I will be performing on Sunday with a new professional wind band called the Maryland Winds. This group is made up of freelance musicians like myself and retired musicians from the elite military bands in the DC area (“The President’s Own” Marine Band, “Pershing’s Own” Army Band, the Army Field Band, the Navy Band, and the Air Force Band). If you would like to come out to support us, the concert is at 7:00 pm on Sunday evening at Atholton High School. Tickets are free, but you will still need to order them to make sure we have an accurate account of how many people are in attendance.
Milburn, World Premier Fanfare
Buck, Festival Overture on the Star Spangled Banner
Giroux, Hymn for the Innocent
Curnow, Concertpiece featuring René Hernandez, trumpet soloist
Salfelder, Cathedrals
Bernstein, Suite for Mass
McKenzie, Iron Mahors March
Copland, Variations on a Shaker Melody
Murtha, Scarborough Fair
Nelson, Rocky Point Holiday
Please come out to support Maryland’s newest professional wind band in its inaugural performance.
“Why? I’ve been playing on it for weeks, and I like the way it sounds.”
“It’s black.”
“That’s just dirt/marker/pencil.”
“That is not going in your mouth again.”
I cannot recall the exact number of conversations I have had like this with students in the last twenty-one years. What students are willing to shove in their mouths is absolutely astounding, and then their parents cannot figure out why these students are always sick. Hmmmmm.
To prove a point to my students, and any other reed players out there reading this, I have always wanted to do a bacterial test on reeds and mouthpieces. Luckily for my checkbook, Michael Lowenstern did this exact experiment for me. Behold, the reed and mouthpiece bacterial study:
Still think playing on that reed with “just a little bit of black” is okay? Not in my studio!
The Maryland Music Educators Association has released the entire list of All-State requirements on their website, so I thought I would share it here. If you have friends or family trying out for All-State on other instruments, they will like knowing this information, too:
Fall lessons have been scheduled successfully for another year! I know I have a few outstanding emails from new students to return, so please expect replies from me today. I had to solidify my schedule with the current studio before adding in new students, which I am sure parents understand and appreciate. Thank you for all the support and your continued wish to see your child achieve their playing goals at a high level!
Next Sunday, May 1st, 1-4 pm at George Mason University, Richie Hawley will be giving a clarinet masterclass.
Who is Richie Hawley? If you are not yet familiar with this incredible musician and pedagogue, allow me to introduce you:
Richie Hawley is a versatile and critically acclaimed artist who ranks among the most distinguished clarinetists of his generation. Mr. Hawley was appointed Principal Clarinet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1994 at the age of 23, only two years after graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music. He has since enjoyed a rewarding and multifaceted career as an orchestral clarinetist, recitalist, chamber musician, teacher and clinician. From 1994-2011, as the Principal Clarinet of the CSO, he impressed audiences around the world with a wide-ranging talent that blended virtuosity and the velvety, sonorous tone that has become his trademark. The Cincinnati Enquirer has praised him for the “seamless flowing tone so many clarinetists long for and few can achieve.” Many of the 60+ recordings by the CSO and Cincinnati Pops during his tenure have featured major solos of the clarinet repertoire. American Record Guide hailed Hawley’s “gorgeous” clarinet solo in the CSO’s Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 as “the crowning achievement” of the recording by Maestro Jesus Lopez-Cobos.
In 2011 Mr. Hawley became the Professor of Clarinet at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston. During the summer season, he serves as the teaching and performing clarinet artist at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, one of the premiere summer festivals for exceptionally talented musicians from around the world
Mr. Hawley is dedicated to performing chamber music, and appears regularly as a chamber musician and recitalist throughout the United States and abroad. In 2014/15 he made frequent appearances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as their guest Principal Clarinet. His upcoming chamber music activities include performances at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, the Da Camera of Houston’s chamber music series and an international tour in May 2016 with the Rogue Ensemble. He made his debut at the Marlboro Music Festival in the summers of 1999 and 2000 and performed with the legendary “Musicians from Marlboro” for the Festival’s gala 50th anniversary tour at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Hawley has garnered awards as both performer and educator. He won the Coleman-Barstow prize at the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition in 1988 with Trio con Brio, and that same year was one of five musicians to receive the Gold Medal as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts from Ronald Reagan in a ceremony at the White House. He has received the Léni Fé Bland Foundation Career Grant twice, and he was awarded the 2009 Glover Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year at UC’s College Conservatory of Music.
