Thoughts from an Orchestral Clarinetist, Soloist, Teacher
Last week I was invited to play a few solo pieces with the choir of First Community church in Columbus. The music minister, Ronald Jenkins, is also the chorus master for the Columbus Symphony chorus, one of the best all volunteer choruses in the country.
The two pieces I played were written for 4 part choir, [...]
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There’s good and bad pops music. Good is well written and arranged, with idiomatic orchestration. Bad is not, especially when individual parts are awkward. Difficult is okay, but poorly written becomes awkward and difficult to pull off.
We have played three out of the four total Columbus Symphony Holiday Pops concerts this weekend. An extra [...]
The CSO chorus humbles me as a musician. They are so disciplined and full of musical and technical vigor that it embarrasses me that they do it for free.
This weekend’s concerts featured Chas Wetherbee playing the ethereal Lark Ascending of Vaughn Williams, with Ronald Jenkins conducting, and four excellent solo singers. [...]