2019 - New Beginnings

Over the past ten years Clarinet Cache was fortunate to have the opportunity to write columns for The Clarinet; however, the ICA board restructured the journal and our column will no longer be included in publications. We would like to thank our readers for their support and contributions over the years to the never-ending search for interesting topics on the web. Although Clarinet Cache will no longer be associated with the ICA, we will continue serving our readers via posts on this blog. Check back often for new posts as Clarinet Cache hopes to start the new year with a big bang!

We've moved!

In partnership with the International Clarinet Association, our blog is now merging content to The Clarinet [Online]. Electronic versions of Clarinet Cache columns featured in The Clarinet can now be accessed at www.clarinet.org/tco. Become an ICA member today and you'll get full access to our columns!

Creating an Online Presence: Advantages and Getting Started

Part 1: Getting Started Today, more and more musicians are creating websites and establishing an online presence as a marketing tool. Current technology offers free or inexpensive options and various outlets for developing personal websites, including sites with built-in features to assist those with limited technological experience. In this first installment of a series of columns on creating an online presence, we will explore ways and share ideas on how to effectively market yourself on the internet.

Why should I have a website? Professors, private studio teachers, students, freelance musicians and ensembles can benefit from maintaining an online presence. Performers will want to promote themselves and their music, while teachers and students may want to incorporate more educational components into their sites.

A very simple website for a clarinetist might serve as a sort of online business card, with an email address, a short professional biography and a headshot (photo). Other features might include audio or video recordings, a calendar of events, and links to other relevant websites. This approach provides a landing place for people who are actively trying to find information about you, but it generally does not attract frequent or repeat visitors.

A blog is a specific type of website, or a part of a website, that is great for providing serialized information, such as articles called "posts" that are published on a regular or semi-regular schedule. Blog “platforms” like WordPress and Blogger are online services that provide lots of other built in features, like the ability to categorize or tag posts, a search function, and automatically-organized archives of old blog posts.

In some cases, a website can become a small source of income. If you have products to sell, your website can be a place to receive orders. You can also make space available for advertising, if that suits your vision for your site. Advertising deals can be made directly with sponsors, or ads can be provided by services like Google Adsense. Advertising can pay handsomely for the very highest-traffic websites, but smaller sites may earn only a few cents per month.

Do I need to be a computer whiz?

Anyone with enough tech savvy to set up a Facebook or Twitter account can set up a very serviceable website or blog in an hour or less using one of the many services that provide quick-and-easy startup (stay tuned for a future column!). These platforms can seems daunting to use, but many have design templates you can choose from, making the creation process simpler and easier for less-experienced users. Those who have a grander or more specific vision for their online presence can find plentiful online tutorials on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other web technologies, and may prefer to build their sites from scratch, or to hire someone to bring their vision to life. Try visiting several types of sites to familiarize yourself with various layouts and design concepts that catch your eye. Just a few minutes of research can help you decide what type of content and look you may want for your own personal page.

Will anybody visit my website?

Social media is a great way to promote new content, like recent blog posts or new performance videos. Start by sharing links to your latest creations on the social media sites that you use most (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are popular ones for sharing links). Your friends and colleagues are the most likely people to re-share those links with their own contacts, and strong content can, with a little luck, spread to a wider audience.

Syndication feeds, including technologies like RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and ATOM, make it possible for individuals to “follow” your blog using a feed reader (Feedly is a popular choice), so notifications of your latest posts are delivered to them automatically. Syndication feeds also help sites like Google, Facebook, and Twitter present your content to potential readers in an attractive way. Most blog platforms, including WordPress and Blogger, work behind the scenes to provide this feature automatically.

Stay tuned for the next column in our series that offers a comparison guide to help select the right platforms for your online needs.

