Re: Reply to Isabelle: re Clarinet

[Matt Jaffey <mjaffey2...>]

To Dan Singer,

Since you are a singer, and I'm not, I will assume that you know what you
are talking about with respect to vocal tone production. However, I don't
agree with what you said about clarinet playing:

<<Comparing the untrained voice to an operatic singer is like comparing the
tone of the clarinet in klezmer to the clarinet in a symphony>> etc. etc.

I'm a violinist, but I study with Kurt Bjorling, a fairly well known
klezmer clarinetist. Kurt not only has the professional training to play in
a symphony, he continues to take lessons from a member of the Chicago
symphony. But guess what - he said that it took him a long time to develop
the proper tone for klezmer on the clarinet. As for kvetches, krechts etc.
there is quite an art to these, and room for a great deal of subtle variation.

I have experienced the same thing on the violin. Having spent the better
part of my life cultivating methods of classical tone production and
ornamentation, I found it quite a challenge, to develop an idiomatic
klezmer violin sound. Actually, I think that most violinists who play
klezmer have difficulty with this, because there are not many who have
mastered it - one outstanding example that comes to mind of someone who
can't do it very well is Itzhak Perlman.

Now back to song - I once saw on public television a recording session with
John Denver and a well known operatic tenor doing a duet with one of John's
popular songs. It sounded so out of place for the tenor to be using his
cultivated operatic voice ("natural" to him of course) in that context. It
didn't fit with the music, and it didn't fit with the ensemble. There is a
place for every vocal style, and some styles can be misplaced as well. I
haven't listened to Moni Ovadia, but the word "overwrought" could very well
indicate a valid style not suitable for the context. Do I detect a little
western european, classically trained, ethnocentricity about your comments
vis a vis what to consider the standards for excellence?

Matt Jaffey

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