Day 52 - One day to go!

With one day to go until the Clueless in Competition my priorities really should have been on lots of my own playing but I had a more pressing request from my old college friend and saxophonist John. He wanted to play the clarinet to me! Woodwinders tend to do grade 8 on their first instrument while still at school then take up several other instruments without bothering to work through the grades, just practise as and when they are needed for performance. The more versatile you are the more likely you are to get pit work (in the theatre band, not down the mine, although as John is from the south-west it might have been either) and peri teaching work. It takes a brave person to set out to do a grade 8 when they have a full time job and an interest in beer festivals but John now has a date for his third grade 8 having passed (with distinction) his grade 8 flute last year. This time it is his least favourite instrument, the clarinet, so I had the job of hearing him play his pieces and assisting in any way I could, in a friendly and supportive manner. Actually the pieces all sound pretty good already but there are little technical details to sort that might mean the difference between a merit and distinction. It is not just about the certificate at the end as the aim is to make improvements along the way.

In return for me enduring John's performance I played him a little bit on the harp and as his MA dissertation opens with a line about Stan Getz I played the Manha de Carnaval to see if he recognised it. He did! Well, he knew it was on a Stan Getz album, even if he couldn't get the title. Miles Davis described Stan Getz as having "so much patience". I think John equally matched that quality while listening!


I have had a few sponsors come in over the last few days and today's practise is dedicated to Martin and Judith, Chris's parents. They enjoy listening to a wide range of music and sometimes come to my concerts. My practise session was in the evening and I started with the Scarlatti. It was going well but I was then interrupted by Chris who wanted feeding so I stopped and we got tea started. Afterwards I did a little more on Manha de Carnaval then ran through GOAT pieces, Pat's grade 1 violin pieces and wrote my list of things to take then get myself an early night to be on my best form for the concert.