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The following interview with Robert Marcellus is taken from a series of interviews conducted by
James Gholson with a number of prominent American clarinettists and teachers. They were each
asked to respond to the same set of questions regarding teaching and performance. Australian Clari-
net and Saxophone is pleased to publish a shortened version of one of those interviews.
March 1999 15
Its more important than would be Orchestra. As far as listening to record- How often do you play duets with your
reflected in my studio. I picked up trans- ings, I think that it behooves all students students?
position sort of on the job. I guess I have to listen to the recordings of the stand- Thats something I dont do. I must
a pretty good ear. No, I think mostly for ard orchestral repertoire, as long as its say that is primarily because my teach-
the C clarinet business, we should have been conducted by an extremely good ing is limited to some quite gifted and
it, and occasionally I will assign a Rose conductor. Good at what they do: a fine quite accomplished, proficient players.
study to be played on C clarinet. Again, Brahms conductor, or a fine Mozart con- I encourage them, however, to play with
that may be an omission in my teach- ductor. There are such things as tempi each other any of these transcriptions or
ing, but it has not been a militant part and style, so that they know where nice duets for two clarinets. But I think
of my curriculum at all a deliberate orchestral excerpts are and how they fit its terribly important in the development
part. It should be, though. into the music tempo-wise, stylewise, of the high school age or the junior high
Do you encourage the memorization of that sort of thing. I wish we had more of school age, particularly at that age. I
opera and orchestral excerpts? the older recordings to listen to as far as think its very important not only to play
By all means. Its striking to me when clarinet sound is concerned. I think for the student to make him hear what
I say well, were trying a mouthpiece about clarinet sound today, the way I feel it should really sound like, for otherwise
or an embouchure principle and I say, about orchestral performances today, and he would never know, but also to play
Lets take that solo at the end of the there are a lot of very fine performances, an equal voice with him so he realizes,
first movement of the Pastorale. And but not really great, great performances. Gee, Ive got to play as loud as he plays.
all of a sudden, the student starts thumb- I am inclined to feel that way about clari- At least they can start getting a founda-
ing through the books on the stand and net sound today. It seems to me to be tion of the reality of playing the instru-
looking in the table of contents to find coming a little bit off the wall and not as ment, rather than something they think
this excerpt. That shows that the student beautiful as it used to be. I think there it ought to be.
hasnt really practiced the excerpt or stud- are a lot of fine clarinet players, and a lot How do you teach staccato?
ied it. It shows me many times about a of fine clarinet tones, but I dont think Pretty much as laid in this compen-
60% approach to the profession, which there is anything to compare with a dium. [ed. Daniel Bonades A Clarinet
means that that sort of student is gener- Bonade or a young McGinnis or Players Compendium] There are a lot of
ally doomed, anyway. McLane. That kind of beauty just doesnt very simple truths in there. And the thing
seem to exist. I like about the short staccato is that one
How do you teach attacks?
Well, a wonderful principle, as Bonade Just out of curiosity, what are your must learn this to have a complete
phrased it, is that the attack is the with- thoughts on Louis Cahuzac? alphabet at ones beck-and-call to inter-
drawal of the tongue from the reed. That Oh, I remember so well his recording pret music. The short staccato is some-
has to do with the whole world of of the Hindemith, and although he was times abused and therefore maligned by
articulation: ts and ds and tahs and a very elderly gentleman when he people who hear that and then say, I
dahs and dos and tos and thuhs and recorded that, the interesting thing to wouldnt play like that for anything in
all kinds of things. Attacks are simply me is that the basic timbre of his sound the world. The lovely thing is to make
talking on the reed. But most people was very much akin to what I call the the best comparison of sound with your
slam the reed too hard because their classical tradition of the French clarinet nicest straight slurred tone and to make
tongues are floating all around their of the current day. The clarinet of the sure your sound is exactly the same, how-
mouths as an inert sort of a blob with- first war. Its an extremely vibrant sound, ever brief of duration, as your best
out any poise or control. You can see that very luminous, not small having a unstaccato or unslurred sound. Staccato
at the master classes this week: a guh lovely round hue to it, but with a kind is just one of the hundred varieties of
kind of tuh where theyre throwing an of intense center to it, without being articulations on the clarinet. I definitely
uncontrollable muscle on the reed, rather buzzy as such, but very luminous and do teach the prepared fingers, stopping
than a nicely poised one. Generally vibrant. Its an interesting sound. the reed with the tongue and moving
speaking, articulations, if the student has What volumes do you see as necessary to ahead to the next note ahead of time.
