace notes before the beat or on it. They are more commonly played just before the

beat, and are always played very quickly. The last exposed passage for the clarinets is 7 bars

from the end where they answer the Flutes and have the melody in the first clarinet. This is the

first time you have the motive in pp. Be sure to make that difference. 5 and 4 before the end

should be even softer as you have only harmony. The last three notes are extremely short, and

without ritardando.

Symphony No. 3 in a minor, Op. 56 (Scotch)

Both this symphony and the "Hebrides" overture were written about a trip Mendelssohn

took to Scotland. Everywhere you turn in this piece there are exposed clarinet passages, though

usually only the second movement is asked for on auditions.

The solos begin right at the beginning of the Allegro of the first movement with the

clarinet an octave below the first violins. I recommend using your sound to color the violins

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rather than drawing attention to yourself. Be present with your sound, but don't hog the music.

There were reportedly rough seas during Mendelssohn's trip, and they are depicted marvelously

in this movement. Play with maximum expression and make all the sudden changes quite

dramatic. A good example of a place where you can be very expressive is after letter C. The

hairpin should be dramatic, but save a little to make the next hairpin even more dramatic. The

second statement of the motive is higher and with a cresc. Attention to these details is of

paramount importance.

The second movement is a dance. The strings are playing repeated sixteenth notes on the

same pitches, and it is impossible to find the beat. If the conductor is good he will understand

this and be clear for you, but try your best to be on time. It is easy to rush this solo in general,

and particularly easy during the dotted-eighth/sixteenth rhythm - be steady. It is Vivace, but also

non troppo and the metronome marking is correct and not terribly fast. The first two notes of the

solo are very important and the basis of the whole theme. Practice the ascending fourth alone for

a while to get the proper feeling and to be aware that the seven notes that follow the G are merely

an embellishment of it. This will also help you to play a true sixteenth-note pickup instead of

something shorter, which is a tendency. The musical motion in this solo should always be

forward (but not rushing forward). Crescendo slightly through the first four bars of the solo as

you head to the cadence in the fifth bar. Accent the D in the fifth bar since it is the arrival, not the

B. With nuance, follow the contours of the line in these 5 bars and the next 4 a bit, making

subtle differences in each sixteenth/dotted-eighth note group. Space of about a sixteenth note

between them will help the nuance while not destroying the over-all line. The second phrase

can of course get higher in volume as you go up to a B now. Also be sure to make a clear

articulation between the two Ds at the end of this phrase so they don't run together. When

starting the third phrase, it is a good idea to start in a smaller p than you even began the solo

with. The strings have pizzicatto moving toward the cadence of this phrase and crescendoing

with them is nice. The fourth phrase can be more triumphant, and will lead to the longer passage

that follow better if you cresc. nearly up to the f at the end of 9 bars before letter A.

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This passage must be heard above all of the business going on below you, so play a

meaty f. It begins with that ascending fourth again, so make the listener aware of it by being bold

with your pickup and arrival note. The hairpins should be big, and the indications for dim. and

cresc. dramatic and strictly adhered to. It is easy to lose count during the long notes. The second

statement of this theme (beginning 8 bars after A) needs to be even louder. Observe the sf and

make bigger hairpins and sail your ff above the whole orchestra. This is where about half of the

auditions stop you, but not where the difficulties end.

Four measures later, you have a rather tricky passage in unison with the 'cellos. Be

careful not to rush the pickup notes, and save some volume for the piu f, and the end of the

passage. Following that, you have a full 16 measures to agonize over your next entrance. Here

again, it is easy to get lost. Like the passage in the Midsummer's Scherzo, it is best to play this p

entrance with very little air in your lungs. This will allow you to float into the mix at a true pp

and very short. The accents are sharp and very important and every note not slurred must be

short, nearly pecky. The second and third bars of C need to be brought up above the rest for just

a bit, and accordingly, have been marked p. 6 bars after C be careful of rushing over the next 7 or

8 bars. No auditions ever go beyond this point.

D is merely a test of your tongue's endurance. E is little excerpts of the dance coming in

and out of the texture. Here it is of particular importance to be exactly in time and not to rush the

pickup note. 10 after E is a little duet for clarinets. Be sure to leave enough space to make your

grace notes heard even though you should play them as quickly as you can. A little accent on the

grace-notes will help them pop out better. You end the movement with a recollection of the

theme that should be very sweet and simple, but still with all the markings observed (sf and

accents).

The third movement gives great opportunities for expression, such as in 9 bars before D

when the orchestra cuts out leaving you and the second clarinet to play a lovely arpeggio dim.

Stretch this as much as the conductor will let you. Beginning in the sixth bar after F you have

two little solos in counterpoint to the rest of the orchestra that must be heard. Sneak in on the G

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and grow quickly out of the texture before you make an expressive interval to the high C and

continue your cresc. downward. Don't get lost in the texture as you descend. The same goes for

the next two bars.

The last movement is more sudden dynamic changes and shocks - be observant. The

sixteenth notes should be played quite close to the dotted-eighths, which should be a little short.

The double dotted quarters should always be long. The motive in 10 before G is best done with a

pressure accent and a crying or wailing sound. The last page of the piece starts with a long and

very exposed duet with the Bassoon. Be expressive and sad. You and the bassoon will alternate

melody and harmony in the latter half of the duet, melody being indicated by measures with

hairpins in them. Yield to the bassoon when you have the harmony, and base the level of your pp

ending on proper balance with their pp (though it is nice when you can both fade to nothing by

the end).

Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 (Italian)

Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony is more common on Second clarinet auditions, but is

rare on either. The first movement doesn't have much difficult or exposed. There are lots of

passages for a few woodwinds together and the clarinet can be heard in the texture. One place to

be aware of is the dove-tailing you will do with the flute starting 31 measures before E. Play

without accents as much as you can and match the flute sound. Nuance following the line is quite

nice to play with. After E is a theme in minor mode that should be played short and creepy.

Most of what the clarinets play in the second movement is soli. The first should really dominate

where it is marked "Solo". This is the Major variation of the theme. It is harder to project when

it returns in a lower register so you may have to play louder than p.

