Annotated Bibliography

John Antisz

The Clarinet BBoard. Accessed October 06, 2017.

http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/list.html?f=1.

The clarinet bboard is an online forum where everything clarinet is discussed.

Here thousands of clarinet players and enthusiasts discuss sound, technique,
instrument makers/models, performance practices, etc. Here I have looked
specifically at the discussions pertaining to clarinet vibrato or vibration, especially
when referring to blending with another instrument. The resource is a bit
scattered; however if the user is looking for a beginning to their research on a
topic, this is possibly a place to start.

Frost, Eberhard. TheClarinets.net. Accessed October 05, 2017. http://www.the-

clarinets.net/.

The-clarinets.net is a web page that provides extremely thorough explanations of

what the clarinet is, and how it can be played. Here, information on the
mouthpiece, sound production, equipment modifications, along with common
conventions, a complete guide on the clarinet family, and much more is easily
found. The website is used both as a destination to gain more information about
how the clarinet is played along with a forum for clarinetists and musicians alike
to discuss the clarinet. Here, the webpage references different regional styles of
clarinet playing that dictate their tone, articulation, and use of vibrato.

Lawson, Colin. "The Authentic Clarinet: Tone and Tonality." The Musical Times 124,
no. 1684 (1983): 357-58. doi:10.2307/964062.

The Article refers to the use of different clarinets, those in different keys such as
Clarinet in A,Bb, C, Eb, etc. Within the article, Lawson describes the thought
process of the composers for choosing which clarinet to write for including the
technical limitations that each clarinet might have. With the invention of newer,
more in tune clarinets, it became obsolete to have so many different instruments,
where players began to play primarily on their Bb or A clarinets. Collin Lawson
is extremely qualified to write about such a topic as he is a renowned performer of
historical clarinets and their uses. With the creation of new instruments, the use
of vibrato to fix intonation problems were not as prevalent after the 1800’s; yet
the performance practice has seem to come both in and out of style over the year.

Lawson, Colin, and Ingrid Elizabeth Pearson. The Early Clarinet : A Practical Guide.
Cambridge Handbooks to the Historical Performance of Music. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 2000.

The early clarinet is a book that gives and in-depth information of how the
clarinet and clarinetists’ playing conventions have changed and evolved since its
 conception. The Book is separated into sections that include; the physical
limitations and tendencies of the older instruments, style of playing,
compositional understanding, along with evidences of writing analyzing famous
clarinet players in the past. Lawson references the use of vibrato specifically in
Richard Mülfeld’s playing (the clarinetist that premiered all Johannes Brahms
clarinet works). Both Lawson and Pearson are experts on historical clarinet
performance both as scholars and period performers, where both have published
many scholarly articles.

MacGillivray, James A. "Woodwind and Other Orchestral Instruments in Russia

Today." The Galpin Society Journal 10 (1957): 3-9. doi:10.2307/841801.

The article recounts the use of woodwinds in Russia in the late 1950’s including
where their instruments were being made, the quality of the instruments at hand,
along with some playing conventions. The journal article references the use of
vibrato for bassoon, flute, and clarinet describing when such uses of the
expressive technique were appropriate. This article shed some light on how
different regions saw vibrato as appropriate in some situations, genres, and
instrument type.

Ward ,Martha Kingdon Ward. "Mozart and the Clarinet." Music & Letters28, no. 2
(1947): 126-53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/855526.

The article references how the use of the clarinet intraditional orchestra was
heavily influenced by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s compositions for the
instrument; specifically his chamber works and concerto. Ward also mentions the
use of the clarinet within Mozart’s orchestral writing, how he paired the
instrument with other woodwinds to help blend and add color to certain sections.
I believe that it is this blending quality that the clarinet produces discourages
clarinetists from using vibrato, even when the instruments intonation was
imperfect.

Backun Musical. YouTube Channel. Joined on Jun 23, 2010.

https://www.youtube.com/user/backunmusical.

Backun Musical is a Youtube Channel that that creates content by clarinetists who
use Backun Clarinets to the benefit of other musicians. The channel is run by
Morrie Backun, an instrument maker and clarinetist which many professionals are
now switching to use his brand. Most of the clarinetists in the video are either
premiere soloist are orchestral musicians that have successful playing and
teaching careers. The channel is meant to give clarinet players a resource to
watch videos on how to play the clarinet along with professional advice including
auditioning, along with promoting the Backun brand as a leading company in the
recent market. The channel uses current leaders in the clarinet world to give
 insight to other performers to inform them of current clarinet playing conventions
including the equipment, reeds, and concepts that they use/possess.

Rehfeldt, Phillip. New Directions for Clarinet. Rev. Ed. ed. New Instrumentation, 4.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.

New Directions for Clarinet displays the performance practices of clarinet playing
starting in the 1950’s. Rehfeldt tries to give both clarinetists and composers alike
the capability and availability of extended techniques on the instrument; including
vibrato, multi-phonics, slap-tonguing,etc. The book tries explain modern
capabilities of the clarinet that may not be in the current skillset of the
“classically” trained clarinetist. It serves as a resource for both composers and
performers including the difficulty and intricacies of many extended techniques.

Rice, Albert R. From the Clarinet D'amour to the Contra Bass : A History of Large Size
Clarinets, 1740-1860. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

This book refers to the clarinet; specifically its larger auxiliary family and how
these instruments have evolved over time. These instruments have not only
evolved in their playability and portability; they have had major additions to their
repertoire along with improvements to instrument . Rice is a prolific author
whose works include The Baroque Clarinet, The Clarinet in the Classical Period,
among other clarinet research works. The material goes into detail about how
these instruments were played including their use of a non-vibrating sound, since
their conception.