Website Watch (September 2016 column)

Adam Ballif

Adam Ballif teaches clarinet at Brigham Young University–Idaho. His website, www.adamballif.com, is an excellent example of a professional website, with his biography, audio samples of performances, and materials for his BYU-I students. It also has high-quality general clarinet resources including an annotated repertoire list and information on clarinet conferences and festivals. Ballif’s site is the home of the “ClariNotes” newsletter, a one-page publication with clarinet tips and exercises, as well as a blog covering pedagogical topics. Another interesting and useful feature is “Ballif Beats,” custom-made click tracks for repertoire that is difficult to practice with an ordinary metronome. Several are available for download, including the second movement of the Bernstein Sonata and several works by Eric Mandat.

Anne Bell's ABC

Anne Bell is a clarinetist and educator and the creator of ABC (Anne Bell’s Clarinet) at anne-bell.woodwind.org, which has been in operation since 1998. Bell’s site includes very comprehensive and carefully categorized link lists, pointing clarinetists toward resources related to all aspects of the clarinet and clarinet playing: repertoire, recordings, history, education, acoustics and more. If you are looking for clarinet-related information, try Bell’s site for a meticulously curated collection of high-quality links.

Clarineat

Sean Perrin’s website clarineat.com is the home of the Clarineat podcast, a fascinating interview show featuring clarinetist guests like Martin Fröst, Harry Sparnaay and Michael Norsworthy, plus inventors, composers, entrepreneurs and other people involved in the clarinet world. The website is the place to listen to the show or find subscription links. The site also includes web-only content like product reviews, discussion forums and an online store selling many of the products mentioned on the podcast. Be sure to sign up for the email newsletter to be eligible to win giveaways like products reviewed on the site and signed copies of guests’ CDs.

Audition Cafe

Orchestral auditions and vacancies are often announced through social media sites such as Facebook’s public group “Clarinet Jobs,” but another great resource for current listings of open auditions is at www.auditioncafe.org. Here postings from orchestras stretching across four continents are conveniently listed by instrument and easy to search. Each job opening contains links to separate webpages that give dates, deadlines, and other pertinent audition information. Don’t forget to check out the site’s audition tips section where viewers can read Richie Hawley’s article on “Your Next Audition,” which breaks down the audition preparation process into five stages, or listen to Ricardo Morales’s expert advice in his YouTube video on how to prepare for an audition. Even a short video by actor Bryan Cranston, who plays the lead character on the hit TV drama “Breaking Bad,” has good advice for musicians pursuing the orchestral audition circuit.

Sean Osborn

With an extensive personal website at www.osbornmusic.com, clarinetist Sean Osborn has created a site that highlights not only his career as a soloist, teacher and composer, but also provides valuable resources to both educators and performers. His educational links are worth looking into as his lengthy articles on improving technique and legato fingers are very insightful. In the orchestral guide link, Osborn presents mini-master classes written on commonly requested orchestral audition excerpts taken from a paper he wrote on teaching and performing excerpts. Viewers can access the entire 60-page paper or go to individual entries listed alphabetically by composer and excerpt. He covers topics such as phrasing, fingerings, tips and general background information on each piece, lending his expertise as an orchestral player to the reader. All of the master class entries contain links to YouTube videos of Osborn playing snippets of the excerpts. For the entire gamut of Osborn’s videos, visit his YouTube channel at SeanOsborn.

Bulletproof Musician

Applicable to all types of musicians at all levels, Noa Kageyama’s website www.bulletproofmusician.com is a wonderful resource for interesting articles and research on performance methods. As a violinist and performance psychologist on the faculty at Juilliard, Kageyama frequently posts his own articles on topics pertaining to practice techniques and learning processes, including mental strategies musicians can use to overcome lulls or setbacks in their own practicing. Addressing and analyzing commonly shared issues and obstacles faced by all musicians, Kageyama’s writings are enjoyable to read and can help any clarinetist become a better and more confident player.

Stay tuned for more useful and interesting clarinet content on the web, as well as an upcoming series of columns on building your own online presence! As we shift content to the International Clarinet Association's webpage, clarinet.org, you can now access Clarinet Cache electronic columns directly on "The Clarinet Online" component at clarinet.org/tco/.