them at all, are proper position of the the library of a clarinet player in terms And also stopping the slur in mixed
tongue. But attacks are strictly phonet- of reed-making books, that sort of thing? articulations with the tongue and mov-
ics on the reed. I dont think any acoustical books are ing the fingers ahead. Even though it has
necessary to the clarinet player. One to be practiced slowly at first and sounds
What recordings do you feel are prime a bit unmusical, the short stop of a slur
listening in the development of the clari- should read the section on reed adjust-
ment in the Bonade Compendium or in scherzando music is a very desirable
netist? musical aspect. (Sings Rossinis La Gazza
Kal Oppermans book on how to hand-
Unfortunately, these recordings are no make reeds. We have a couple of inde- Laddra to demonstrate).
longer available, but its interesting to me pendent study research papers done by Do you have any long tone exercises that
to trace the lineage of a beautiful clari- graduate students concerning the Reed you use with your students?
net sound: a young Robert McGinnis Du-All machine. Some of the papers are I dont as such. Again, Im talking
of the Philadelphia Orchestra, principal really wonderful reading, employing the about very proficient students. But I can
position in the mid 30s; my teacher technique of how to make reeds and that well remember the very first thing I ever
Bonade before him; Ralph McLane, sort of thing. And Im sure there are some did for my teacher Mr. Handlon in
who came later into the Philadelphia books that I dont know about. Minneapolis, who was such a serious
March 1999 17
and thats why a lot of teachers stay away you play with your ring finger of your time? Absolutely. Mr. Szell used to have
from it. They dont know what an left hand, is strictly a chromatic finger- a wonderful piece of advice for fledgling
embouchure is and they dont know what ing. And the two side trill keys are not conductors. He said, Youve got to think
is correct. A lot of them play with incor- chromatic F# like a lot of people play. with your heart and feel with your
rect embouchures themselves, so how The chromatic of F# is just the index brain. And thats a perfect combination.
can they teach it? But its a little exhaust- finger in the left hand. The Stark Arpeg- This whole business when you see a
ing for both student and teacher some- gio Studies are where I catch up on that. certain conductor, a former conduc-
times if its a problem, and it takes If a student somewhere in his develop- tor of the New York Philharmonic, for
patience to correct it; and its a little bit ment on his way here to study with me instance, getting up in the one part of
stressful all the way around. has not been taught the proper the Bach B minor Mass, the crucifixus,
Do you do some specific things with your fingerings, then we do go back to chap- actually assuming the pose of the cruci-
upper lip? ter and verse, and very carefully, I go back fix, and hes hanging on the cross and
Oh yes. Just like the lower chin, point- and mark all the appropriate left little doing bumps and grinds with his pelvis
ing the lower chin and all that. But the finger, right little finger, fork l, fork 2, at the same time. Thats not how you
upper lip is definitely slightly tucked side Bb, chromatic Bb, fork Bb through- should interpret music. The interpreter,
under itself, and I insert different vary- out the first several of the Stark Arpeg- whether its a clarinetist or a conductor,
ing degrees of pressure with the top lip gios, just to make sure he does the correct has one obligation to illuminate the score
onto the mouthpiece to control the lev- fingerings. Because a lot of people use to the listener. To illuminate the com-
erage of the lower jaw. wrong fingerings that can hamper tech- poser to the listener: what the composer
nique. wrote to the listener. And that takes a lot
Do you think of the top lip as being of thought processes. And a lot of stu-
against the teeth or against the mouth- In what order do you evaluate fundamen-
tals in solving problems with regard to dents have the wrong idea. They want
piece? to go into music because its a wonder-
Simultaneously. Its two things at once. semi-professionals?
