Singing the Blues

Something about Fridays brings a sigh of relief. It doesn’t matter if you’ve had a busy week or an easy week, there’s just a noticeable shift in mood. For me, there was a lot going on this week, so it feels good to be Friday.

The week started with the clarinet audition prelims and , both in one day. Tuesday we were out the door for the White House bright and early, and Wednesday we began to cycle through the three programs for the first half of tour. It was Friday, so it must be Blue.

I arrived earlier than usual today, because not only did we have muster and a promotion ceremony, the Blue folder (C program) contains some of the more technically and mentally demanding music for me.

The Aegean Festival Overture demands fierce concentration with the mixed meters, intricate dovetailing, and uneven manuscript. I have some nice solo sections, but my part looks like a Geometry project with all the lines and triangles drawn in to aid in deciphering the manuscript in the more intricate mixed meter sections.

Thankfully, the Colonel put some cuts in the Carnevale di Venezia. I enjoy many of the variations, but one can have too much of a good thing. The soloists all shine in this piece, and I get to enjoy some quirky little piccolo snippets. Betsy and I share a duet variation that would earn me a pretty penny if I was paid by the note.

We read a new piece by John Williams, For New York (A Tribute to Leonard Bernstein). Little bits and pieces of Bernstein favorites crop up when you least expect them. I think this is one I will need to analyze further. Maybe it will grow on me.

Hammersmith is more than standard repertoire, it is almost required repertoire. People love it, people hate it, people have played it more than they care to count, and for some it is a new and unusual piece. I usually mark my parts with each date or tour it was performed – this is one I stopped noting long ago. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy it; I do, actually, even though it is fraught with all sorts of opportunities for disaster. Maybe that’s why I like it. The opening of the piece is dark and otherworld-ly, and then suddenly the piccolo enters as though playing in a parallel universe. (I always wonder if the audience thinks I’m on the wrong page.) The final Poco Adagio has a very twisty little piccolo solo that is a fingering nightmare, but a good challenge all the same. There’s a reason we put Hammersmith on nearly every flute audition.

The best part of El Salon Mexico is the last twelve bars – G Major arpeggios up to a high B, the second highest note in my “practical” range. Guaranteed to deafen anyone within reach, but oh, so much fun to pop out.

Sara is singing the Harold Arlen Songbook, with tunes like Get Happy, Blues in the Night, and Lose That Long Face. They are perfect for her voice and range, and she’ll have the audience in the palm of her hand every time she sings them. Her encore is Over the Rainbow, and she gets my Kansan Seal of Approval.

Clipboard Report: Trox tells me only 3/8ths of the Tour Band has signed up for a seat after three days with The Clipboard in circulation. People do take their seat selection seriously.