Clarinet Workshop

Hello! So the aim of my seventh workshop in my schools listening project was to introduce the pupils to the sounds of the clarinet. I was working with a friend of mine, the clarinetist Fran Pybus. As always, I delivered a workshop on Tuesday at Dalry Primary and Wednesday at Preston Street Primary.

Fran began by playing a piece on her clarinet to introduce the pupils to the sound. In every group the pupils sat very still and with focused attention. They really fell under the spell of the beautiful tone of the instrument. In contrast to the beautifully melodic Romance that Fran played, I then asked her to play an improvisation exploring some of the stranger sounds that can be produced by a clarinet. We heard trills in various registers, glissandi (slides) in the highest register which sounded like shrieks, overblowing (literally when Fran blows too much air through the instrument and achieves a multiphonic, intense sound), slap tonguing (which produces a percussive sound) and key slapping. These odd sounds were all very intriguing and the pupils enjoyed reacting to each new sound. We then explored some of these sounds in more detail and the pupils used their sound diaries to describe individual sounds.

We then had a discussion about proximity and what effect this can have on the listening experience. Even before exploring it in more detail most kids were able to realise that being in close proximity to an instrument would affect the volume and tone of the sound. We then conducted some experiments to explore this:

1. Fran played a crescendo and diminuendo (got louder and quieter) on a fixed pitch
2. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume and walked past us
3. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume as we walked past her.

It was interesting to note that at Preston Street primary it was easier to hear differences in volume in these last two experiments than at Dalry.

We then tried some of the following (some of which were suggested by pupils):

1. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst turning around on the spot
2. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst turning around on the spot and with one pupil turning around at the same time. (result - a changing volume for most of the audience, a fixed volume for the individual pupil)
3. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst one pupil placed their hand against the bell of her instrument (result - a drop in volume and a slight lowering of pitch when the hand covered the hole)
4. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst standing outside the classroom
5. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst the class stood outside the classroom and Fran was inside.
6. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst spinning the bell of her clarinet in a circle (result - a surprising siren-like effect)
7. Fran standing on the opposite side of the room, playing a fixed pitch. She played a diminuendo as she walked towards us (result - the volume remained fairly constant but the tone changed)

Fran then played us a short improvisation on her bass clarinet. Some pupils thought it was a saxophone due to its shape. They all enjoyed listening to how deep the instrument could go.

The last thing we tried was to create a group composition exploring proximity. The class decided on four "performance situations" where they had to pick where Fran performed, where the class were, and what Fran was to play. This exercise was quite good fun but was slightly chaotic. The groups explored such things as: fanfares (with the pupils marching around the room), angry music with trills and squeaks, pupils walking around Fran in a circle.