Megabytes

One of the songs performed in November’s recital was Finlandia, a song composed by Jean Sibelius in homage to his native Finland. It was 1899, the dawn of the twentieth century. Sibelius wrote music for a series of tableaux illustrating episodes in Finland’s past. The patriotic finale, “Finland Awakes” soon came to be in demand as a separate concert piece and Sibelius revised it in 1900, giving it the title “Finlandia”. Listen to the hymn-like section performed by Jubilate
Jubilate sings these lyrics, written in 1939 by Finnish poet V.A. Koskenniemi:

Finland, behold, thy daylight now is dawning,
the threat of night has now been driven away.
The skylark calls across the light of morning,
the blue of heaven lets it have its way,
and now the day the powers of night is scorning:
thy daylight dawns, O Finland of ours!

Finland, arise, and raise towards the highest
thy head now crowned with mighty memory.
Finland, arise, for to the world thou criest
that thou hast thrown off thy slavery,
beneath oppression´s yoke thou never liest.
Thy morning´s come, O Finland of ours!

Other lyrics have been composed for this exquisite chorale section. From a student’s family, I received these lyrics as published in Rise Up Singing:

This is my song, O God of all the nations
A song of peace, for lands afar and mine
This is my home, the country where my heart is
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine

These lyrics appear to be by Lloyd Stone, according to Rise Up Singing. The original lyrics are good, but these ‘Song of Peace’ lyrics take this passionate music to a new level. Instead of a national anthem, we could have a global anthem for peace.
Sing on, friends, “a song of peace for their land and mine.”

Clarinetissimo is an all-day clarinet festival held at University of Washington School of Music, hosted by clarinet instructor, Sean Osborn. One of my clarinet students, Mike Rasmussen, went up to Seattle for the day and had this to say about the event.

Short Review
If you have students who are junior or senior in high school and considering college music, major strongly encourage them to go.

Longer Review
The event is very casual. If you weren’t going to perform (take?) a master class then just showing up was your entire commitment. Sean Osborn ran a relaxed event that contained a lot of educational content. His presentations kept the event springy and energetic.

During Osborn’s master class he used his time to teach the audience and the student simultaneously. He used his feedback to the student as a launching point for explaining a point of technique. My notes include placement of tongue, breathing technique, avoiding boredom while getting the most out of long tones, proper shading of tone (use the fingers over open tone holes, don’t adjust embrochure), use of resonance fingering, and clarinet to body angle.

In contrast Chris Sereque, principal clarinet of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, ran master class sessions that were focused on the student. As an audience member you were peeking into the fishbowl. Unfortunately for me Mr. Sereque was soft spoken and I missed almost everything he said.

Even more unfortunately I missed Jennifer Nelson’s master class. Judging from her comments during the evening concert it was an engaging, humorous session.

The evening concert consisted of:
Gerald Finzi - Clarinet Concerto (Sean Osborn, Rhonda Kline piano) Gordon Jacob - Five Pieces (Jennifer Nelson) Malcolm Arnold - Sonatina (Osborn, Kline) Henri Lazarus - Intermediate Duet No. 3 (Osborn and Nelson) James Waterson - Grand Quartet (Osborn, Nelson, Florie Rothenberg, Mary Kantor) The Beatles - When I’m Sixty-Four, with Clarinet Choir participants.

Osborn introduced each piece with historical and musical background. This include “listen for this” followed by an excerpt. For audience members unfamiliar with the pieces (yeah, people like me) this deepened the experience.

My favorite for listening was the Lazarus Duet. The quartet provided a lot of interest in listening to themes being reworked and moving around the four musicians. My sense of time was distorted during the performance - it was over much quicker than the listed playing times had me expecting.

A side element was the musicians working around the problem of condensation. The hall was cool and they needed to swab out their instruments between movements. Osborn and Nelson also made asides to the audience about dealing with condensation. This brought some meaning into what otherwise could have been distracting stage business.

So why have a college bound high school student attend the event? For the cost of a trip to Seattle (possible to drive home afterwards) and a day’s time the student would gain several benefits. Insights to the level of playing in the UofW program, an introduction to Osborn’s teaching, the actual lessons to be gleaned from the masters classes, an opportunity to ask UofW students about the program there, and a day of excellent clarinet music.

For a 50 year old beginner? It was interesting to hear the differences between the advanced student the and profession. It was even more interesting to hear, for the first time in my life, live professional solo clarinet from a distance of twenty feet, though I could have sat closer. The master classes included elements of such a fundamental level that any player could benefit.

The clarinet and saxophone students of Grace Notes Music Studio will perform music by Beethoven, Sibelius, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and others in duos, trios, and quartets on Sunday, November 25, 2007, Copland Chapel, Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church. Special guests, Clarinetwerk, a Portland clarinet quartet, will perform following the students.

The well-known theme “da, da, da, daahh” from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony has been arranged for a saxophone quartet by Werner Thomas-Mifune. Although not as well-known, Pietr Tchaikovsky’s Opus 54 includes the sweet melody, Old French Song. This will be performed by a clarinet trio.

Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia is a exquisitely soothing hymn to Finland. I found a beautiful clip of this song sung by one of Finland´s leading chamber choirs, Jubilate.

Students will be inviting their families and friends to hear them perform. This is after they have been practicing and learning and improving their musical skills for months. Bonus: Since the recital is Thanksgiving weekend, relatives may be visiting who would not normally be able to hear their cousin/grandchild/uncle play. Yes, uncle! Performers range in age from 10 to 50-something.

Would you like to attend the recital? Send me a note and I’ll put you on the evite list.

Last week, ten of my current students took part in the Fall recital, entitled “Students of Swing.” I wrote an arrangement of “C Jam Blues” for 5 of my beginners. Simon and Sierra nailed the bass line, sending it back and forth between their two instruments. Kate, Katie and Sean handled the melody and harmony. Duets by Kendra, Joellen, Davis and Emily were tight. An added treat was the arrangement for alto sax and vocalist performed by Kate and her friend, Paula. The afternoon concluded with a performance of a sax quartet, “Three Men and a Babe.”

That’s me on the left. I guess that makes me the babe! Read more at Grace Notes Music.

Today, eight of my students performed in my bi-annual recital. Proud parents and friends heard pieces by Mussorgsky, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and others. (more…)