I was wondering why the choir teacher at The Cathedral & John Connon School wanted me to bring my clarinet today.  With Founders’ Day coming up this weekend for him and his choir singing 4 pieces, I knew it would be difficult to try my lesson plan on 50+ kids.

I videoed the rehearsal and then he had me get up and introduce the clarinet.  I gave myself 10 minutes or less to do this because time was ticking and the parents are good at keeping it for you.

This was not videoed because some of the choir kids did not have their permissions to be videotaped for whatever reason and they sat behind my camera for the entire rehearsal.  I had them sit with their friends while I did the presentation.

I played the “Rhapsody in Blue” excerpt, the range of the clarinet, a little bit of Mozart “Clarinet Concerto” from memory.  Then the questions came.  Questions I would never expect from about 7-10 year olds.

1.  Do your lips buzz when you play?  I had them experiment with their thumbs as mouthpieces.  Then I explained to them that the reed buzzes which buzzes your lips.  I had them do the lip buzzes that brass players do.

2.  What is your ligature made out of?  (It is a real gold plated reverse Bonade…great for “Rhapsody in Blue”)

3.  How fast can you play?  (This is standard from all people.)

4.  Where does the air go when you blow into the horn?  I turned a quarter turn for a facial profile and played.  I showed the the slit between the reed and the mouthpiece and it seriously blew their minds.  How can so little air produce a big sound?  So we experimented singing.  It is not a little air, it is just controlled.

5.  Based on the question above, what is your loudest note?  We explored high pitches and low pitches with the human voice (this was done on the side).

There were other questions but I was surprised about the scientific inquiry.  These are not the normal questions I used to get years ago when I did things like this.

That was my practice run.  Wish me luck tomorrow.