Clarinet Choirs

Supplementing our September 2015 column on clarinet ensembles, we extend our coverage to larger ensembles, namely clarinet choir websites that caught our attention. In this column we are excited to welcome Bret Pimentel as a guest author for Clarinet Cache. As an active blogger and regular contributor to the clarinet community, Bret has been mentioned several times in our column and blog posts, and his article for "The 21st-Century Woodwind Doubler" appeared in the June 2015 issue of The Clarinet. We welcome him and his expert knowledge in our never-ending search of the web.

Northwest Clarinet ChoirNorthwest Clarinet Choir is an active community-based ensemble that promotes clarinet choir music in the Seattle area. Under the direction of William Blayney, the ensemble recently performed at ClarinetFest 2014 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as well as other clarinet festivals in previous years. Members in the group are of all ages with various backgrounds and livelihoods, including regular participation by the All-City Clarinets, a separate performing ensemble consisting of area high-school and middle-school students. Touting one the largest private collections of clarinet choir sheet music in the United States, Northwest Clarinet Choir often performs both original compositions and arrangements, many of which are done by Blayney and other members of the ensemble. To hear the group perform, check out the two videos posted on their website or visit their YouTube channel for several hours worth of video footage.  

Los Angeles Clarinet ChoirAnother very active group that has been in existence for over ten years is the Los Angeles Clarinet Choir. Under the principal direction of the group’s founder Margaret Thornhill (author of “The Clarinet Choir” column in The Clarinet) and associate director Victoria Ramos, this sixteen-member choir has performed at several festivals, including ClarinetFest 2010 and 2011. Known for its unique programming and dedication to premiering new compositions and arrangements, this professional ensemble regularly posts new videos to the YouTube channel Arundo76. There you can find scores of high-quality performances by the group as well as performances from the Claremont Clarinet Festival.

Austrian Clarinet Choir The Austrian Clarinet Choir (österreichische Klarinettenchor) was formed in 2007 by members of the Austrian Clarinet Society. It is led by Dr. Friedrich Pfatschbacher and Armin Suppan, and rehearses in the facilities of the Musikschule Mautern. The ACC’s German-language website features several performance videos.

Capriccio Clarinet Orchestra “Orchestra” truly is the correct word for the Capriccio Clarinet Orchestra, a 40-member ensemble based in the Netherlands. The CCO, directed by John de Beer, performs ambitious transcriptions of large-scale orchestral works (such as the complete Dvořák New World Symphony!). The group has maintained an active worldwide performance calendar since 1989, and also does educational outreach events.The CCO’s website provides ample inspiration--video and audio recordings, as well as historical information--for clarinetists interested in forming large clarinet ensembles. It also includes an extensive and searchable repertoire list, with publisher information.

The University of Illinois Clarinet Choir

One unexpected source unearthed in our research lead us to the University of Illinois Clarinet Choir’s page. Chronicling the history and legacy of the ensemble and its founder, Harvey Hermann, this website provides interesting information on the history of the group, activities, and literature performed by the ensemble. Serving as director from 1965 to his retirement from the group in 1998, Hermann had to write numerous transcriptions for his students, including major orchestral works, out of necessity due to the small body of clarinet choir repertoire available at that time. Unfortunately, the ensemble no longer exists, but Hermann's contribution to the literature and genre are still present. By going to the recording links, we can hear and experience works from the seven LP recordings Hermann made with the group. These digitized files from the original LPs are quite a gem. Hermann also has music for sale on the site. Here you can peruse a listing of unpublished original works and transcriptions from his own library, with many of the compositions taken from manuscript copies and reproduced with software notation. 

Chattanooga Clarinet ChoirThe Chattanooga Clarinet Choir has a notable website that contains resourceful information and links to other clarinet choir websites, select artists, and music and equipment vendors. At one point in time the site featured tons of live audio files of a variety of clarinet choir works, but currently the sound files are not accessible. A large collection of public domain sheet music is available to download, including clarinet and piano works and unaccompanied pieces (site requires password for this link), but unfortunately no clarinet choir literature is listed. The group was founded in 1999 by Jay Craven and is directed by Lok Kim. 

