This summer, part of the repertoire that we are playing in the wind ensemble concerts at the navy band is Ticheli’s Blue Shades. Most band people are probably familiar with it, and even more clarinetists know of the notorious full page solo near the end.
I was browsing Youtube this morning and I found this video of an entire 1st clarinet section (5 players) playing the solo. I was thinking, oh, this might be cool.
Um, WHAT? No, not cool. If you’re going to attempt to play such a crazy solo as a soli, at least make sure its all together and all in tune. It kind of sounded like a hack job to me. I’m sure all those players are very talented, but it just didn’t work as a soli. I’m sure it would be totally awesome if all 5 clarinetists were completely in sync with each other and in tune…but they weren’t and that’s just too bad.
So what if I have ridiculously high standards?
Sandy Herrera, Clarinet 