Mr. Hawley began his clarinet studies with Yehuda Gilad at the Colburn School of Performing Arts at age 9. He made his orchestral solo debut at 13, performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the winner of its student stars competition. At 14 he performed on one of the New York Philharmonic’s young person’s subscription concerts as a winner of the Philharmonic’s national talent search competition. While a student of Donald Montanaro at the Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Hawley appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
A Buffet-Crampon artist, Mr. Hawley performs on the Tosca model of clarinet. He is also a D’Addario Woodwinds Performing Artist and Clinician, and plays exclusively on the Reserve Classic reeds and mouthpieces which he helped to develop.
We have two unique summer opportunities for you which would compliment each other perfectly and allow you two weeks of clarineting in California. While these two festivals are not related, it would give those of you who are looking to spend two weeks at Clarinet Festivals a chance to do so.
The California Clarinet Clinic will be held from June 23-27 in the beautiful Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles which is walking distance to the ocean and steps away from hiking in Temescal Canyon. The CCC will focus on mind/body issues and dealing with performance anxiety through hypnosis, music therapy, Alexander technique and yoga. It is a unique and special opportunity and available spaces are filling up quickly. The clarinet faculty of the CCC will be Michele Zukovsky, Peter Wright, Alcides Rodreguez, William Powell and Julia Heinen. Each participant will receive lessons with each of these faculty members in addition to opportunities to perform in masterclasses of orchestral and solo repertoire. The application for admission can be found online at http://californiaclarinetclinic.com/
The HIdden Valley Music Seminar, featuring Mark Nuccio, will be held from June 25 – June 29 in beautiful Carmel Valley, CA. A short plane ride from LAX or Burbank airports to either Monterey or San Francisco airports would bring you to this delightful Northern CA festival and your second week of clarineting would feature additional intensive study with another world class clarinetist. The HVMS (http://www.hiddenvalleymusic.org/event-clarinet-mark-nuccio…) offers 8, 2.5 hour masterclasses focusing on topics from audition preparation to fundamentals in clarinet playing including articulation, sound development, practice techniques and phrasing using the human voice. There will be other topics as well. It also includes a combined recital from Mark Nuccio and his NY Philharmonic colleague, Judith LeClair, Principal Bassoon.
Please consider spending your clarinet time in California this summer. We know you will have an amazing and unforgettable experience.
Sincerely
Julia Heinen & Mark Nuccio
Mark Nuccio
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New York Philharmonic, Associate Principal & Solo Eb Clarinet
Manhattan School of Music, Clarinet Faculty
Buffet Group USA, Artist & Clinician
D’Addario Woodwinds Artist Advisor & Clinician www.marknuccio.com www.hiddenvalleymusic.org/event-clarinet-mark-nuccio_15.htm
Julia M. Heinen DMA
Professor of Music (clarinet)
California State University, Northridge (Los Angeles)
Co-Artistic Director of Clarinetfest 2011
Buffet Group USA and D’Addario Performing Artist
California State Chair of the International Clarinet Association
(818) 613-4305 cell www.juliaheinen.com http://californiaclarinetclinic.com http://clavierinet.com
Today, I had the distinct pleasure to serve as a clarinet judge for Maryland All-State for the third consecutive year, along with several of my extremely talented colleagues.
One of the clear advantages to judging All-State is the ability to network and bond with colleagues and build lasting professional relationships. I have been blessed to meet so many incredible teachers and players through my experiences with All-State, and they have helped to make me a better teacher along the way. Another advantage is knowing the caliber of musicianship being displayed across the fine state of Maryland, which I can use to push my own high school students.
What a difference in talent we experienced this year, as compared to the past two. The vast majority of the students we listened to this year were poised, prepared, and pleasant. There were a few chuckles along the way, too, like the guy named Jake that laughed and said, “Yes, like ‘Jake from State Farm’,” that was immediately followed by a different student dressed in khakis and a red shirt.
All in all, the day passed quickly and with loads of smiles.
The Maryland Music Educators Association has released the updated lists for both junior and senior All-State this week. In years past, there was a four-year rotation of the same études, so this presents nearly a complete departure from said rotation. I am on board with this, being fairly new to Maryland’s system for All-State.
After looking over the lists for clarinet, I can already see that judging All-State again this year will be challenging. The octave jumps on page 23 at 120 bpm will be a true test of the students’ abilities and our patience as judges. That said, I remember mastering the same étude when I was a sophomore clarinetist, auditioning for West Virginia All-State. Ah, memories.
Donna Noyes, Clarinet 