Silverwood Clarinet Choir The Silverwood Clarinet Choir is a professional ensemble in central New York state. Pamela Mastrobattisto leads the group, but frequently turns over the baton to guest conductors. The SCC does polished performances of challenging repertoire including transcriptions and original compositions.The Silverwood Clarinet Choir website includes many performance videos and audio recordings, a selective repertoire list, and links to the group’s other online outlets, including a clarinet choir blog and Facebook page.

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The Fidelio Podcast: Interview with Marie Ross (Dec. 2015 column)

In this column, we interviewed Marie Ross about The Fidelio Podcast, her twice-monthly podcast about topics in the arts including early music and period instruments. Dr. Ross is a historical clarinet specialist and arranger living in Germany. She is associate principal clarinetist with the French period-instrument orchestra Ensemble Matheus, and performs regularly with various other historical orchestras including Concerto Köln, MusicAeterna and Akademie für Alte Music Berlin. You can listen to the podcast at http://FidelioPodcast.libsyn.com and access more information including tons of photos of Marie and her guests on the podcast's Facebook page.

Clarinet Cache: Why did you decide to create The Fidelio Podcast?

Marie Ross: This is a big question, with a few different answers! I went to high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy, which is a school for many artistic disciplines. It was great to be around not only other serious musicians my age, but also kids who were pursuing careers as dancers, visual artists, and actors, etc.  Fifteen years later, having gone into the highly specialized world of early music, I started to miss the different conversations with artists outside my discipline. I find these are often the kind of conversations that can open your mind to new ideas and give you fresh inspiration or a new approach for your own work. I also remembered when I was a student I would hear recordings of historical performance, but I had very little idea of what it really was, how those musicians got involved in it, or how they were working. It turns out that being a historical performer is very different from life as a mainstream modern classical musician. I wanted to describe some of these things to people and to share my own experiences as a historical performer. Audio is the best medium for me to do that – I’ve been in love with radio since I was young – and podcasting itself is a revolutionary movement like early music!

CC: The show features guests with diverse backgrounds. How you do select guests?

MR: I always choose artists whose work I love, who have inspired me, and who I’m excited to share with other people. Many of my guests work at various different artistic endeavors, like Michael Walters who was transitioning from being a ballet dancer into an actor, or the Steindler sisters who are both baroque violinists and fashion designers. I started out interviewing friends, amazing artists that I’ve met in my life and who I knew I could count on for a fascinating and deep conversation. Then I started interviewing the artists I was lucky enough to be working with, world-class singers and conductors. And now, as in the case of long-time Simpsons director, Mark Kirkland, incredible artists are starting to find me. He had heard my podcast, gotten in touch, and now after we made a couple of great episodes about his career in animation and his own projects as a filmmaker, I consider him a good friend.

CC: What are some of your favorite clarinet guests or topics covered?

MR: When I started the show, I wanted to establish that it wasn’t a clarinet show – or even a music show – so I actually avoided having too many clarinetists as guests in the beginning. I did interview Luigi Magistrelli about his set of late Romantic German clarinets owned by Dieter Klöcker. Luigi shared so much information about the instruments, but also made a point to talk about his relationship and respect for Klöcker, even mentioning how he can still feel Klöcker’s sound in the clarinets when he plays them. That interview was a part of two episodes I did with my early music colleagues about the stories of their favorite original historical wind instruments. I’m a huge opera fan, so I love interviewing opera stars. What’s fun is that usually I end up talking to them about playing clarinet, and we start comparing singing with being an instrumentalist. The episodes I make myself without guests are all special to me as well. One of my favorites to make was about my experience playing a whole season just of Rossini opera, and how that changes you as a player. I did a lot of research about Rossini and the Italian opera world of the time, and compared it with the opera productions we make today. It was fun to see how hectic and chaotic musical life was then, and how not much has changed.