The third movement is pretty basic, and the big clarinet solo is the tail end of the first

section and every time that motive comes back. The last movement is what is asked for on the

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few auditions that have this piece on their lists. It is very fast - up to 100 for the half-note,

though 90 is more likely. At an audition, play it as fast as you can play it cleanly, and easily. You

must not make this excerpt sound difficult. The second clarinet has a harder part with some

particularly tricky fingerings and crossing of registers to deal with. The first exposed passage

begins in bar 14 and is exposed until the ff in bar 30. Needless to say, the notes must be light,

very short and pp! Do not play even as loud as p. If you can play this passage very fast, you may

want to audition on it a notch slower so that you may actually play short notes. This could

impress the committee more than plowing through at top speed. A little accent on the trill is

common, and it should be played with as many notes as you can. Lay back during the whole-

notes to let the other lines through. Make a huge cresc. and start it where it is written, instead of

later which is done sometimes. This is usually the end of the audition passage for either clarinet

part. Seven bars before letter C comes a fun little passage. Play the run very smoothly and the

eighth-notes like 1/32 notes with rests. The hair-pins at C should be big, but try to blend with the

prevailing size of hairpin in the orchestra. The last important thing you have is 10 bars from the

end and is marked "Solo". It is easy to be early or late with these as they come in the off beat, but

you must be precise. A little hairpin dim. through the triplet makes for a nice shape to the

motive, but start the cresc. and move through the notes when it's marked.

Hector Berlioz - Symphony Fantatique

An absolute masterpiece, Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique has a fascinating history. It is

one of the first instrumental works to tell a detailed story. It is about a composer who is in love

with an actress who won't give him the time of day. In his dispair, the composer decides to

commit suicide by overdosing on opium. He doesn't take enough, however, and he proceeds to

have wild visions of himself and his beloved. Berlioz wrote this piece to get the attention of an

Irish actress named Henrietta Smithson that he was in love with who wouldn't have anything to

do with him. The piece so impressed her, that they began seeing each other and eventually had a

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short and tempestuous marriage. Attention to detail is particularly important in this piece and

Berlioz was very particular about his markings.

In the introduction, most of the passages are for tutti woodwinds, and the clarinets are

often in octaves with the flutes. In the main part of the movement at number 11, you have the

main theme of the piece, or idee fixe, in octaves with the flute. This is the theme that represents

the hero's beloved, and it is transformed throughout the piece. It is impossible to play this

passage with too much passion, so pour on the expression. There are sudden and extreme

dynamic changes that need to be done. The sfs before 12 are as sharp as you can make them

without being stung. This is the passion of a young man hopelessly in love.

The Ball opens with our hero moving through a crowd at a dance party. He hears the

music, and sees his beloved at number 26. Here again is the idee fixe. The main solo for the

clarinet is a fragment of the main theme beginning at 35. The rfz should be quite dramatic,

bordered by extreme hairpins up and down. Beginning in measure 11 of the solo, back off of the

dynamic up to the high C, very dolce. Breathe, then come in with the second clarinet dolcissimo

for the final 5 bars of the solo.

"In the country" finds our hero listening to shepherds playing their pipes to each other.

The clarinet's first entrance is very delicate. Stay relatively soft so you give way to the more

interesting lines happening elsewhere. After a while, our hero sees his beloved, and takes her in

his arms. The passage from 41 to 43 is the only depiction of a complete sexual climax that I

know of, the high point being the ff four bars after 42. With that in mind, much of the expression

of the movement comes into focus. In the tender moments of afterglow, the clarinet,

representing our hero, sings a tender love song to his beloved beginning in the third bar of 43.

Start with a real mf, but dolce. This gives you plenty of space for a dramatic, whispered pppp

echo. Berlioz was a master orchestrator, and he knew only the clarinet could achieve such an

echo. The accompaniment is pp pizzicato strings, so play as softly as possible and you will still

be heard. Start the poco f a little softer than you were in the mf. Each of the next three bars is a

gesture, self-contained, and restated more passionately each time. When that figure can no

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longer contain the mounting passion, Berlioz gives us more notes in 3 before 44. Don't be afraid

of big, weighty sfs. 2 before 44 is six individual pulses that lead forward in a terrace effect, like

climbing stairs. The measure before 44 should be at least f at the beginning. The E is definitely

the high point and all of the sixteenth-notes should have much bravado. Diminuendo only to mf

by 44, and from there decay. This solo is usually the only thing heard on auditions from this

piece. Committees want to hear how expressively you can play - you must not be timid or

boring. The restatement that follows is with the other woodwinds. At the end of the movement,

we hear again one shepherd, but the other is not responding - perhaps he is busy with our hero's

beloved. Has she been unfaithful? An approaching storm heralds disaster.

The fourth movement has our hero being lead to the Guillotine, not the Stake, for

murdering his beloved in a jealous rage. The passage at 56 is tricky, but not exposed. Just before

our hero's head is cut off, he has a vision of his beloved in the clarinet solo after 56. Make huge

hairpins - this is the last moment of his life. The downbeat of seven after 56 is the blade of the

Guillotine cutting his head off. The pizzicati that follow represent his head bouncing down the

steps of the platform, followed by the cheers of the crowd.

The fifth movement - A witch's Sabbath - has the first clarinet switching to Eb, but in

modern practice the principal clarinet will play the second part and someone else will play the Eb

part. There are still passages of note for the "first" clarinet in this movement. The story for this

movement is that our dead hero is being haunted in hell by his dead beloved, now a witch.

Measure 21 is a foreshadowing of the arrival of the witches, led by the composer's beloved. This

is a fragment of the idee fixe in distorted rhythm. Play very softly at the beginning. Leave the

hamming to the Eb when they come in with the complete theme. You just have one cresc. - make

it a big one. There are lots of tricky things in the fugues that make up the bulk of the movement,

and being on time is very important. Beginning in 447 is difficult passages that is even on some

principal clarinet auditions. Play the fastest trills you can. The trills that fall on the first note of

the triplets should be played on the beat. Leggiero is the key for the p passage that follows. The

rest is fairly straight forward.

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Johannes Brahms

Primarily a chamber music composer, Brahms only wrote four symphonies (and only 9

other works for orchestra), but all are staples of the repertoire of every orchestra from the

youngest youth symphony to world-class orchestras. While classical in form, the pieces contain

expressive marks on par with Brahms' main rival - Richard Wagner. Rhythmically, Brahms was

decades ahead of his contemporaries. Often a particular line in one voice can be interpreted two

different ways rhythmically, and through much of his work there are different meters in the

music occurring simultaneously. Hemiolas and shifting the meter by one beat in the bar are

favorite techniques of his. It is easy to get lost in some places even when you know the piece

well, so counting is of paramount importance. Sometimes you will have to count the meter

written in your head while you play the meter of the music or phrase through your instrument.

Two general phrasing points to remember about Brahms are: upbeats almost always belong to the

note following them and should be played expressively, and dolce in Brahms is his cue to warm

the sound and play expressively - it is almost as if he uses dolce where other composers use

espressivo.

