tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856229427021978712024-02-20T11:24:42.155-08:00The lone clarinet playerGeoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-4284761156432375422014-02-11T12:50:00.002-08:002014-02-11T12:50:46.058-08:00Warm reception at 'The Hall', LancasterNot just once but twice today. At 9:45 to a packed Cafe´and then at 12:30 . Both times people went out of their way to thank me for my playing - not of my clarinet but of the studio Grand Piano.<br />
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It's worth stopping and asking what is the difference to my reception as a clarinetist in the Market Place, Ulverston.<br />
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One or two things are registering as possible reasons and these will be applied to future play - of the clarinet . One is that with the piano I am listening carefully to what music I am creating and adjusting my playing instantly to what I hear. Therefore what is produced is monitored meticulously. This is not true with the clarinet where I am too preoccupied in the basic problem of playing the notes themselves. I am therefore switching to doing what I do on the piano and making up tunes and listening carefully to what I play and adjusting what I play next to what has just gone before. I am also far more playful and less stressed out this way of playing.<br />
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Thanks for all the encouragement to my piano playing - I'll be doing it more often where appropriate!Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-22793083839459602052014-02-09T02:28:00.001-08:002014-02-09T02:28:18.080-08:00First time everI really enjoyed myself on the Market yesterday. Much to people's surprise I was even singing as I waited for my hands to warm up in my pockets. Why? Where did that come from? God knows. But I did! It was wet and windy and I'd had a poor playing day on the previous market day on Thursday.<br />
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The result was that my playing improved and I have come home with increased condfidence to practice hard so the future looks good. Lots of appreciative smiles and waves were on offer, particularly from children ( who are perhaps less critical than adults). With the clarinet and other wind instruments one is particularly vulnerable to nerves - at times I blow and no sound comes out- or I squeak which is even worse. This is devestating to someone on their own who sets themselves high standards.<br />
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Playing in public like this certainly is good training. If you can manage it then you will be really good with a group of other musicians. Trouble is a group isn't easy to come by when you're older and encouragement is generally in short supply as most people are so critical. Breaking this viscious circle takes some doing. You need to be very determined. . . .Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-51632997428449084702014-01-29T12:26:00.001-08:002014-01-29T12:26:11.997-08:00The effect of a new mouthpieceI shall be using this tomorrow. I believe it produces a clearer tone and can be played louder. It defeated me when I first played it , but now it's becomeing easier.<br />
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You can judge tomorrow - Ulverston Market at 10:30am ish - sounds good here at home!Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-43537542272243689152014-01-14T13:51:00.001-08:002014-01-21T07:10:09.546-08:00Just having a short breakPutting in some enjoyable play at home to build up my skills first!Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-91389391438323811352013-12-30T00:43:00.003-08:002013-12-30T00:43:41.361-08:00All set for this next ThursdayI've had a few days off playing and last night I was getting my lips back in shape.<br />
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Had a great time practicing and plan to put in some ours before Thursday. It great having this regular 'gig' and greatly boosted by positive comments that keep coming in ( along with the negative ones)Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-84743196235905119422013-12-03T11:34:00.003-08:002013-12-03T11:34:21.970-08:00 Stoping the dreaded sqeakingFirst my confidence of playing in public is improving. As a result the sound is improving.<br />
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Secondly the sound at home is much improved and I'm exploring the value of different mouthpieces to produce different quality sounds. I'm spending more and more time playing at home and this enables me to play better.<br />
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One thing that makes me sad is the prospect that our Market will soon close because three stalls plan to stop operating after Christmas. Without a market where will people meet in town?<br />
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To the rescue a new initiative please, to bring town's people to come together just for fun!<br />
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Who is going to support this idea. We get little encouragement but individuals will perhaps have their own ideas.Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-29848115448092588432013-11-07T12:58:00.002-08:002013-11-07T12:59:09.014-08:00A very warm and appreciative publicThank you for all the warm contact with people of all kinds as they pass. The sound the clarinet was superb for most of the time. Only when a tentative approach with new pieces did the playing take a dip.<br />
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A lack of nervousness makes a marked difference to the playing. It's great to be aware that the performances are clearly improving. Playing without a a backing track went well . The accompaniment needs to creative and interesting - a lovely challenge.<br />
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Practise at home leads to a lovely interaction- young children are particularly curious.<br />
