Salon Music for Bass Clarinet

I remember being at BOA Summer Symposium in 1999 and hearing Timothy Mahr talking about wanting to be a composer. I think he even does clinics on this topic now. His premise was simple: If you want to be a composer, then be a composer! That's it. Just do it. (I think some guy from Oregon might have thought of that one first)

Anyways, I always WANTED to be a composer, but I had these grandiose ideas that I could never get on paper. So, a couple of years ago I gave up the grandiose ideas and went with something I could control...I started writing for myself. In the past 18-20 months I've probably written 100-150 pieces for myself. Some big, many small. All of them for me, solo Bass Clarinet, that's it. (Well, I did write a Concerto for Bass Clarinet, but not this nutbag Corigliano-style piece, something much more neo-classical) So, I've got all kinds of music laying around that's just for me. Then I realized something.....

I can actually do something with this stuff!

Alot of my music is, on some level, extremely difficult. 9 times out of 10 that would be due to range issues, occasionally it would be for some extended technique. I've thought about recording and, the more I write, the more I want to record. It's all my stuff. I'm not being sized up against someone else. Not that that's a bad thing. There are tons of really good Bass Clarinetists out there (you'd be surprised, unless you're on of those people, or know one of them, then you'd know because playing at that level on this kind of instrument speaks for itself.) But it's like being a popular musician, you play YOUR stuff, not someone else's and when you DO play someone else's stuff it's out of respect. I really don't care how my version of "Echange" would stack up against Mike Lowenstern's (his is very good by the way.) I care a whole lot more about MY playing, MY sound, and MY style. I didn't spend four years in college working with a style-meister just to sit here and copy people.

That's my big problem with popular music and ESPECIALLY with Christian music. People copy each other in very eerie ways. I heard a song on the radio today that I was sure was Sheri Carr. All the idiosyncracies were there from Sheri's singing and yet the artist was someone else. Huh? I mean really? That would be like me performing "Echange" and playing it EXACTLY the way Mike Lowenstern plays it, so much so that people think it's him. That's disrespectful to him (because I'm basically misrepresenting myself) and to me (because I'm better than that. Really, everybody's better than that!) Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but at some point you lose yourself in that.

So, by doing MY thing, and doing it well I cultivate a style of playing that is altogether unique. If we didn't have anyone doing this musically we would never change periods, styles, or ideas. All the original ideas in music are not taken, we just have to willing to look for new ones.

That doesn't mean you can't be influenced by people, but it does mean you have a responsibility to yourself to do something more inspired than a straight transposition of something that's already been done. You could even release an album of hymns, but you'd still have to play them YOUR way with YOUR sound.

This means that if you're into contemporary techniques, you should use them, and if you're not...DON'T! Not everyone can do everything. Not every pro owns every piece ever played..they pick and choose their spots. You should pick and choose yours too. That's what I'm doing, fighting my own battles. Fighting an unseen opponent, the radio in your head, will drive you to distraction...

So, I'm the Salon Music for Bass Clarinet guy. Call me Schubert, Chopin whatever but I'm not comparing myself to anyone, just me.

Peace.