Learn to Play the Clarinet

Here is the review in the Taranaki Daily News:

TARANAKI DAILY NEWS Monday, May 11, 2009

New Plymouth orchestra gives all with classical period excellence

Review By ALLAN PURDY

THE New Plymouth Orchestra gave its best concert ever on Saturday night at St Andrew’s Church.  With Adam Jasinski’s meticulous direction and large amounts of concentration from the players, this talented group just keeps improving.

The programme of works from the late 19th century classical period could so easily have been just ordinary, but no, this was a sparkling performance from start to finish, considerably enhanced by the brilliance of two concerto soloists.
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Well, I should be typing this from my hotel room in Tonga, but sadly my involvement in these concerts was canned because we simply could not get together for a rehearsal beforehand due to being too busy.

To cheer myself up I will post the review of the concerto I played in New Plymouth last weekend.

And another - well it is the concert season!

If you are in Tonga and have connections to the King of Tonga then get yourself to one of three concerts I will be playing in the week of the 11th of May.  I will be performing the Mozart Clarinet Quintet.  The rest of the items in these chamber music concerts feature prominent New Zealand classical musicians.

Another shameless plug:

Hello clarinet and wind players in New Plymouth.  I will be playing the Krommer Clarinet  Concerto with your local orchestra on Saturday 9th May in St Andrew’s Church, New Plymouth at 8:00PM  Stay tuned for some more info on this concerto.

A series of shameless plugs:

I am conducting Rachmaninov 3rd Piano Concerto (affectionately (or not) known as Rach 3) in Devonport’s Holy Trinity Church on Sunday 3rd May 2009 at 2:00PM.

This is the latest in a series of annual concerts I have been asked to be involved in working with famous (in Devonport) pianist Paddy Cornfield.  Last year we did the Grieg Concerto and a late Mozart Concerto.  Previous year we did the Tchaikovsky and Rhapsody in Blue Concertos.

Come and hear Paddy play and he will tell you how many notes there are in the piano part as part of his introductory talk! Tickets are $15.00.  Be there in plenty of time, it’s standing room only if you’re late.

If you have any money lying around in June 2009 then you must see Kari Kriikku do his thing on stage in Auckland with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Read the rest of this entry »

Arezzo Clarinets

By Ashley Hopkins

Cannonball Musical Instruments - website - have put out a range of clarinets under the Arezzo label from student to professional models.  In this review are the three models available: The Zeloso student clarinet and the two professional models: The Veloce and the flagship model: The Piacere.
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Crotchet and Quaver Triplets

Triplet quavers fall in between the speed of the quaver and the semiquaver, or eighth note and sixteenth note, and triplet crotchets fall in between crotchets and quavers. Read the rest of this entry »

Metronomes have been around a long time to help musicians play in time and with a sense of rhythmic pulse. The original wind up triangular ones are still available but these are not recommended as they get slower when the spring winds down. They make nice mantle piece decorations though. Read the rest of this entry »

Standing and Playing the Clarinet

Most of your solo performing in front of an audience will be done standing up, so part of your practice time should be spent in this position as well so that it is as comfortable as sitting when playing. Read the rest of this entry »