Well, of course, the wind, the embou- ful, wonderful, beautiful thing, and a
Its against the teeth and against the personal thing to all of us. No question.
mouthpiece, so its tucked very neatly. chure, and, so closely aligned with that,
the shape of the oral cavity. Hand posi- But one must think constantly: number
Thats what gives you the musculature one to avoid disaster, but number two,
of the top lip. Otherwise, its too placid tion, steadiness of the wind, the jaws,
the lips, the oral cavity, the clarinet in its a wonderful combination of three
and doesnt have the strength. things. Its based on a marvellous instru-
the embouchure, the clarinet in the
And you think of a triangle? hands, and the axis of the palms of the mental craft to begin with. Youve got to
Oh, very definitely, just put the dim- hands themselves, the knuckles being as know your instrument and be proficient.
ple in the chin and blow through the quiet as possible off of which the fingers Youve got to have aspiration of the heart,
straw and youve got it. A good embou- operate. Those are some of the basic theres no question about that, thats what
chure is basically a very simple thing, things, but then, of course, I spend as makes music good. But you also have to
although we talk about it in detail to much time on the basics of music, on think every second.
correct certain false embouchures. But musical interpretations, simple phrase How do you teach legato fingerings?
its really quite simple in the last analy- lines and their expression, as I do on the In a variety of ways. First of all, the
sis. instrumental thing. I believe firmly, as I traditional way that so many of the fine
You use a patch on the top of your mouth- said at the class, that if you know the clarinet players in this country who stud-
piece. musical path, it has to solve the instru- ied with Bonade started, like Rose 40
Yes, but its a very thin one, extremely mental problem. You cannot let your- Studies #l: at a very slow tempo, raising
thin. self play incorrectly or roughly, or ugly the fingers very slowly and putting them
Do you want to add anything on chro- or unsmoothly, or unbrillantly. The ba- down softly without making clicking
matic fingerings? Please mark the follow- sics become more important, not less noises getting instantaneous coverage
ing scales to illustrate the fingerings you important, as one distills throughout the of the open holes simultaneously with
use in each chromatic scale. years. Thats true of any great musician all fingers and doing it more or less to
Its an important thing, and just as a and Ive talked with some incredible get a vocal interval, not a glissando, as
personal confession, I dont think I am world-class musicians who all agree and opposed to a mechanical interval. (There
exhaustive in my follow-through on that. uphold the simple basic truths that are other ways of looking at legato.) Im
That should be taught at the first stage, become the most meaningful and most a great believer that the hands should be
so that for instance, when you play a mature form of knowledge. Thats why completely in accord with the musical
middle B on the third line in treble they are so important at the outset. Ter- situation, so if a passage calls very obvi-
clef, it should basically be fingered with ribly important. ously for a very sustained legato, like the
the left little finger. But along with it (al- What is the reasoning clarinetist and do second movement of Brahms Third
though you dont need it), the right lit- you avail yourself and your students of a Symphony. I believe in playing with the
tle finger should go down on the C mental accounting of all mechanical fingers into the clarinet, so to speak,
key. Its that sort of prudence. And the activity? holding the clarinet very steadily and
side low D# or Eb key, that is the If I understand your question correctly then with somewhat strong fingers
primary fingering for that. The little fork do I paraphrase it properly when I say playing legato through the phrase with-
key to produce the same note on top that youve got to think every second of the out making any key noise, without
March 1999 19
making any abrupt changes, but with When do you practice and how often? Polatschek. The Baermanns a wonder-
great sustaining and blend. A passage like Im not supposed to any more. My ful routine and it takes a lot of patience.
the Ravel Septet, in the chalumeau reg- doctor has told me not to practice. But For people who dont have that kind of
ister for the A Clarinet thats one of when I was with the Cleveland Orches- time and that kind of intensity of effort,
the most beautifully, naturally contoured tra, the only thing I would practice really the Klose works just as well. Its not quite
legato phrases I can think of. And if you would be unusually difficult clarinet as good because it doesnt cover the range,
have your musical ears screwed on cor- passages possibly the Ginastera as you know, but its very condensed and
rectly, you cannot play that any other Variciones Concertantes comes to mind, very synopsized. Just doing that for l/2
way than legato. Thats the sort of thing or a certain fleeting passage in the Roussel hour or an hour a day for four months,
where if you keep the wind spinning ap- Bacchus and Ariane, or the Villa-Lobos many, many problems just take care of
propriately without impediment, its Choros #l0, things like that I would prac- themselves.
almost like not making any key noises tice. But I did most of my playing with How do you employ the metronome in
when you change your fingers. Some- a superb orchestra every day and you your teaching and practice?
