Most people over the age of 30 have seen some version of this musical. It was my mother’s favorite; she saw the movie in the theater when it came out, and she was seventeen. Her love for it rubbed off on me, and I first watched a TV version of it when I was about 13 years old.
As I started playing shows, people kept talking about how hard it was for the woodwind players. I finally got called for a production of it in 1991. (1/8)
It's a glitchy, experimental trio for flute, clarinet, and MIDI keyboard/Max. There are Morse code and other ham radio samples, electric piano, and bowed cardboard box, and it's surprisingly groovy.
@reillypascal@synths congrats! Is it accurate to say that each composer was given the same source material (flutes, clarinets, etc) ? Seems like an interesting project.
My friend Robert was playing the Reed IV book, and I was playing Reed V, which unusually, had some tenor sax in it. At one point we were both playing tenor together, and the blend was absolutely fantastic, despite the fact that we have radically different mouthpieces and approaches to playing the saxophone. (1/2)
Turns out we both have Selmer Mark VI tenors (the Strad of saxophones with a few less zeroes on their value). We looked, and realized that our serial numbers were less than 200 apart. These horns were made within weeks of each other. No wonder they sounded great together! (2/2)
So, the lazy arranger/copying wrote a line for saxophones littered with double-sharps. When we were doing the first run through, all five of us fell all over the line, somebody missing every single note. The conductor stopped us, and asked what was going on. The lead alto player stood up and showed his book to the conductor, who said, “WTF?” 5/
https://youtu.be/WMT1tvrIJWc Getting back into clarinet... only this time I'm getting actual lessons from a professional. Relax to some clarinet, piano and guitar music. Anyone wanting me to make more of this, let me know. #music#clarinet#guitar#piano
After missing one or two due to travel, got to take the 14yo to #clarinet. It’s wonderful to spend time together before and after.
Making the whole trip on #MUNI trains and buses really does make it easy. (Although they change the temporary 48 stop at #WestPortal so often it makes my head spin.)
All this during a break in the rain! (It can resume tomorrow with my blessing!)