solo

Rossini

Clarinet soloA few years ago, probably the last time I played thru a top-tier piece, I was alone on the local hs stage using Smart-accompaniment on a laptop and audio recording via phone…. I was probably preparing to assign it as I had made cuts for solo festival limits. I did flub the final 38-note run up to that high Ab (couldn’t hold onto it)…. but the rest of the 7-pages went well and fast, phone audio microphone considered.

Anyway… I recently shared the online link for someone to listen for some of the things we’re working on … (scales, arpeggios, chromatics, articulation, ornaments, etc). Told the parental I was going to look for the music. FOUND IT, well Joan did. No, not going to assign (yet), but do intend to use it for the above-mentioned fundamentals.

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Solo Contest Checklist

ratingI prepared this list for one of my woodwind students and modified it some to include other instruments. There are links within this article to other articles I’ve written about literature selection, accompanists and the judging scoresheet categories.

Pre-performance

The basics. Music, instrument. People have forgotten both.

Solo Part – ORIGINAL for judgeMeasures numbered. 

Have you paid your accompanist? Customary, usually following performance. More about respect, preparation and appreciation for your accompanist, click here.

BRASS.

Valve oil

WOODWINDS.

Backup reed – in case something happens to yours that day.

Mouthpiece cap – Keep on when moving – protects and looks professional.

PERCUSSION.

Backup sticks/mallets.

Arrive at the school/venue about an hour before your performance time. Find your performance room and then you can go to warm-up. Don’t over-practice. Just review your challenging spots. Your ensemble should run through the piece. Note that these warm-up rooms can be noisy.

Performance Room

Arrive at performance room before your time. You can go in ahead of time (or anytime) and listen to other performers. Most in Group 2 will be h/s. If your accompanist is late because of accompanying someone else, just explain that to the door person or judge.

Have the book opened to your solo when you present it to the judge.

If judge asks questions, answer politely (as you always are).

Sit or stand. Your choice. I prefer standing. Judge may want to see your fingers, so don’t put the music stand directly between you and the judge. Be able to make eye contact with your accompanist.

Do not start until the judge tells you to. He/she may be completing notes on the previous performer. If permission received, play tuning note with piano – last chance to check your reed.

Be prepared to introduce yourself, your school, and your piece (title/composer).

When you finish, especially if there is any applause, a slight bow is appropriate to acknowledge. Applause is the audience saying thank you — a bow is your thanking them for the applause. Recognize your accompanist.

You will not get your music immediately – probably after the performer who follows you. You will not get your scoresheet. Those go to your band director at the end of the day. 

The door monitor will write your rating on the wall schedule.

Performance categories (sheet may vary slightly)

A separate post with addition scoresheet categories ===> HERE.

Intonation. Are you in tune with the piano? With each other (ensemble)? Do you have individual notes that are out of tune? Accuracy to printed pitches.

Tone. Resonance, clarity, control, focus, consistency, warmth.

Rhythm. Accuracy of note values, rest values, duration, pulse, steadiness, correctness of meter.

Technique. Facility, accuracy, articulation, fingerings.

Interpretation/Musicianship. Style, phrasing, tempo, dynamics, emotional involvement.

Performance factors. Choice of literature, appropriate appearance (related to performance), poise, posture, general conduct, mannerisms, facial expressions. Formal dress is not required, but jeans with holes and advertisement t-shirts will not only affect the appearance score, but also — judges can decide much about you before you play your first note. You are “on” from the time you take your performance position until you exit.


Did I forget anything? Let me know so I can improve this post for the next time. And note that rules per state are different… I tried to be generic in that regard.

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“Tell My Father”

Son David sang this solo in several show choir solo competitions his senior year in high school (2001). It is an emotional solo from the musical “Civil War” about a son asking someone to “Tell My Father” about his death on the battlefield.

To increase the impact, David borrowed a reenactor Civil War uniform. He wouldn’t let me hear the song until he performed it.  I remember the first time I saw him walk toward the competition room, in “full uniform”….he walked, pridefully, in total character and ignoring stares from other students in the hallways. Dressing in ‘costume’ was not a common thing for solos.

And the first time he walked on stage, he confidently and effectively commanded audience reverence and respect. Each time he finished, it felt like there was an ever so slight gap, prior to applause, where the audience was wiping tears and unsure if applause was appropriate, especially after the final line.

After one of his performances, I heard a couple girls from another school talking in the hallway:

“I just heard this guy dressed in a Civil War uniform sing a song to his father and it made me cry.”

It made me, David’s father, cry every time.

Here are the lyrics:

Tell my father that his son
Didn’t run or surrender
That I bore his name with pride
As I tried to remember
You are judged by what you do
While passing through

As I rest ‘neath fields of green
Let him lean on your shoulder
Tell him how I spent my youth
So the truth could grow older
Tell my father, when you can
I was a man

Tell him we will meet again
Where the angels learn to fly
Tell him we will meet as men
For with honour did I die

Tell him I wore the blue
Proud and true, through the fire
Tell my father so he’ll know
I love him so

Tell him how I wore the blue
Just the way that he taught me
Tell my father not to cry
Then say goodbye

 

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Rossini Intro, Theme and Variations

John Gardner

I just found this recording, which may be one of the last times I played a piece of this level. I recorded it privately using a recorded accompaniment. To my former students, I would asy “find the wrong note” … but I did almost lose a couple, although one of those was so far above the staff…..

