While it's not my main instrument, I play the clarinet in the university band. The current director is, er, interesting. As in he has never been able to fully grasp the concept of mortal limitations and human suffering. He also happens to be my teacher for my composition major lessons. Apparently it's true that artists are required to suffer.
In any case, we have a concert next week, and everyone is a bit dubious as to how one of the songs will turn out. It's this thing called "A Duddy Romp," which was commissioned for a high school band, performed once, and then never saw the light of day again until now. The only copy of the score that I know of is hand-written in pencil. So yes, it's a tad on the obscure side. Now, if you ask a band director why that is, they probably won't know and will tell you that it's an excellent piece that should really receive more recognition. If you ask a performer, they will tell you exactly why: this piece is an unholy nightmare to play. We're talking about painful fingerings, strings of 16th notes at a tempo of 300, and 3rd clarinets playing in the stratosphere range.
The composer of this song is dead, but apparently his son is going to be flying in from Hawaii to hear us perform.
No pressure.
P.S. Sorry this is late. I had a little trouble organizing the drawing. Excuses, excuses.
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