Symphony No. 1

Brahms took 20 years to write this piece, and went through many revisions before it was

premiered. The first movement is fairly straightforward, and has nothing of real importance for

the clarinet. The second movement is the movement usually asked for on auditions. The big

solo begins in measure 42, and is much easier to play if you use your Bb clarinet and transpose.

Sneak in on the F under the Oboe, and only gradually make the listener aware of your presence

by a cresc. to p that arrives at the end of measure 43. Stretch the first two sixteenth-notes as

much as you can in the tempo (you might want to start them early to give yourself time), and

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when you reach the A continue in tempo. Articulate the repeated notes enough to be heard in the

hall so that they don't sound like syncopated eighths. A little two-note pulse or hairpin will help

this so that you don't have to over articulate. From here you have two options for phrasing the

next two measures: what I will illustrate, or a variation of the exact opposite. Play measure 45

with an expressive hairpin leading to the Ds straddling beat 2 and then back away from the leap

of an augmented 5th. Playing the G# softer than the low notes allows you to stretch them a little

creating the illusion of suspending them in time like a swing reaching its apex. Of course you can

do the opposite and make the large leap the expressive one making the G#s higher in volume.

The same phrasing should be used in measure 46, but trail off at the end of the bar since that will

enable you to start low enough in bar 47 for a huge cresc. Without taking any time, make the

most of every interval in bar 47 - as if your fingers were incased in goo. The cresc. should go all

the way to f with the B as the high point. Transposing this on the Bb makes the awkward skip of

E-C# into the easy Eb-C. As long as you're careful not to spread on the less resistant C you can

make quite a cresc. through this interval. This bar is like a flower unfolding to the sun and should

be as glorious as you can make it. Up until this bar, you've basically been going nowhere as you

hover in static rhythm around a few pitches - make the most of the difference. Bar 48 needs a

graceful dim. down to the resolution on the E. The reason for this solo being chosen over the

larger solo in the third movement is its expression. Show the committee and/or orchestra what

you can do here. In measure 100 you begin an accompaniment figure that should be heard in the

texture of the orchestra. Though marked with dots, these triplets should be played separated, not

short. Don't forget the cresc. Measure 120 is a typical figure that makes Brahms so difficult. It is

easy to psychoanalyze this figure to death, but if you just play exactly the values of notes written,

you will do fine. If you and your colleagues and/or conductor work out a way to slightly distort

the rhythm for music's sake, just make sure you all do it together. This is a particularly good

motive to learn to play expressive, but articulated intervals.

The third movement begins with the clarinet stating all of the primary theme. Play

semplice and as beautifully as possible. Don't get too expressive until the hairpin. In hairpins of

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this type, it is good to remember that it is the latter half of the hairpin where most of the

expression takes place. The first half is merely there to provide you with enough volume to make

an expressive color change and dim. The hairpin up in measure 7 and 8 comes a little early and

works better if you delay it a bit, making the most expression on the first half of measure 9. The

whole woodwind section joins you in measure 11. This is another case of something seeming so

simple that you feel you must make something of it - don't. Just play a beautiful descending

scale without extra pulsing or any rhythmic distortion. Here is one of the rare exceptions where

the sixteenth at the end of the bar does not belong to the note that follows it. Start the scale in bar

13 as a new phrase and do not try to make an expressive connection between them. Adding a

little hairpin up in 16 and down in 17 is a nice touch. Cut the last F short to grab a breath before

letter A. The triplets at A need to cut through the orchestra while still staying p. The notes should

be played the length they are marked - separated legato. Follow the line dynamically for the first

three bars, but continue moving through measure 22 making the C the high point, followed by a

dim. At B comes the first spot in the whole movement for dramatic expression. You are now in

minor mode, and it's up to the clarinet alone to lead the music into a new mood. Sigh, cry, wail,

but make maximum expression, and keep the cresc. up to the last sixteenth note in measure 47.

Letter C is only difficult because of the many quick hairpins that follow. They may seem

awkward, but they are in the right place. Practice making them, and making them work logically

in your mind. D is only awkward because of the rest at the beginning of the triplets. Subdividing

ahead of time will help you be neither early or late. Use only enough articulation to make them

apparent as different notes in the audience. Letter E is a pleasant return, again solo. The triplets

in bar 120-124 should be done with little descending hairpins. Measure 125 should be

expressive and will need to be louder than p to be heard. Make sure the first note is not late, and

is present enough to draw the ear to you right away. 126 is the same simple phrasing as before.

The monumental last movement has very little for the clarinet, but there are some pitfalls.

Count like a demon in the Adagio introduction, as it is easy to get lost. There are some balance

problems in this movement in particular, especially where you have sixteenth notes in the

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Allegro. While Brahms' orchestras were not so small as Beethoven's, they were not as large as

what we have today. Doublers are not a bad idea when you can get them, and if you feel you're

line should come through in a tutti f but isn't - play as strongly as you can.

Symphony No. 2

This symphony has very little for the clarinet and is on few auditions. What it does have

is many clear examples of Brahms' tricky rhythms. In the first movement at letter E the first note

should sound like a pickup and the second note as a down beat of a 5/4 bar with another pickup

at the end of it, then you're back in 3 for two bars. After that he shifts the 3/4 by one beat in 124

and 125 with an extension in 126 to get you cadencing the music with the meter in 127. This

kind of metric shifting, and music in meters not given in the time signature happen all of the time

in Brahms, and can make for some tricky counting. One easy place to get lost it in the

accompaniment figure the clarinets have starting in bar 135. While the figure is hard enough to

play correctly and for that long, the real problem is keeping count in 3/4 while around you

motives are happening in shifted 3/4, 2/4, and 4/4. Pick some landmarks in the music to listen

for, count like a demon, or even beat your body in a small 3/4 pattern to stay on track. If you can

divide your mind into several sections, you'll be able to count and listen to the music around you

without getting lost.

The second movement is more of the same with rhythmic shifts and 2 on 3 everywhere.

There is one small clarinet duet starting in the second bar of letter B. Play it as if it were made up

of dotted-quarters on the beat - do NOT accent the beats of the meter here (the quarters that are

tied into). At the very end of the movement the clarinet has a bar alone. Cresc. through the third-

to-last bar and really stress the C# in the penultimate bar, then back away towards the D.

The third movement is a brilliant example of rhythmic variation, but set in a menuet/trio

form. The big part is for the Oboe and you must support them with a soft tone. The accents in

this piece are of paramount importance. The accents at the beginning are merely to show that you

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should move to the third beat in those bars and stress the quarter. The accents in the prestos,

however, are quite sharp and should be extreme without being gross.