CC: Your podcasts are interesting and informative from a historical perspective. What kind of audience does your podcast reach?

MR: Making the podcast has been an incredible experience because I’ve reached such a wide audience. I’ve made a lot of friends with people who have heard it and gotten in touch on social media. Because of the podcast, I’ve been in contact with Irish poets, Broadway theater fans, art students, Los Angeles filmmakers, James Joyce scholars, all kinds of musicians from around the world, and of course just regular people who are interested in the arts. When I make an episode or an interview, especially with musicians, it can be tempting to get too technical or too much into detail that only other professional musicians would understand, but I try hard to avoid that. Each time I make an episode, I think specifically of three people who I know are out there listening: a 15 year-old girl in Paris who is studying piano and found me from my first episode, an amateur footballer in Indiana who has an office day-job and told me that he has become more curious about culture since finding my podcast, and my mom – who still knows very little about music, but will listen if I explain things to her. Having them in my mind helps me keep the content clear and accessible.

CC: What are your future plans for the podcasts?

MR: I plan to start having more clarinetist guests. I am looking forward to doing an interview soon with Frank Cohen among others. Otherwise, I’m just planning to keep meeting interesting artists who show me how all the arts are connected, and to use it as a platform to talk about what we do as historical performers.

CC: Do you have any new performance projects lined up?

MR: Yes, I’m very excited because in 2016 I will be putting together a wind octet made up of the best historical wind players from all over Europe, a kind of “dream team” to play in the Concertgebouw Brugge. Classical-period wind octet music is my topic, so I’ll be talking a bit about my research and playing my own arrangements with the group. I also have a new Rossini opera coming up with Ensemble Matheus, and the “Folle nuit” concert we do, which I want to make a podcast episode about. It means “crazy night,” and we play all kinds of music all night long from 7 PM to 7 AM. We play our symphonic and operatic repertoire, but then different groups of musicians also play solo repertoire, jazz, rock, and last year we even had an orchestral “karaoke” concert where people from the audience came up and sang opera arias with us! It’s totally insane and ends with a huge breakfast with the audience in the morning.

CC: And lastly, what is your favorite clarinet to play on?

MR: That’s a difficult question. Some days I think it’s my 10-key late Classical clarinet which is probably the one I play most often, some days I think it’s the basset-horn, and sometimes I definitely think it’s one of the Oskar Oehler late Romantic clarinets. Actually I think I’m a lot like my friend Alexis Kossenko. I asked him to bring one of his favorite flutes to talk about for my episode about instruments, and the next day he came to the theater with five flutes from different eras, because there was just no way he could choose one. So we sat backstage before our performance, and he demonstrated all of the flutes for me and told me about each one, which I later made into a whole episode!

Clarinet Chamber Ensembles (Sept. 2015 column)

Clarinet Chamber Ensembles

In this column we took a look at clarinet chamber ensembles with interesting resources on the Internet. Using the listing of ensembles at the clarinet.org “Links” page along with other sources, we came up with some standout groups that have good audio files and videos online, and may help you discover new repertoire for small clarinet ensemble.

Carolina Clarinet Quartet

In our research for this column we came across Carolina Clarinet Quartet’s website and were impressed by the amount of information located on their page. The PDF file of their music library covers over three hundred clarinet quartets and many entries include timings and brief remarks on each piece. Several of these works have been arranged by Carolina Clarinet Quartet’s founding members Brent Smith and Jim Williams and are available for purchase on the site. Over half of the entries contain audio samples and recordings made by the group, allowing visitors an opportunity to hear excerpts of pieces. These recordings, coupled with the practical annotations, are a great resource for those wishing to expand their knowledge of the genre’s repertoire.  Also found on the website is a list of the group’s favorite compositions to play and a link to Smith’s informative article “Clarinet Mouthpiece Materials.” Another useful component of the website is an extensive index of clarinet quartet organizations, searchable by both name and location. Despite the index page not being updated for over two years, this list provides further points for exploration of clarinet quartets, and provides links to their websites.