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Another £3 for the Lantern Procession! And great fun doing it. This is a lovely way of making contact with the public.Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-26364393395686863612013-10-31T14:53:00.001-07:002013-10-31T14:53:47.253-07:00A lovely lesson to learnWhen you play well - and with enthusiasm - the money comes in a fair lick - £6.67 for the Lantern Procession in less than an hour - when you play badly and forget the script - - nothing. In fact one 'friend' who rarely smiles - ever - offered to pay me to stop playing - it hurt her ears.<br />
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Lose your confidence, try something new that you haven't practice much and you go plummeting down and hit endless bum notes.<br />
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Good job you had those lovely experiences at the beginning!<br />
<br />Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-92033638742051791512013-10-26T14:01:00.002-07:002013-10-26T14:20:35.266-07:00Today, Saturday Market has been excellent for me.Arriving at 10:20 am ready with my clarinets and equipment to play Peter chess in the Market Square in response to his 9:30 phone call to check my availability.<br />
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Fortunately for me, Neil turned up for a challenging game with Peter which last two hours, leaving me free for clarinet playing in 'my' doorway. Better still for Peter - he won which is recent occurrence<br />
The town was unusually full with visitors - of course it was the beginning of half term - many were out to see the 'sights'. They come for the experience of a very friendly town something we do naturally because many of us actually like people , particularly strangers who bring us news from foreign places.<br />
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With my confidence building up steadily I'm beginning to enjoy myself and not be too concerned at what I consider to be rubbish playing. The minute you're confident then you play better, so I ventured into tunes I hadn't played before in public. I gave the tunes loads of enthusiasm which communicates well, particularly with young children who showed loads of interest and big smiles. At one point I had an 'audience' that clapped in time to the music and both children and parents broke out with spontaneity at the end of one of one tune. It felt as though I had arrived.<br />
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I have!Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-59411677176438521482013-10-25T06:15:00.003-07:002013-10-25T06:15:54.101-07:00The playing in Ulverston Market went wellFor the first time a few people joined in with the playing of Streets of London using the microphone that can supplement the backing track of the sound on the portable amplifier.<br />
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People were a little startled because they found it difficult to understand this new inovation - music to be enjoyed by the general public by participation, rather busking for cash. It will take a while for people to appreciate the idea. At present most people are a bit apprehensive of a lone clarinet player because they assume he is doing it for cash rather just to give pleasure!<br />
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Ultimately the aim will be to get people to dance in the street! That will take a while. Meanwhile the clarinet player needs to keep improving!Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-20923792587754096982013-10-21T09:09:00.001-07:002013-10-21T09:09:23.070-07:00Practicing today was difficultStanding up and deep, strong breathing were being developed. This will become easier, the more one does it! Trying to drum in some the tunes so that i did them without thinking.
The Benz power reed number 2 was impressive compared with the equivalent comfort.Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-80243263257941639502013-10-20T04:56:00.001-07:002013-10-20T04:56:31.782-07:00Very puzzledI told myself earlier that I would keep playing until I squeeked but I didn't squeek at all.<br />
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So I changed reeds and again and again - still no squeeks.<br />
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What's going on?<br />
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When I play in public on the market I spend a lot of time just avoiding squeeking and do so repeatedly.<br />
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So:<br />
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It could be nerves or it could be the air /temperature conditions . I'd love to get the the bottom of this as then I would have far more confidence - and thus feel less nervous!<br />
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I ask my teacher and he doesn't seem to be able to explain squeeking reliably !<br />
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Looks like it's a matter of just getting on with it!<br />
<br />Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-61839808440767106352013-10-19T14:47:00.001-07:002013-10-19T14:47:22.805-07:00Later Saturday eveningChris and I practiced carols. It was really surprising how my brain could play tunes straight off even though I didn't really know them! Playing tunes from such a range of keys on a regular basis seems to train you to be able to play anything.<br />
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Just need the quality of the notes and to produce fewer squeeks - improving all the time and slowly getting the hang of playing well. Quite encouraging - if only playing in public could be so easy!<br />
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The beauty of playing by ear - you don't have to fuss with music - well worth it in the long run!Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-24909986717811352102013-10-19T07:47:00.001-07:002013-10-19T07:47:35.807-07:00Today was tough But mainly from my perspective.<br />
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Many people were appreciative and several gave money in a generous way.<br />
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I'm slowly getting the hang of what I can do well and what I do with great difficulty.