times that calls for a certain amount of dont really require practice because your When I was a student, I employed it
inherent strength in the curve of the fin- reflexes and concentration and brain- fairly often at outset of the Klose practi-
ger. Sometimes it takes a lot of strength power is honed so sharply every second cal exercises: two notes to a beat with
to play legato with strong fingers and while youre playing. And thats the best the metronome at 60, and then four
good control. Sometimes, depending on thing. And then I got there about an notes to a beat without interruption.
the intervals or the musical situation, it hour or fifty minutes, maybe, before Then I would use it as a criterion for
takes very little inherent strength in the rehearsal or a concert and did a lot of evenness of scales on in my development
fingers. It depends on the intensity of woodshedding then on the repertoire I when I was practicing as a student. Then,
the music, actually. was going to play, whether it was the when I was cranking up to return to the
What angle is used when raising the technical combinations or just the place- National Symphony, I started practicing
fingers up? ment of solos in the Pastoral Symphony again after three years in the Air Force
If you take the proper curve of the fin- of Beethoven. So thats the kind of prac- and I remember going through the
gers, its just like you tell the little kids to tice I would do. At one time in my life, advanced studies of Victor Polatschek
hold a tennis ball in the palm of their the only time I really did practice as a and setting a reasonable, but challeng-
hands. That is the proper curve for the student, I practiced five hours a day ing metronome tempo for every one of
hands. Now the hand just simply opens for two weeks. And at the end of the those etudes and playing them straight
up. I would say that it never really goes first week I played the first eight etudes through with the metronome without
all the way to a full, straight extension of from the JeanJean for Bonade, Sixteen interruption, and not going on to work
the fingers, but almost. If we were read- Etudes Moderne, and at the end of the on a new study until I had played once
ing on a compass and the hand is point- second week, the final eight of the six- through without one hitch of either
ing due west at a 270 angle, I would teen. So I covered the sixteen etudes in rhythm or wrong note, and that took
say you get up to about 340 or some- two lessons, which was quite extraordi- some doing. But I learned a great deal
thing like that. Instead of an arbitrary nary, but it shows what can be done with from that. Its discipline, organization
how much do you raise the fingers? It a really concentrated effort. I was thats what the metronomes results are
depends solely on the elevation of the practicing about four or five hours a day. in practicing.
music. The phrase would go from the What did your warm-up or practice What alternate fingerings do you employ
B to the D and the index finger in consist of? for the altissimo register?
the left hand would arch with the phrase. I had no warm-up the warm-up was Well, I use that so-called double fork
So the hands must be completely in ac- getting the reed straightened out and fingering for the high G in the piano
cord with the music. unwrinkled so to speak, just getting the subito measure in the middle of the
What is the role of the upper lip in your reed set for the morning, but there was Beethoven Eighth Symphony, Third
embouchure? no warm-up as such. Thats not neces- Movement. But, by and large, I use the
Plenty! Tucked under itself slightly and sary if you come to terms with an first, or what I like to call the legitimate,
pressing down on the mouthpiece again embouchure that you just turn on like a playing fingering for all of the altissimo
depending on the intensity or the light switch every morning one that notes. On the double high Bb, of
amount of lower jaw control I want to doesnt bend the reed or get all irregular, course, I like to use the fork fingering,
use. I use that as a lever. I arch the soft but just turn on. The warm-up consisted which also includes the low F finger-
palette in the back of the mouth and also mostly practicing a few passages for the ing for the left hand, that sort of thing,
as a lever by which I control the hang or days events or selecting the proper reed. to try and get a good sound out. And if
placement of the lower jaw. Its like So what does that mean for students in Im playing a solo with a high Ab above
Selmer said using all the lips in your terms of a warm-up? the staff, I use the high D, but instead
embouchure. I would really recommend that if a of the Eb key in the right hand, I use
And you feel that the top lip helps in your student is to show up for the practice the low F# key, which makes a bell
downward slurs? studio at 9:00, that he show up one hour tone out of it. Occasionally, the solo of
earlier and practice Baermann III scales, the middle section of Don Quixote by
Oh, downwards slurs, upward slurs. I
thirds, interrupted chords of the 7th, etc. Strauss that goes up to the high F that
use it all the time.
Stark Arpeggio Studies or Jettel or sort of soars over the whole orchestra, I
March 1999 21