Chicago Clarinet Ensemble

The Chicago Clarinet Ensemble is a group made up of both professional clarinetists and gifted younger students from the Chicago area. With a flexible approach to instrumentation, the ensemble’s membership ranges from two players to thirty-five or more musicians. Many of the group’s performances have featured guest soloists such as Stanley Drucker and Anthony McGill. Founded by Rose Sperrazza in 2007, the ensemble is in residence at Northeastern Illinois University. Aiding in the promotion of new music, the group has commissioned eight new works and even has a composer-in-residence, Leo Schwartz. His newest compositions are listed on their website, including audio and video footage of two of his works. Visit their website to learn more about their core members, current events and performances, and hear live performances by the group, including a work for clarinet choir and synthesizer.

Clarinetes Ad Libitum

Clarinetes Ad Libitum is a Portuguese clarinet quartet with percussion, performing folk and traditional music of a variety of cultures. The videos on their website show their affinity for theatrical performances -- they often utilize percussion and vocals, and extramusical elements include a fog machine and removal of shirts onstage! You can also stream their entire album “Contradanza” via their website: a good place to explore clarinet quartet repertoire off the beaten path.

Ensemble 54

The clarinet quartet Ensemble 54 (Josh Kovach, Pascal Archer, David Gould and Nuno Antunes) doesn’t have a ton of information on its website, but they they have a Facebook page and YouTube account where you can find some great videos of their repertoire. These video performances include works by Tomasi and Farkas along with less traditional fare, like a work for clarinet quartet and solo ocarina, and even a duo arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” for A-flat sopranino clarinet and contrabass clarinet!

Farallon Quintet

The Farallon Quintet from the San Francisco Bay Area is a unique chamber group that solely performs clarinet quintet (clarinet plus string quartet) repertoire. The group was founded in 2012 and all of the quintet members are active musicians performing in the Bay Area. Clarinetist Natalie Parker is also principal clarinetist of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. The quintet’s repertoire is not limited to the standard works and they have worked with a handful of composers to commission and premiere new works. They also play lesser-known compositions such as film composer Bernard Herrmann’s quintet Souvenirs de Voyage, which can be heard on a video on their website. The ensemble’s website includes a blog that allows the group to expand upon their musical mission and to highlight new or unknown works and their composers. One blog post alerts viewers the large volume of works found on Earsense, an extensive chamber music database, which currently lists 169 compositions for the genre. This database is a terrific starting point for those researching or looking up chamber music with various instrumental combinations that include the clarinet.

Duo Gurfinkel

Turning to literature for clarinet duo, the website of the Duo Gurfinkel is a great place to start. These twin brothers from Israel, Alexander and Daniel Gurfinkel, were born in 1992 and by the age of 12 were performing as soloists with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The duo’s website has some great performance videos along with a handy repertoire list including works for two clarinets alone, two clarinets with piano, and two clarinets with orchestra.

New Clarinet Blogs

In this column, we explore several interesting clarinet blogs that have emerged in the past year or so. But first, we want to acknowledge the retirement of our editor and teacher James Gillespie, known to us now and forever as “Dr. Gillespie.” His talent as an editor lies not just in his vast understanding of clarinet history, but also his ability to look ahead to the future. It was back in 2008 that he had the foresight to envision a column about internet resources for clarinet, and offered advice and support as we designed the Clarinet Cache blog and worked on those first few columns. As clarinetists, scholars and writers, Dr. Gillespie has influenced both of us immeasurably. We join in with the rest of the clarinet community in thanking him for his dedicated work to advance our profession through the written word.