The last movement, like most of the others is made up of woodwind textures that involve

lots of octave doublings for the Clarinet, and only one real solo. 5 measures after B on the

second beat of the bar, most of the orchestra drops out and the ones who are left are subito p.

You should remain f and sail over the orchestra. Take the hairpin down with a grain of salt - only

use it to get a little softer so that you may make a big hairpin up in the bar with the eighth-notes.

After you reach the Eb, give way to the second clarinet a bit as they answer you with a

descending arpeggio. Letter E is marked solo, but it is soli for most of the wind section. It is cute

and meanders. Follow the line up and down for dynamic nuance. I is not a solo, but is an

interesting rhythmic effect. It is a hemiola as if the pulse were 3 to a bar - do not accent the half-

bar beat here. Measure 216 is with the bassoon and is easier to enter if you play your C# on the

side. Don't be late off your ties. 255 is again cute - play with little accents for that bar, and in the

next be very quick jumping down the 10th, but don't rush after you've made it.

Symphony No. 3

On virtually every clarinet audition, the F major Symphony of Brahms is packed with

juicy clarinet solos and rhythmic trickiness. Beginning at letter B in the first movement is a

passage often heard on auditions. Leading the woodwinds, the clarinet must play expressive

hairpins within an overall cresc., and the subito p in measure 26. Add a little push beyond the

long hairpin going into bar 25, and again a little push towards the second C#. The true solo

begins on the G at the end of measure 25, and should be where the subito p is played. However,

this is where you need to project even more. In the orchestra the problem is easily solved by

playing approximately the same dynamic, and in an audition you don't have anyone to project

over - so you can play a real subito p. Bar 26 can be a simple hairpin up and down, but it is

much nicer if you make something of the high notes. A nice thing to do is sort of a loop in your

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phrasing where you back off a little in volume just at the high end as you slow down ever so

slightly. This is like a roller coaster that slows down as it reaches the top of it's loop and seems to

hover before it falls back down. This is, of course, a move that happens in the blink of an eye,

and is subtle; but it will be apparent, and make the moment quite special. Slurring the entire bar

is often done, which makes the line smoother. You may play your high Eb with Thumb - Register

Key and throat A key if it's not too flat - this keeps everything in the same partial. The next four

bars are at accompaniment dynamics, and there is a soli in measure 32 which usually has a

placed sixth beat and downbeat of bar 33. Then quickly switch to your A clarinet for the major

solo of the movement.

The A solo is ambiguously marked mezzo voce, grazioso, and 9/4 time. Use an easy,

almost mellow tone without pressure, and have a moderate dance feeling. Make your

articulations light so that they don't wreck the line. Some people even slur from the second beat

in bar 36 to the first beat in bar 37, where the first sub-phrase break is. The same pattern can be

done in measure 37, slurring from the second note to the bar-line. Phrasing in the first bar is nice

if you drive gracefully to the E, hang suspended for a tiny moment, backing away through the

eighth-notes down to the A in bar 37. Start the second beat of 37 with a tiny rf, and drive the

same way, but keep moving through the eighth notes rising above p before you make the subito

pp. Still within the new dynamic, stress the A and back away to the G, and follow the pattern as

before, mimicking bar 36. Measure 39 begins with an extension-development of the eighth-note

cell in a hemiola. This means the beats of the music in measure 39 are three half notes followed

by a dotted half note. Make an expressive hairpin through the quarter-notes. The first four

measure phrase ends with the downbeat of bar 40 and you rise back to p on the start of the new

phrase on the second beat. Separating this phrase with a breath if you need it is OK, but be sure

not to connect them in any case. With the new phrase, the woodwinds join you for two bars.

Measure 41 has the same musical-rhythmic pattern as measure 39. Stress the F at the end of the

bar and back away to the coming pp. The dynamic quandary in measure 42 can be solved as it

was in measure 26, depending on your performance situation. If you like, you may structure the

44

rhythm as follows in this bar: dotted-half, dotted-quarter, dotted-quarter, dotted-half. Some of

the enduring beauty of Brahms is his rhythmic ambiguity. This measure is equally beautiful with

a plain 3 pulse. 43 has a clear hemiola at the beginning, however, and a slightly delayed

placement of the separated notes that form the cadence at the end of the bar. C is an Oboe solo

that you answer exactly in the following bar. The rhythmic structure of measure 45 and 46 are a

dotted-quarter note followed by a hemiola. Attacking the high D is easier if you prepare

mentally and physically in the bar before and play p, not pp. Just play simply and it will be

beautiful. The separated quarter notes of bar 46 (in hemiola) are usually done with a small rit.

It is here that most auditions leave the first movement.

The music is back in 2 by measure 49, but by the time the clarinet comes back in, the

pulse has been shifted by a quarter note with the phrased downbeat feeling coming on 3 and 6 of

each bar. The pulse narrows to a half-note in length two bars before D, and is again shifted by the

end of bar 60. This kind of rhythmic trickiness continues, and is easy to spot with a little

attention to the part and the music around you. The next big solo, again on A clarinet, is a re-cap

of the second theme, starting at bar 149. The main differences start in bar 152 with the snap

rhythm on the 7th quarter-note. Play it exactly as it's marked: quickly and short - anything else

would be clumsy. Brighten the mood as you play the new phrase in measure 153 and make a

smooth ascent to the E without taking time. Half-holing the E may help you here. Drop your

dynamic during the long tone in 154 and play the rest as before. This solo is sometimes asked on

auditions too.

A difficult tutti passage that is on some auditions begins in measure 173. Remember the

pulse has been shifted back a quarter-note. The missing beat is recovered in measure 177. Try to

play ff without screeching in the high register, and be as smooth as possible. I prefer to play my

high G like an overblown B above the staff to stay in the same partial - just make sure you're not

flat. You may stretch very slightly around the high G to make it nice, but only in auditions.

Whatever the conductor wants in the orchestra is what you give him/her. When heard, this

passage usually stops in bar 178.

45

The first 23 bars of the second movement are a clarinet solo, and encompass the entire

main theme. It is marked Andante, not Adagio, and should be nearly 80 to the quarter. Though it

has been done as slow as 60, that is no longer the fashion. Listen to many different recordings to

pick your tempo. Make sure you project over the string without rising above p. There is the

seemingly contradictory marking of espressivo semplice. You can do much with nuance on a

small level and make the big moments big without contradicting either of those markings.

