Jun. 17, 2009 - That Waffle March
When I joined the band almost 3 years ago I hadn’t played in about 25 years. When I played in high school I played 1st clarinet and was among the best in the band. What a difference 25 years can make!
The September I joined I struggled to remember what I had learned all those years before. On my first night one of the clarinets told me to choose what part I’d like to play. “I’ll stick with third for now,” I realistically and wisely decided. I quickly regained my embouchure and was able to play the simpler pieces without too much difficulty. But the more difficult pieces did not come easily! There was a concert coming up in October – just a few weeks after I joined the band. That gave me incentive to brush up on my skills very quickly. I practiced like a madwoman in order to be able to play 3rd in that concert. One of the most difficult pieces I had to learn was the Luftwaffe March.
This is the march that is played at the beginning of the movie, “The Battle of Britain.” It is played as the movie introduces the German Air Force – the Luftwaffe – to the viewers. It is a tremendous march, complete with a sinister low brass section and a determined-sounding theme. But it is not easy to play. I worked hard and by the time we performed it I could hold my own on the 3rd part.
After being in the band for a couple of years I had moved up to 2nd clarinet, and had increasing opportunities to play 1st. Always enjoying a challenge, I jumped at those opportunities, and brought copies of many of the more challenging 1st parts home to practice. By the end of my second year I had discovered an entire register that I had not known existed back in high school. And I decided that it was time for me to learn to play in that register.
To that end I brought home the 1st clarinet part of the Luftwaffe March. As I struggled to learn this extraordinarily high piece, I chuckled at how difficult I had found the 3rd part only 2 years before. The register I was determined to learn is beyond-the-stratosphere high. The notes are written on ledger lines well above the staff. For those who know music, these notes are D through G two full octaves above middle C. These are notes I haven’t had to read often, so part of the purpose of learning this piece was to ingrain those notes in my brain so I would no longer have to think about what they were.
That was goal #1. Goal #2 was gaining the skill to make those ultra-high notes sound. And not just sound, but sound good! The clarinet can get a little squealy on the higher notes if one doesn’t play them carefully. I was determined not only to play these notes, but to make them sound as rich and full in that higher register as they are in the lower.
Last summer I decided that the best piece to help me attain these goals was the 1st part of the Luftwaffe March. At that time I did not know if I would ever play that part with the band, but that didn’t matter. I knew that if I could learn to play that, I would fully know that upper register, and be able to play it on demand. I was right, but those goals would not be met easily.
I practiced the piece, off and on, for the next year, though not as diligently as I should have. During this third year in the band, I was able to move to a relatively permanent 1st position, making this upper register skill even more important as I now run into it frequently. A couple of times the Luftwaffe march came up in mini concerts, and I was able to muddle through on 1st. But a few passages still tripped me up. When I learned that we would be performing it at this Friday’s major concert, I determined to finally properly learn that ultra-high march.
Since then I have spent a considerable amount of time going over the problem bars. I have played the piece along with the movie which forces me to keep up allowing no time to trip over sections. The recording is slower than we normally play it, which has been good for learning, but I know I will have to put a bit more speed on it to keep up on concert night.
Last night my trumpet player and I played through the march together a number of times, along with the movie. I actually played it perfectly once or twice! Those few bars still cause me grief now and then, so I have more polishing to do on this march, but I am on the cusp of that incredible feeling that musicians experience when they master a particularly difficult piece of music. My personal challenge nearly met, I feel almost ready to perform the Luftwaffe March at Friday’s concert…as long as the band doesn’t play it too fast!