HeatherRoche.net
One of our new discoveries is a popular blog by Heather Roche, a clarinetist originally from Canada, now living in Germany and specializing in contemporary music. Her posts on extended techniques go well beyond the material found in many textbooks. She explores specific types of multiphonics, prepared bass clarinet (modifying the instrument for unusual effects), slap tonguing, and other techniques, all with helpful videos and audio examples. Roche recently held a composition competition, financed by a crowdfunding campaign (see our December 2014 column on crowdfunding initiatives by other clarinetists) and publicized via her blog. Since then, she’s published a couple articles giving valuable advice to composers. Roche is not afraid to branch off from contemporary music to explore other subjects; her "Collaborative History of the Clarinet" series provides thoughtful commentary on Mozart/Stadler, Spohr/Hermstedt and other famous composer/clarinetist pairs.

Music1oh1.wordpress.com
In her budding blog "Music1oh1," Mary Alice Druhan reaches out to musicians, teachers and students alike with her insightful posts aimed to help readers cope with the various challenges of learning and playing the clarinet. As associate professor of clarinet at Texas A&M University-Commerce and an active performer, her perspective on topics like facing performance-based challenges, correcting technique, and understanding how to set practice rooms expectations and goals comes from years of experience. 

In her "Branching Out" blog post, Druhan gives a guide to high school solo repertoire and discusses the advantages to assigning multiple works from different musical periods over the course of one year. Her lists of works within each period could serve as a starting point for teachers looking to keep their students interested and engaged in the learning process while covering significant works within the repertoire. The post on practice room expectations gives students advice on how to start enjoying their time in the practice room and how to get more out of each practice session, something most students struggle with. Druhan created Music1oh1 in September 2014, and it has already become an appealing resource for clarinetists. We hope that she will continue with her inspirational postings in the future!

RichardStoltzman.com
Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman needs little introduction to our readers, who may be interested to know about a new blog on his website at RichardStoltzman.com. A fairly recent initiative, the blog has a handful of posts including answers to frequently asked questions about Stoltzman’s equipment and practice habits, a remembrance of Benny Goodman, and links to recent performances.

Website Watch (March 2015 column)

James Gillespie Online Research Library Project

As was announced in the December 2014 issue, the I.C.A. has launched its James Gillespie Online Research Library, named in honor of our illustrious editor! The library is a searchable archive of every issue of The Clarinet, from 1973 to the present. That’s 164 issues to date -- more than 40 years of master class articles, clarinetist profiles, equipment discussions, music reviews, and much, much more.

The treasures available in the archive are numerous. Clarinet historian Albert R. Rice contributed a number of excellent articles to the journal over the years, beginning back in volume 4. Michael Webster has written 64 articles in his “Teaching Clarinet” series, a fantastically thorough resource for teachers. Did you know that Paul Harvey’s first article for The Clarinet, “The Clarinet Music of Gordon Jacob,” appeared in volume 2?  And don’t forget James Gillespie’s own work dating back to the very first volume of the journal, including his multi-part features “I Wonder Who the Clarinet Player Was? The Hollywood Clarinetists” and “The Movies of Benny Goodman -- A Pictorial Retrospective.”

The Online Research Library also serves as a valuable record of original writings by esteemed clarinetists who are no longer with us. These include pedagogical articles by Keith Stein, historical articles by Pamela Weston, equipment investigations by Lee Gibson, and Rosario Mazzeo’s “Mazzeo Musings” series, which ran from 1986 to 1994.

The applications for use of this library are many. Performers can do a search for the title of a work they’re preparing to find historical information or master class articles. Clarinet professors can consult the wealth of pedagogy articles for help with the challenges of teaching clarinet -- or they could even make the library a required course text, introducing their students to the I.C.A. and the benefits of membership. Scholars will want to consult the numerous articles on historical clarinets and clarinetists of the past. Without a doubt, clarinetists around the world will be inspired to join the I.C.A. in order to gain access to the incredible resource of the James Gillespie Online Research Library.

