No. 1 J.S. Bach

No. 1 is now a piece of music that comes easier to me, meaning that over the time that I have worked with it, I have figured out most of its parts. The change in rhythm is normal to me now, its not complicated as before, I’m able to play it through, with a couple of mistakes with the notes, but the changing in the rhythms, just comes naturally to me, it’s not complicated anymore. I have some problems, in certain phrases, that has F# or G# and that just keeps going, that’s complicate because the song doesn’t have #s in its key signature, and when you have to abruptly change it, it’s confusing. This issue is workable, because it’s not like I don’t know the notes, I just need to make it a habit to not go over the notes when I’m practicing, and I also need to practice more at home, because I’m leaving everything for later and to practice it at school, when supposedly I already need to know it, this becomes an issue, because in class I’m not able to move forward, and I’m just stuck in the same place over and over again. From December to now, this song is pretty much worked out, because I know the rhythm, the notes, and everything that I need to play, this song is almost ready to be recorded, and it’s going to sound really nice when I play it as a duet.

Harry Potter

Over the summer, I got as a present, a couple of books for my clarinet. One of the was the movie music from the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film, which brings it own CD with the other instrumental parts, so you can play along. The CD contains a Demo, which is kind of a guiding song, that is the instrumental parts, but has the clarinet playing over it and marking you the rhythm, sort of guiding you, if you are not able to play the whole thing. The songs are pretty easy, they are not complicated and have rhythms that you see since you are in 6th grade. They are simple, and if you have seen the movies, you can actually remember the songs because they are heard all throughout the movie. The easiest one is the theme song, that is at the end of the book, called Hedwig's Theme, which is the theme song, from the first movie and since then the theme song for all of the movies. The book contains many songs that are Waltz, which are ballroom songs, for dancing with a partner. In the movie we can see that they are dancing songs, because they appear in dance scenes, for example the Potter Waltz, appears in the part of the movie where there is a Christmas ball in Hogwarts. The Neville Waltz, also appears in the movie as a dancing piece of music, where Neville is found dancing alone in his room, practicing before the ball. Another song that shows that it is for dancing is Foxtrot Fleur, which is a Foxtrot, another type of ballroom dance, we see this song this also in the Christmas ball. This three songs are pretty easy, because they have a common melody. The rhythm is typical, so it gives you a kind of base ground, which allows you to play it since the first time you see it.
Another song that is for dancing is the "The Quidditch World Cup" which is a type of Irish Jig. An Irish Jig is a folk song from Ireland, that has a common tune, that is heard often in movies. For me, this one is the hardest of all of the songs, because of its rhythms. I get confused the first couple of times I play it, but then, it is easier to play, because I get used to the rhythms. All throughout the song, we can see that is very repetitive, and it only changes a couple of notes, but has the same rhythms.

I like this book, because the whole thing, the CD music and me playing sounds really good, because it is dancing music, that has always been, one of my favorite types of music, because it has a constant rhythm and they are very alike, and have something that always makes you want to dance. I also like this book, because it is Soundtrack music, it is my utter favorite type of music, because if I have seen the movie, I know where each tune goes, and its true meaning, the sadness, happiness, etc.

When I record me playing this music with the Cd, it will probably sound really nice, and is going to be considered my project for the year.

Little Fugue -- Snell

Little Fugue, is a really easy duet. Its a two page duet, actually composed for the trumpet, but it can be played in the Clarinet. The song mostly consists of low and high notes that stay in a range in which I'm able to play easily. Rhythms are really easy, they are quarter notes, eighth notes, and the occasional 16th note, so that the duet has a nice melody and for ornamentation. The hard thing for me in this song is remembering the notes, because you have three sharps F# C# and G#. F# is easy to remember because there are lots of songs which have F# constantly, but the G# and the C# are harder to remember, because I normally play them in a song, but the key signature changes at some point, so I don't play the whole song with those notes in #. When I play it once and even twice, I remember that I need to play the notes, and I play them each time they appear in the piece of music, but when I play it for the first time in the week, I don't remember and it just sounds odd. This song is really workable, if I sit on afternoon and work through it, because the rhythm is not hard and its kind of catchy once you play the whole thing a couple of times. The things I need to remember when I'm playing this song, is the #s in the song, and where they are, so I don't have so many issues when I'm playing the whole piece of music.