Articulation should be very slight, but there. Do not let it wreck the line. There are also many

instances of one note being both the end of one phrase (or sub-phrase) and the beginning of

another. The first bar is such a case. The first four notes are very simple and just an

embellishment of the D. The A, however, is both the end of the complete motivic cell of the first

measure and the beginning of the A-B alteration. There are many gradations of interpretation that

can be done with the A: It clearly belongs to the notes before it (and is even under the same slur)

and you can play it just that way; it also clearly belongs to the notes after it and you can play it

that way; alternatively, you can make a very quick and subtle phrase-direction change during the

A merely by switching the way you think about it while you're playing it. In any case, there

should certainly be a small hairpin down when you descend from the D to the A. The A-B

alteration is again semplice and the A at the end of bar 2 is again part of two sub-phrases. After

you approach it like just another of the alternations, you then should lead with it through the

eighth-notes toward the next bar. The down beat of bar 3 is again part of the descending eighths

before it and part of the cell that follows. Bar 3 has another of Brahms' rhythms that can be

psychoanalyzed to death. I believe it sounds good if each of the dotted-eighth/sixteenth cells is

done with ascending terraced dynamics. Also put a subtle stress accent on the eighth and/or dip

at the end of it. This created tiny nuance loops leading as you terrace up to the E. The E should

be played with the hairpin down leading to a very soft D, and can be done creating another small

loop at the end. The D should be wistful in it's dolce expression. It is important for the

architecture of the whole solo that you set up this kind of a resolution now to match the more

expressive ones later.

46

Measure 5 is like measure 1 except the A leads a lot more to the next bar and you should

make the 6th very expressive and rise to the top limit of p by the time you get to the F#. This

enables you to fall off with the nice hairpin, especially on the descending 5th. Given the pitches

and articulation in bar 6 it is clear there is a phrase break between the 3rd and 4th beats. Bar 7

must be more expressive than bar 3 so that you can pull back further on the hairpin down,

because bar 8 is a deceptive cadence requiring even more bittersweetness. Measures 9 and 10

are like 5 and 6 only even more expressive because of the octave leap now and the additional

note in bar 10. A clear sub-phrase break exists before the dotted eighth/sixteenth cell which is

developed in bar 11. Play the second one with a mood and color echo, and try to avoid the

cheaper idea of a dynamic echo. Measure 12 are the biggest hairpins of the solo, rising above p

and again resolving to a deceptive cadence. The oboe takes over for two very beautiful measures,

and letter A should be played simply for two measures. When you descend the 5th at the end of

bar 16, go all the way down to a colorless, sotto voce pp. You can be very soft in an audition, but

make sure you still project (without pressure) in the orchestra. These 8 beats are to be done

without expression at all. This contrast makes all the other expression seem more meaningful.

You may also think of these eight notes as two shifted 4/4 bars. Immediately rise back to p in

dynamic with color and expression at the end of bar 18. A moderate sized hairpin is now

appropriate - remember you're setting up the expression in bar 21 here. The pickups to 21 should

be healthy and signal right away that this is the final end of the solo (and the first complete

cadence). A big hairpin up, hanging suspended on the F# with a little hairpin down, and more

hairpin down to the cadence closes out the solo nicely.

None of the other solos from this movement are on auditions, but there is plenty left for

the solo clarinet in this piece. Letter C is a solo to be played mysterioso. Place the eighth-notes in

measure 42 slightly, and move the down hairpin in bar 44 to the last beat of the bar, driving to it.

You may do a little rit. at the end of 54 after your ornament. The final statement of the main

theme is for you alone again. Measure 122 starts a long chain of cells connected by notes

belonging both to the phrases before and after them. Turn the direction of the note around with

47

little swells down then up, and make a lot of expression in the augmentation bar 127. You should

be able to go until the first beat of 129 without a breath, and you can take one there. If you can't,

sneak a little one at the end of 126. There is a little lift after the first beat of 130, and the

woodwinds join you for the rest of the bar.

The clarinet has some lovely counter-melodies to the main theme in the third movement,

the first being at letter B and led into by a clarinet duet. Make sure to take the same dynamic and

tempo the second gives you, so that you sound like one. Let the high D evaporate naturally. At

B, have a little pulse on your syncopations and lead up to the high note, then fall away on the

sixteenth-notes. This passage is very expressive. After G you have another dramatic

counterpoint. The sixteenth-note after the tie should not be rushed and is the most expressive

note, a slight stretching of it is good, but steal time from the other notes or the whole passage

will drag. Make the most expression of the wide intervals. 130 should be a little calmer and

softer, while 132 is more expressive. After that, follow the line dynamically. Make a little break

before the pickups to 136 and play these four notes very expressively. The notes that follow

should be more emotional echo than dynamic, but do play slightly softer too.

The last movement begins with strings playing sotto voce, flautando, and very smooth.

When you take over the theme, do the same. The accents at the end of the passage are very

quick pressure accents, like the sob of a jilted lover. Do not be harsh with them. The pickup to

34 can be played in the above mentioned 3rd partial fingering for an easier entrance if it's not too

flat. Just be sure to be pp, and not late! A huge cresc. follows. There are some tricky technical

things in the tutti passages, but the rest is self-evident.

Symphony No. 4

The fourth symphony has much for the clarinets to do, and is on many first and second

clarinet auditions. The texture of the first movement is expressive but thin enough that the

clarinets are heard quite often in the woodwind passages. Be legato at letter A. Play the second

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theme boldly and marcato (which does not mean short), four bars before C. The only passage

ever asked on auditions from this movement is after letter H, and only because it is so awkward.

It is with other woodwinds in unison and octaves. Play with a colorless sotto voce tone, and if

you slur from the third bar of the solo to the fourth, it will be easier. The only lengthy exposed

passage for clarinets is the duet 14 after I. This is part of a long transitional dim., but is generally

very simple. Before letter O is a duet with the flute straight out of the first symphony, third

movement. Play in a similar fashion.

The second movement finds the clarinets again stating the entire theme. Some auditions

go all the way to letter B, but it is more common to stop before letter A. Sneak in on your

entrance. By the first full bar it is just the clarinets and pizz. strings. The strings have the true

rhythm of the motive, while the clarinets are sustained. It has been suggested that the clarinets

are not the melody, but merely a sustained color to fill in the pizz. I do not believe this is so,

mostly based on what follows, but be prepared for the conductor to want you quite pp. In any

case, you should have no trouble projecting at pp in either an audition or over pizz. strings.

