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Four Miniatures for 'Beginner' Clarinet (2016)
PREMIERE November 4, 2016 at Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX DURATION 7' |
PROGRAM NOTES
“Four Miniatures for ‘Beginner’ Clarinet” is intended to be a light-hearted nostalgic piece reminiscent of my time as a beginner clarinet player. Although the piece itself is not intended to be played by a beginning student, it follows the path they would take while learning the instrument by starting only on the mouthpiece and barrel, adding the upper joint, and then playing on the entire clarinet. The third movement, for which I remove the barrel and upper joint and play on only the mouthpiece and lower joint, is meant as a whimsical reference to the creativity some of my classmates (and now students) had when putting the clarinet together. The music itself draws from clarinet warmups, changes made with the embouchure, finding out what happens when you push different keys, and the inevitable squeaks.