El Capitan

El Capitan, is an easy song, there are little chances of you to get lost in this song, because the rhythm in this song is not complicated and you repeat most of the phrases all through the song. For me the hardest part of the song, is in measure 5 where I need to play really high notes that are still kind of hard for me to play fast, because the sound is not nice. The problems start when I have to play a high D, that already starts to sound scratchy, and then I have to change to a high E and an F which also sound bad. When I get to measure 13, everything is repeating, the rhythms are repeating, so its easier to remember what I need to play. All the song is repeated until you get to measure 40, where sometimes the rhythms are confusing, and you mix them up, that is what mostly happens to me in this songs, that I get confused with that part of the song, and then the rest of the song is not in pace, I am not in the right place. The other part that is really hard for me to play, is in measure 70, where once again, I have to play really high notes, that are hard for me to play, because they are not in my range of notes, that are comfortable to play. This part consists of 16th notes with one 8th note at the beginning, the notes are high Es and high Fs, that are one of the hardest notes for me to play.

So I can play this song perfectly for the concert, I have to practice this song everyday, and have to practice getting the sound out nicely for the E and the F. I am going to be able to do this by playing everyday the fingering chart slowly, and going back and forth, note by note until I get a nice full sound. Also it could be better if I corrected my posture, I should sit on the edge of the chair with my back straight, so the air flow is better and not cut.

No. 10 -- J.S. Bach

This is another duet that I was given in class to work on. This is a very easy piece of music in regard with the notes, but the problem is that it is fast and you dont have time to breathe. This duet has to be worked out slowly, playing it at the accurate speed, and placing breath marks were you consider where they should go, according to how much air you can hold in order to get a nice sound, and in order that it is enough time to pick up the rest of the notes you have left. In class we worked out some of the breath marks, but some are still to be placed. I think that this is the main issue of the song, because the notes are not hard, they stay in a register where im comfortable playing, and the notes are not varying that much. What I like is that the notes are in the same range, and that makes it easier to play because you can sort of know that suddenly its not going to make you go up another register. This song is not hard and its hard at the same time, I think that its not hard because the notes are very basic and the rhythms too, but at the same time its hard, because you really dont have many places were you can breathe, because the rhythm is too fasts and there are only eighth notes in most of the song. I think that I can work this song out if I sit one day and try to do it with dedication, not in a rush, thi shas to be worked out with patience. I know that it will probably sound a little rough when its worked out at first, because you need to get used to breathe short and not make the sound uneven. That is another problem, that you may have a lot of air at first and then at the end of a phrase you dont have enough air and it will sound terrible. I can work this out when I sit down with patience and dedication to do it. Maybe during the break, I will try to have the whole thing done by the end of the year.

Chamber Music

The book of Chamber music is a very good book, because it had short pieces of music, that are designed so that three clarinets play it. From this book the plan is to choose some songs and play them as a project for me in class. Over the past classes I have chosen some of the songs that i want to play from the book, which arent many, because some of them are not great in the first part of the clarinet, so I want it to be special to play and that it sounds nice. Here is a list of the ones Ive chosed:

• March from Partita in F from Faber.
• Minuet 1 from Partita in F from Faber.
• Allegro from Mozart.
• March from Fischer.
• Old German Dance which is traditional music.
• Sailor's Dance which is traditional music.
• Ecossaise from Hummel.
• Menuet from Trio No.3, Op.57, from Bouffil.

Those songs, I have played them once or twice with the help of my teacher just to see how they sounded, and if they were easy in every part. This songs are actually very easy, it has basic rhythms, they are not hard, and the notes are basic, they dont go up to a register that people cant reach, it is a good book that is simple to play.

No.1 -- J.S. Bach

This is a duet, I was given last class in school, so that my teacher and I can play it. This duet is not hard at all, it is just tricky in the part of the changing from 16th notes to 8th notes to quarter notes. This is tricky in my opinion because you start the song fast because of the 16th notes, and suddenly decrease the speed because of the 8th notes, this part is ease because its just a little bit slower than the 16th notes. But then you get to a part were there is a note that I can never play, because I dont remember the rhythm, so everytime that I have to play it, I mess it up and have to restart again. For me the most challenging thing is counting when the other clarinet is playing the response, because I just dont count, and watch the notes as he plays them, so if I lose track of where I am I get lost and have to restart it again from the same place we started before. This is very frustrating, because I should be able to play it without stoping because it isnt a hard song, it is pretty simple, the notes are simple, and are all in my register, the only problem in the song for me is counting. I just dont count and get lost half the time. i really need to sit down with a pencil and write down marks so Im able to know where to start counting or playing again.