Legato is good advice from Brahms. As before, be exact with your rhythm. Play quite simply,

but make warm expression out of the change to the flat chord by moving towards the F-natural

and away from it. Don't go above pp while you do it though. Play the pickups to measure 9 of

the movement and the downbeat as a self-contained gesture. Repeat the same way right away,

but after you arrive on the A, you may then start moving the direction of the phrasing forward.

This is again changing phrase direction on only one note. Make a little separation between the C

and E in bar 10, and wherever this sub-phrase break occurs in the piece. Starting in bar 11 you

have three motivic steps to the climax on the F# in 12. At the climax, make most of your mood

change on the long note, leaving a little nuance only for the last three notes. Letter A is f and

must be bold. It is still a solo with occasional woodwind doublings. Your chief problem here is

projection. You may mask your breaths by steeling them from the ends of the long notes, while

others are still playing. It is easy to rush this passage in an audition, if only because you need the

air to finish, but stay steady. Five after A begins a long solo and dim. with nowhere to breath. Be

49

ready, be steady and pace your dim. well. Highlight a little the rhythmic shift, to a pulse to every

three notes now, without destroying the line. When you reach the pp, you are now subservient to

the horn solo. The next few bars have the two of you weaving in and out of the string pizz.

texture. Four before B has a repeat of the end of the first phrase. This one is bigger because of

the added notes, and the marking of f at the climax. Also, there is once again a motive that can

be done one of two ways or a combination. The repeated As in four before B can be separated to

delineate the sub-phrases, played legato to indicate them as a unit moving forward, or some

combination of the two. It is up to you. Again, the D before letter B can be used to make most of

the remaining dynamic and mood change.

There are a few little solos and solis before the big one at letter F. Of note is the one in

octaves with the flute at 14 after C. Tuning beforehand may be prudent. D is a nice counterpoint,

but don't distract too much from the main line. After F, you again have a long dim. to lead, but

this time only from p down. Start with big p and you'll have more to work with. Then you begin

the sequence back up. I prefer to play the first three notes dolce and put a lot of legato and

expression into the last three stepwise notes. After the break, play dolce, and save the espressivo

for the hairpinned arpeggio. Save some dim. for the last three notes (B, A, G)

The third movement is the only orchestral example of a true Scherzo by Brahms. Quick

with sudden changes and fast runs, the movement is interesting and should be studied. There is

nothing of particular importance to the clarinets though, as is the case with the last movement.

The last movement has a woodwind passage right after the opening that begins with

unison clarinet and oboe. Here the pulse has been shifted a quarter-note so that the second beat

sounds like the down beat. Letter B is awkward, but is also in unison with the sustained notes

through which the clarinet moves. The movement should be quite self-evident to you after all

the Brahms you've studied up to this point.

Giuseppe Verdi - La Forza del Destino Overture

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Verdi's Opera's are considered among the finest ever composed, and are still popular. The

overtures appear occasionally in concert performances as well. "La Forza del Destino" is, like

much of Verdi, extremely tragic. There are two major clarinet solos in the Overture. The first

begins at Andantino (sometimes letter B). Here the clarinet is quite alone and can play with

much rubato. It is important to highlight the architecture of the solo: three sub-phrases moving

towards the seventh bar of the solo, then going away followed by a more intense repeat. I

recommend playing the first one simply, as if you were distracted by something on your mind

while talking to a friend. In the second cell, start to get more expressive. Make the third cell the

most expressive and put a lot of weight on the note with the "hat" accent on it. This is not a sharp

accent, but one to put maximum expression, weight, and tension on that note. When you hit the

G in the next bar, use it alone to change all of the mood and dynamic back to distracted regret

and p. The second phrase is done in a similar fashion, but with a bigger climax. In the last cell,

play very softly and with a huge rit. and dim. on the last four notes. Fade out to nothing at the

end of the final bar, but do not make your last note sound like the end. The end is the note that is

missing - make that apparent to the listener.

The second big solo, and the more common one on auditions is at the Allegro brilliante

(sometimes letter G). It is quite fast, with a half-note equal to approximately 84-92. This is the

one moment of hope in the piece and represents the young woman who will inevitably die. The

expressions happen very fast and must be quite large. The accent in the third bar of this solo

needs to be sudden. Play all the hairpins as they are, though some look strange. Breath every

chance you get, because your last breath will be in bar 8. If you need another, take it quickly

between the octave Bs. Do not take a breath in bar 12, and make the hairpin big. The high D two

bars before the end of the solo should be at ff, but the end back to p. Make all of the eighth-note

pickups metrically accurate, but un-accented. This is very different from Brahms, and accenting

of pickups will only destroy the line.

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Smetana - Overture to the Bartered Bride

A good exercise in transposing, articulation and pentatonic scales is this overture. It is

very fast, up to 168 to the quarter, though 152 is more common. Add two note slurs wherever

you need them to keep up with the orchestra. In an audition, you should play as fast as you can

articulate everything, unless that is slower than 144. In that case, add some slurs. There is really

only one tiny solo, but you may be asked any of the woodwind tutti parts, most of which center

around the same sort of passage as found at the beginning of the piece. The solo, after letter B,

can usually be played faster without slurs than the tutti passages. Play big hairpins and sharp

accents. In the orchestra, make sure you project and don't slow down.

Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 9 (From the New World)

Largely based on American Indain and Negro Spiritual songs, the New World Symphony

remains Dvorak's most popular work in America. While there are lots of little solos and long

passages for woodwinds, there is little in the first movement that bears discussion here. Bar 19

in the second movement is the first of four times you will play the last fragment of the main

theme. Be wistful and nostalgic, as you are often just the recollection of the complete theme.

The accompaniment figure at number 3 must be very smooth and facile. The passage after

number 4 is awkward and exposed for two clarinets. It is quite a workout for your left wrist. Do

not clip the triplets before the rest more than is metrically correct. The fourth bar after 4 is

unimportant, but you need to project in the fifth bar.

Most auditions will only include the high solo from the Trio of the third movement.

Intonation is very important here, and you are in octaves with the second clarinet. Sometimes the

second part will appear on second clarinet auditions to be played with the principal. Don't play

as if you are afraid of the passage. Try to float. Don't try to play too softly. Cresc. through the

52

first D and fall through the triplets. It is a common mistake to rush the following eighth-notes -

be careful. Fade nicely to p at the end of the duet. The passage after 5 is tricky and requires

attention beforehand.