Wesley Ferreira’s website

If you, like many musicians, dutifully created a personal website sometime in the early 2000’s and then let it languish with sporadic updates ever since, you might want to look to WesleyFerreira.com as inspiration for an update. Ferreira has gone above and beyond the typical bio/calendar/audio artist website, creating a clean, contemporary online space that serves not just as a digital business card, but a platform for interacting with his audience.

Ferreira’s site first caught our attention with his “Clarinet in the Digital Age” project.  In the fall of 2014, he encouraged fans to vote on repertoire for an upcoming recital.  Visitors to the “Vote” page had the opportunity to choose between two musical selections in six different genres, with audio clips to help make their decision.  Ferreira has committed to performing the most popular selections on his “Clarinet in the Digital Age” recital on March 9, 2015 at Colorado State University, where he is on faculty. Bringing the project full-circle, the concert will be live-streamed online so that fans from around the world can listen.

Clarinet Crowdfunding (December 2014 column)

In recent years, a new model has emerged for artists and entrepreneurs looking to raise money for their projects. Crowdfunding, in which the Internet is used as a resource for fundraising small amounts of money from a large number of people, has revolutionized the way many musicians approach recording projects. Kickstarter.com is the most popular platform for this type of fundraising, so in this column we’ll explore several recent Kickstarter campaigns by clarinetists.

David Gould

In May of 2013, clarinetist David Gould finished fundraising for his project The Forgotten Clarinet, a recording of lesser-known French works for clarinet and piano. Currently bass clarinetist for the American Ballet Theater Orchestra in New York City, Gould recorded more familiar works like Raymond Gallois-Montbrun’s Concertstucke and Marc Delmas’ Fantaisie Italienne, along with obscure works such as Paul Ladmirault’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano and Rene de Boisdeffre’s Three Pieces. Using a common tactic for Kickstarter campaigns for recording projects, Gould offered a copy of the completed CD as a reward for donating at least $20 -- allowing the campaign to function as a preorder for the CD. Funding obtained from Kickstarter covered Gould’s costs for recording, mastering, and production of the recording, which is now available for purchase.

Paul Cantrell

Composer Paul Cantrell used Kickstarter back in September of 2012 to help fund the manufacture and publicity of his work The Broken Mirror of Memory for bass clarinet and piano. Receiving first prize in the 2012 I.C.A. Composition Competition, the work was premiered at ClarinetFest in Lincoln, Nebraska with great success, and with the help of supporters through donations on Kickstarter, Cantrell was able to print and distribute recordings and scores. Exceeding his initial fundraising goals, he was able to provide additional promotion of his work with the extra funds. Originally conceived as a piece for piano and cello, Cantrell worked with bass clarinetist Pat O’Keefe to breathe new life into the piece. Commentary by Cantrell and snippets of the piece can be heard on the video posted on his Kickstarter page.

Michael Lowenstern

Michael Lowenstern’s unique Kickstarter project funded a set of recordings of each work in the popular Rubank Concert & Contest Collection book of solos for bass clarinet. Unlike many musicians who use Kickstarter to raise funds to create a recording for commercial release, Lowenstern’s goal was to provide these recordings for download online for free as a resource for bass clarinetists. In July 2013 he met his $4,500 goal to cover the recording costs, and the tracks are now available on his website at Earspasm.com.

GremlinsDuo

The most recent project we took a closer look at was a CD and method book project by GremlinsDuo (Tim Fitzgerald and Jonathan Goodman). The clarinet/bass clarinet duo raised $1,700 this past August to release a CD of commissioned works and publish their two new method books, the first focusing on quarter-tone exercises and the second comprising a “Buddy System” warm-up book. As with many of the other campaigns, the finished products are offered as rewards at various levels of backer support.

Among the other Kickstarter campaigns to reach their fundraising goal are projects by clarinetists Laura Carmichael, Jorge Variego, Andrew DeBoer, Gleb Kanasevich and the Sqwonk Duo, to name a few. Visit Kickstarter.com to explore these successful campaigns and learn more about this method of fundraising. You might just be inspired to become a backer yourself!