Teaching and Practicing with Small Ensembles
With all the repertoire and exercises that normally need to be covered in studio teaching or personal practice, it can be hard to be motivated to practice auxiliary clarinets. This is especially true if you don’t have any upcoming performances that require E-flat or bass clarinet.
One of my favorite orchestral excerpt classes provided a potential solution to this issue - practicing excerpts and parts in quartets. Rather than each of us preparing one part, we came in as quartets and played excerpts from Till Eulenspiegel.
Since it isn’t uncommon for students in an established studio or university setting to participate in clarinet quartets or choirs, this is a great opportunity to introduce orchestral repertoire with a larger clarinet sections. It also may allow students who are not currently assigned E-flat clarinet in ensembles a chance at playing some important excerpts. In some ways, studying excerpts in this manner can be more beneficial than independent study, as it requires the student to deal with many of the intonation and ensemble challenges they would face in an orchestra. If you don’t have a few clarinetist around to create an impromptu orchestra section, this same idea can one applied to other woodwinds. I found it especially helpful to practice both my B-flat/A and E-flat clarinet excerpts with a colleague on flute and/or piccolo. (Daphnis was always a favorite for those practice sessions!)
Here’s a list of some ideas of clarinet parts to play through as a section/chamber ensemble: Mahler: Symphonies Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe 2nd Suite Shostakovich: Symphonies Strauss: Till Eulenspeigel, Alpine Symphony Stravinsky: The Firebird (1910), Rite of Spring Not sure where to get parts? Here are some places to start:
IMSLP Petrucci Music Library: public domain scores and parts. imslp.org
Luck’s Music Library: orchestral parts (sometimes with handy transposed parts) and scores for rent and purchase. lucksmusic.com
Search engines: why? Because you can often find common excerpts on links or lists through audition pages for orchestras or schools. This is great for pieces like Daphnis, where all of the parts are potential audition excerpts.
University orchestra libraries: If you are in any way affiliated with a university music department, the orchestra library may be able to help you out. Orchestra librarians may be able to provide you with practice parts for excerpts, especially if you are a student or faculty member at that particular school.
Share your favorite clarinet section excerpts below!