Seven measures after 2 in the last movement is an awkward passage that while in a tutti,

is quite audible. The big solo for the clarinet starts before number 3, but oddly, is only on a few

auditions. You must soar above the orchestra until number 4, with wide fluctuations in

dynamics. Make as much contrast as you can without being covered. Again, in an audition you

may play real pianos. Follow Dvorak's markings well, and you will be fine. There is a another

big solo 19 measures after 9 full of expression. 15 after 12, the clarinets have a duet recalling the

main theme of the movement. Make a huge dim. and fade out completely at the end.

Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4

While not as common as the 5th and 6th symphony on auditions, the 4th is played a lot

and has some nice passages for the clarinet. The introduction to the first movement ends with the

Bassoon and Clarinet in octaves transforming the opening theme into the main motive of the first

movement. Playing in tune is of course important, and you'll want to go over this with the

Bassoonist in advance, but also pay careful attention to the balance. The Bassoon should

dominate, and the clarinet be like an overtone. The Bassoon will also determine how much dim.

to do since they cannot usually play as softly as clarinets can. Play the last two notes like a sigh.

The main part of the movement begins with a string phrase repeated by the woodwinds with the

clarinet and flute on the melody line. The rhythmic pulse of the music is not the standard 9/8,

but more like 3/4 + 3/8, and should be played in 4 with the pulse equal to quarter, quarter,

quarter, dotted-quarter. Later, Tchaikovsky builds very complex rhythmic counterpoint from this.

Stravinsky's rhythms in "Le Sacre du Printemps" were influenced by this movement.

Throughout the transition, you have many little solos interspersed with the other woodwinds,

such as 11 after A. Keep the rhythm of the music in mind, and really go for the end of the solo

53

with your cresc. A big solo at the end of the transition to the second theme starts with the pickup

to letter E. You may have to delay the pickup a bit while the noise of the whole orchestra ff clears

the hall. The conductor will usually indicate how much delay to you. The third bar after E

should be a little different from the first. There is now an accent on the Bb and I like to make

more cresc. to it and make a lot of the hemiola here. The clarinet starts the second theme with its

pickups to Moderato assai, quasi andantino. Most conductors like to slow the rit. that precedes

it to slower than the Moderato tempo. If this is the case, you can make nice juicy rit. into the

Moderato and then snap immediately back into the new tempo. Do not bounce on the

32nd/dotted 16th rhythm, but try to separate the cells a bit - it shouldn't be completely legato.

The separation also allows you to make little color changes and nuance with every two-note cell

if you want. Lead into the first Db, then back down to the Bb. The first two Bbs should be

backed away from, the third leads to the short 32nd-note run, which is played with a small stress

and tenuto on the first of the five notes. Do the same in the repeat, and the six 32nd-notes are

almost always faster than you think they are. Subdivide, play quickly and smoothly, and you'll be

get to the Eb on time. After the key change, you are on the top of the woodwinds leading the

cresc. and mood changes back to the new tempo. Don't let yourself be covered, but also

remember you have a long way to go and the first 11 bars of this cresc. are only from pp to p.

In the development you can see the shifted pulse and all the interesting rhythms derived

from the 3/4 + 3/8 meter. The second and fourth bars of M are the usual pattern reversed - now

3/8 + 3/4. After Q things get very confused and in the 10th bar the strings have a number of

quarter-note pulses in a row. It is probably best to ignore them the first time through, or you may

enter early in the 11th bar ff. After you've heard it a few times it will sound clearer to you. The

rest of the movement is the same, except for the coda beginning at V. You are in octaves with the

flute, and have to play loud enough to be heard over a thick accompaniment. If you can play this

phrase in one breath - do. Otherwise, work out with the flute player where to breath.

54

The second movement has a clarinet descant in bar 22, and a woodwind soli after B. Play

the notes after B separate, but not bouncy. The phrase is long and the direction unwaveringly

forward until the final bar. Within that, you should make some nuance to show the smaller cells.

The first cell is the first four notes, and after the note on each beat the notes that follow lead to

the next beat. Contour the dynamics with the line, except for the last bar which should be a

down hairpin as the line evaporates chromatically upwards. The clarinets lead the piu mosso

section in unison, and can be rustic and a dance-like. The little solos that occur immediately after

the Tempo I are reminiscent of the little solos in the secondary theme of the first movement and

should be played similarly. It is easy to get lost here, so count carefully. 15 bars after that

section, the clarinet has a proper solo. Play a healthy mf. Each entrance comes with more

expression, volume and agitation than the last, leading to the final Abs. Do not slow down too

much on them, as the Oboe continues the line for you. The same can be said for the end of the

movement: You are alone pp at the end, but the Bassoon has the final say, and he must be able to

be more expressive than you. Play simply and resigned - no fancy rubato here.

The third movement is the only thing that is ever asked for at auditions. E is awkward for

2 bars, and there is really no way around it other than practicing. F is very fast - as much as 168

to the quarter. Though you are tempted, do not play the 32nds early, or accented, or stretched.

The accent must fall where it's marked, and the notes must be in perfect time or they will sound

sloppy. Don't forget the dim. to p and to restart the second phrase mf. The last movement has a

lot of technical tutti passages and not much for solo clarinet.

Symphony No. 5

The opening of Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony is for two unison clarinets accompanied by

the strings. Consequently it is on many principal clarinet auditions and every second clarinet

audition - where it is usually played in the final round with the principal clarinettist. If you are

auditioning for second clarinet and are playing this with the first clarinettist, disregard everything

55

I recommend for phrasing and follow the other player. If you're playing alone at an audition for

either position there are some things you need to do. This passage is very well marked with

dynamic changes and expressions. If you follow them all exactly, you will do well. Throughout

the whole duet try to think of the expansiveness of Russia, and a barren Siberian plain. This will

help you get into the proper depressed state of mind this passage calls for. Other good depressing

things that could be relevant are: unrequited love, sparse landscapes, winter, or exhausted serfs

marching. The opening motive is very important to be played rhythmically correctly. There is

little room for rubato in this passage and the relentlessness of the rhythm is in part how the

proper mood is achieved. The mf at the end of bar 6 is subito (after falling to p at the end of the

Bb), as are all related places. Imagine playing the cresc. in measure 10 through the entire bar. A

little rubato is allowed beginning in the pickup to the second bar before A. You may stretch the

pickup a little and fall away from it. Play the last sixteenth notes a little slower. This is where all

hope should drain from your expression and the passage at A be played without any hope at all -

in a much harder emotional atmosphere. The sfs that follow are very big pressure accents that

have long and large decays. Play with absolutely no expression on the last C-D figure. In the

Allegro, the hairpins are a source of major expression - make the most of them emotionally as

well as dynamically. You are the main voice in the 15th bar of G, and should play brightly and

bell-like.