Anyway, there is a short “Introduction” followed by the “Theme” and then gradually increasingly difficult “Variations”.

Endurance was never my strength. Technical proficiency may have been. Enjoy. Comment.

Here are some other  recordings/performances on John Gardner’s Soundcloud page, including my college senior recital.

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Three Seniors One Solo

One of the best things my high school band director ever did for me was to secure me an “audition” to take clarinet lessons from Robert Roden, the director of Simon Kenton High School, and undisputedly the best clarinet teacher in the area. There were two challenges. The first was that he was very selective in who he accepted into his studio. And second, he was more expensive than my mother was going to be able to afford. I’m not sure what Mr. Copenaver told him in advance, but he seemed to know something about my family’s financial situation. 

I was a high school freshman when Mom drove me to his home in Taylor Mill. He was in a lounge chair listening. At the end of the “audition”, Mr. Roden presented his “offer” that went something like this:

“You play well. I can help you get better. But you can’t afford me. As it turns out, I have a bad heart and can’t do yard work or heavy lifting. So, if you would be willing to cut my grass or shovel my snow, or do any other jobs around my house as needed, then I will provide you clarinet lessons until the day you show up here unprepared. Do we have a deal?”

Of course, we had a deal. I knew the significance of what had just happened.

It took about an hour and a half to cut his grass. Typically, Mom would drop me off and come back about three hours later. The Rodens always had a drink/snack break for me. I was either their pet or their adopted son. They were very kind to me. I only remember shoveling snow once or twice. There were a few times where he would have me move the living room furniture around. Sometimes I think he tried to come up with something just so I could feel like I worked for my lessons.

I kept my end of the bargain by always being prepared. And so did he. By senior year, after studying with him four years, I had earned the first chair in the All-State Orchestra, full-ride scholarship offers from Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University, and the University of Kentucky — and 1st chair clarinet in the United States Collegiate Wind Band, which toured Europe and the U.S.S.R. in the summer between high school and college.

I played Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie for Solo Contest in Junior Year. That was the hardest piece I had ever worked on until he gave me Variations on Au Claire de la Lune by JeanJean. He did something senior year, however, that was either genius or cruel. 

I was his student as 1st chair clarinet from Holmes High School in Covington, KY. He also taught the 1st chair clarinetist from Campbell County High School and from his own school, Simon Kenton. He gave all three of us the same solo. Rival schools. Rival bands. Bragging rights. 

Here is a professional rendition of that solo. I do not have a recording of myself.

There is a very long piano intro. If the video starts at the beginning, move it to 1:00, which is just a few seconds before the clarinet comes in.

 

A couple of notes about the piece. It is set up a theme and variations with piano interludes in between some of the solo parts. Everyone who knew me could tell you my biggest strength was my technical proficiency, which this piece highlighted. And my biggest weakness was endurance or lack thereof. There would have been some ‘cuts’ to get the piece short enough for contest parameters, but I kept at least most of the piano interludes to give me a break. 

The three clarinetists were not friends. We were not even friendly competitors. The schools were fierce competitors in sports and bands ….and now, in clarinets. The bands got involved to support their “star” and solo contest that day was one I will never forget. Typically the only people in the room for a solo evaluation is the soloist, accompanist, the judge and assistant, and maybe the next person in line, family or a few friends. This was not a typical day.

I don’t remember which of the girls went first, but she got a “I” (Superior Rating). The room was full. The second girl went in a bit later and also got the highest Superior rating. 

My performance was in the afternoon and the pressure was on. Representatives from all three schools tried to fill the performance room. The judge ordered the door to remain open so people in the hallway could hear. 

I knew this judge, Earl Thomas, clarinet professor from Eastern Kentucky University. I had worked with him four summers that I attended the Stephen Collins Foster Music Camp at EKU. He really wanted me as a student. I liked him. 

The crowd in the room made me nervous. The judge did not ….. UNTIL he said, 

“John, I don’t know when I have ever heard this piece played in a high school event and you are my third hearing of it today. The pressure is on you, son because I gave the two girls the highest rating. Are you ready?

Yes, sir.

Oh, and I’ve heard all these piano interludes before……could you just skip those?:

GULP!

As you can see from the old copy of the judge sheet, he didn’t say much. I don’t even remember him closely following the music (which he probably knew well). He just sat and listened.

When I finished, I got a standing ovation from the students in the room — and the judge stood too. 

On my sheet, he gave the rating of a “I+”, which I don’t think existed officially…..but it did indicate I had won the three-way battle. Of course, all three of us got medals for a “Superior” rating. 

PS

This was the piece I played for my college scholarship audition for Phil Miller, clarinet teacher from the University of Kentucky. I felt pretty good when I finished. His words, 

“NASA can teach monkeys how to wiggle their fingers.”

Also, I should note that Mr. Roden played in some “stage bands” at the Beverly Hills Supper Club. This is where my high school prom was held. Roden was one of the casualties in the 1976 fire at the supper club that killed about 165 people. As I understand it, he got out, but went back in to get his music and did not make it out the second time. My father, an off duty firefighter, went to the fire (without his equipment) to help. 

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