I can improvise fairly easily but doing things that required built in 'muscle memory' that is learnt by repeating an operation many times is very slowly learnt. This is why I don't join a band who have a set routine as I would find this very difficult to remember. If I'm left free to make it up on the spur of the moment; that's much easier.<br />
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Furthermore I'm only slowly developing the skill to avoid squeeking, reliably - it's a hard learning curve. Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-6481575072266640962013-10-17T10:52:00.000-07:002013-10-17T10:52:27.899-07:00A lovely song to help us value what we have.So beautifully and sensitively sung.<br />
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Why do tears come to my eyes when I listen to it?<br />
Mary Hopkin - you're brilliant.
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This will be one of my favorites for the market on my clarinet. Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-44507209759361809242013-10-12T10:35:00.002-07:002013-10-12T10:35:14.868-07:00Breaking new ground this SaturdaySomebody joined me to singalong with my backing track and clarinet. Jack was impressed!<br />
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I'm hoping that this will be a regular occurrence. The amplifier will take:<br />
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A backing track<br />
A microphone<br />
A guitar or other electronic musical instrument<br />
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All at the same time with my clarinet needing no such help.<br />
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I was told that my playing was good: I certainly pumped plenty of emotion into my playing. This registers with people and got a fair number of smiles. One long held high note raised a laugh and a donation of £1from someone standing on the far pavement.<br />
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My aim is to inject enthusiasm with as high a level of skill as I can but the the belief is that the first is by far the most important. Does the music come across as though it is FUN ?<br />
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The result is that when I get home I feel emotionally exhausted with a tendency towards depression which then takes a few hours to dissipate as I get on with 'ordinary' activities like a walk. This quickly energised me with the sight of autumn leaves and the sound of my feet brushing through them.Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-6454372345084083582013-10-10T14:08:00.004-07:002013-10-10T14:09:56.437-07:00Playing at home is a different matterThis is what I can describe as "pure joy".<br />
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This is the regular high in my day- Often less intense because the playing is more demanding, the allotment is another. The low, and it can be very low, often happens at 3 am in the morning. I sail up and down between high and low. I feel as though I pay for the highs by experiencing the lows. Objectively I believe that's a fair deal. I prefer to be like this than chugging along on the 'level' as others can. We're all different. On the other hand the lows of some are incredibly low and a nightmare for several weeks at a time: I only hope that they at times experience a high to compensate.Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285622942702197871.post-89631203718972351672013-10-10T14:04:00.001-07:002013-10-10T14:04:56.471-07:00By nature, I'm a lonerAt the moment I play my clarinet weekly on our local town market day.
Playing in public, for me is tough. Never-the-less now that I've established a place where I can play I can get used to the same kind of happening each Thursday when I play.
It's a type of conversation that goes on between me and all the pubic walking past. I 'talk' using the sounds I make with my clarinet. I can watch people's faces as they walk past, sometimes within two feet of mine. It's fascinating. It's both very challenging and very rewarding in that sometimes I get a reaction. Other times I get none yet it's OK for me to look at them very intently as they walk past - they don't seem to notice. I'm a very obvious fly on the wall, that is readily ignored.Geoff Dellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628988582440925000noreply@blogger.com0