At letter A in the second movement, you have a counter-melody accompaniment to the

horn. The big solo for you is before D. Be very expressive. Play nine notes where indicated -

you may stretch the beginning if you like. It is common practice to play the last bar of the solo as

an echo of the penultimate bar. The contrast has been as much as from f to pp, though no such

dynamic marking exists in the score. This echo is OK, but a better idea is to make a big

emotional echo with a smaller dynamic echo. This solo is also sometimes on auditions. There is

another counter-melody for the clarinet at G. The movement ends with a clarinet solo that you

can start as softly as you want. The last figure should be one of resignation.

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A beautiful waltz is the third movement with the clarinet having the theme alone before

letter B. Try not to go flat in your effort to project in the low register. Be sure to play the faster

figures in time, it is easy to get off. The last movement has very little that is important for the

clarinet.

Symphony No. 6

An audition favorite, the Tchaikovsky's sixth symphony has much for the clarinet. The

first difficult part, and one that is sometimes on auditions, begins 5 bars after B. In the orchestra,

it is easier to play this because you don't really need a true pp. You can play as loud as p and still

sound soft over the rest of the orchestra. It is more important to be on time than it is to try to

make a very high note on the clarinet sound "dark". If you prepare yourself mentally, you should

have no trouble coming in on time with a good attack. Play the notes as shortly as you can. In an

audition it is pure torture play this entrance out of the blue. Here mental imagery goes a long way

to preparing the proper attack. At an audition, you must be pp, and make the difference between

pp and p. Fortunately, the hairpins up start right away, so you don't have to remain soft for long.

The hairpins should be quite large and expressive. Three measures before E begins a counter

melody in the woodwinds, and the clarinets are prominent. I have seen this passage (up to the

Andante 12/8) on at least one audition. The first big clarinet solo begins in the eighth bar after G.

Again Tchaikovsky is very specific about his markings and if you follow them you will do fine.

Play extremely legato intervals, and with a very sweet sound. Work out with the bassoonist

ahead of time how softly you will be at the end of your solo when you hand off to them. Do not

play lower than they can go. You may add a little hairpin up on the last four notes if you like, but

I prefer not to. This passage is almost never on auditions. 10 after M is a technical passage that is

not solo, but it appears on some auditions anyway. T is the solo that is always heard at auditions.

Stretching the first note (ppp!) is a good idea, and can be accomplished better by coming in a

little early rather than by distorting the rhythm too much. You begin this solo alone, and can be

57

somewhat free throughout. The fifth bar of T is slightly faster, and has a question/answer phrase.

Play the answer a little slower, more sweetly, and a little softer. Dolcissimo is the key word here,

and following his explicit dynamics are very important. The rit. in the seventh bar of T continues

until the Andante. The quasi adagio bar is quite slow, as is the sixteenth-note at the end of the

bar.

The second movement is a waltz in 5/4 with little exposed for the clarinet. It is easy to get

lost on the long notes at first, so count carefully. The third movement begins with notes to be

played as shortly as you can. The clarinets lead the new theme at H. Play short notes and quick

grace-notes. Follow the dynamics exactly in the bar before I, getting very loud by the third beat,

but not spreading or going out of tune. The rest of the movement is self-explanatory and fun,

and there is nothing important for the clarinets in the last movement.

Suite No. 3 "Mozartiana"

The Mozartiana suite contains a very difficult clarinet cadenza for the C clarinet in the

10th variation of the fourth movement. While it is of course preferable to play this on the C

clarinet, transposed on the Bb clarinet it becomes a very difficult A major. It is often done on the

A clarinet, and may be easier for you that way. This is a very good imitation of a classical

cadenza, and you should be as virtuosic as you can. I encourage you to put your own ideas into

the cadenza, but I will now tell you what is common. Start a little slowly and play each tiny unit

a little faster than before. When you hit the running sixteenth-notes, pause just a tiny bit and

accel. to the triplets. From there, stretch the beats ever so slightly and start another accel. from

slow. Get very fast by the time you reach the D and fall down to the low register. From here,

make another accel., getting very fast. Play each two-note group as a step unto itself, but also

within the line. Play the whole thing as cutely as possible. The end should come with a short

fermata on the C and a very broad ritenuto from there to the other holds. Very rarely will the

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first variation be asked on auditions, and only because it is so awkward. Usually, just the cadenza

is requested.

Francesca di Rimini Overture

A lot of tutti technical passages border the big clarinet solo in this piece. It is good to

know them, though they are rarely on auditions. The fast parts are very tempestuous, mirroring

the lovers passion, and the state in which Dante found them in hell - being blown forever in a

hurricane-force wind. The big solo begins 9 bars before the Andante cantabile section, and has a

page turn right in the middle of it. Make a photo copy. Though marked mf, start in a slightly

lower dynamic state, and in a much lower emotional state. You are like a flower unfolding and

reaching towards the sun. The initial cresc. drives toward the Eb four bars before Andante. From

there, you have the contradictory dim. e. rall. followed by a hairpin up. Fortunately, you also

have ad libitum written, which gives you considerable freedom. You are basically the only thing

happening before Andante, and can play freely. The syncopations should be played with a slight

pulsing accent. I think it is preferable to dim. away from the Eb down to a very focused pp, and

grow dynamically as you lead in the last few notes toward the Andante. The pickup to the

Andante should be in the new tempo and lead to the G. This p is full. Breathe your first breath in

seven bars after the B half-note, and play quite a large piu f to give you lots of room to dim. If

you need another breath, the best place is after the third beat of the fifth bar of the Andante. The

p is not subito, but the arrival of the dim. The pp, however, is subito, and an excellent place for

an emotional echo. You can play as softly as you want here, and the more decay and softer - the

better.

second year:Alexander Borodin - Polovetsian DancesNiccolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Capriccio Espagnol

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Suite from Le Coq d'OrScheherezade

Richard Strauss - Till EulenspigelDon Juan

Paul Dukas -The Sorcerer's ApprenticeSergei Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 2Orotino Resphigi - The Pines of RomeJean Sibelius - Symphony No. 1Igor Stravinsky - Suite from The Firebird (1919)

PetroushkaL'Historie du Soldat

Maurice Ravel - Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2Debussy - Nocturns

Afternoon of a FaunSergei Prokoviev - Peter and the WolfDimitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 1

Symphony No. 5Symphony No. 9

Zoltan Kodaly - The Dances of GalantaGeorge Gershwin - Rhapsodie in BlueBela Bartok - The Miraculous MandarinAlberto Ginastera - Variations Concertantes

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