As promised in Part I of the Vogtland Journeys, a post about the Grondtoon sessions. Through my avoidance of learning how to play clarinet the “classical” way Rik Meesters and I started improvising together in the hallway of Carré, Tilburg in 2000. The reverberation of the hallway provided us with a ground-tone and since the clarinet is mostly a single-tone instrument as opposed to a chord playing instrument, having a ground-tone or grondtoon (in Dutch) helps providing a basis for improvising.

During the Grondtoon session in July 2000 Rik and I tried to record some musical examples of ground-tone or ostinato improvising, including melodic explorations and variations. Sessions I through V are mostly free improvisations, although ostinato’s are ever present.

links

Grondtoon

Grondtoon session I

Grondtoon session II

Grondtoon session III

Grondtoon session IV

Grondtoon session V

In November 2010 husc got to open the Interference Festival with ‘CROSSTALK‘, one of the most complicated and paradoxical performances we gave to this date. During the introduction of the performance Sander Bolk told the audience to leave their cellphones switched on, continue their conversations and just walk around to experience the full quadraphonic effect of the four speakers surrounding them. Since Interference and especially the “space-in-between” was what we had to work with, we came up with an intricate feedback module and Sander’s monster patch called ‘funambulism’ (which literally means tightrope-walking). Added to the audience were bird sounds, static noise from the ether, some granular synthesis, the above mentioned quadraphonics and me playing clarinet culminating in the final “… echt helemaal niets meer.” or “… really absolutely nothing anymore.”

Sander Bolk: electronics

Koen de Wit: clarinet

In 2008 Sabine Bolk and I visited five chicken owners and a Japanese quail owner for Sabine’s project ‘Tour des poulets’. Our tour resulted in an exhibition at KipVis in Middelburg (NL), a feature length film (107 minutes) and a separate soundtrack containing the chickens, quails and me playing clarinet.

When Sabine purposed I was to play clarinet for chickens, I was somewhat skeptical, not to say slightly offended. The surprise was on me though and playing with chicken turned out to be a blast. They, the chickens as well as the quails, responded and connected to me and my strange clucking unreservedly. Improvising with chicken thus became a lesson in humility and a complete new experience of connection to me and in 2010 I decided to release the best moments we had on ‘Tour des poulets – soundtrack‘. Here is a link to the post I wrote in 2010.

The film ‘Tour des poulets’ will be shown, in its entirety, on the Blinde Muur at the Chassé Theater in Breda (NL). It will be shown as a silent movie projection though, so perhaps this is a good opportunity to get a copy of the soundtrack and bring it to the viewing so you will have some idea of how chickens, quails, ricecarpets and a clarinet sound like together. And since the silent viewing of ‘Tour des poulets’ will be free to attend, you can name your price for the soundtrack until the 30th of March!

details

Date: 29 Mar 2012  |  Entrance: free  |  Time: 20:00

Location: Chasse Theater, Breda (NL)

Before our third trip to the Vogtland in 2002, I contemplated quite a lot on whether a switch from Boehm to Oehler system clarinets would be a wise thing to do. But until I actually would switch it was basically back to the Dupré after failing to revive the Gottsmann (as explained in Vogtland Journeys, from Boehm to Oehler – Part I). So I spent a lot of time in a nearby monastery, were I was allowed to use the chapel for practice, improvising solo and ultimately recording ‘Ocean Wave‘. And then I suddenly realized why the Boehm system had become so popular and replaced the Oehler / Albert system in the Netherlands and beyond; playing it feels easy, at least in the beginning. And with a set of Bb and A clarinets you can play just about everything. The Boehm system just has a certain logic feel to it, unlike the Oehler system.

My biggest problem with the Boehm system was my own tendency of choosing the path of the least resistance, consequently repeating the same riffs and tricks when I got stuck in an improvisation. It felt like playing a piano without the black keys, like answering every question with the same answer.

I then started to expect the Nürnberger to relieve me of all this stuckness, surprise me again and act more as a counterpart in making music. When I played it in 2001 almost everything about it felt pleasantly challenging. Also I thought the Oehler system is much more balanced, with an almost mathematical precision. Not seducing me in any way to always play the easy key.

By the time I got back to the Vogtland and Fa. W.O. Nürnberger I was convinced I was making the right choice switching systems. And after a warm welcome by Herr und Frau Nürnberger I explained I would very much like Herr Nürnberger to build me a soloist A clarinet. Herr Nürngberger then glanced at Frau Nürnberger and went into the back of his workshop. He returned holding the very same A clarinet he let me play the year before and explained they had kept it safe for my return. Without any request from me whatsoever, or any indication when, Herr Nürnberger had decided this would be my clarinet the moment I first played it – perhaps now you understand why I say I am honoured to play a Nürnberger, a lot.

So instead of having to wait for months until my new clarinet would be finished I walked out the door that same day with my one and only Nürnberger soloist A clarinet. And many visits to the Nürnberger and Sämann family in just as many years later I am still very honoured to play a completely handmade Nürnberger clarinet, celebrating over three generations, knowledge and experience of master clarinet craftsmanship.

The real work started when I got back home. It took me most of 2003 – 2004 to regain the level of technique I had playing the Boehm system, which was much longer than I had anticipated. The pure tone of the Nürnberger made it worthwhile though. And the instrument proved more than a worthy and challenging counterpart in making music.

In 2005 I played my first performance with the Nürnberger during ‘Avondvaart’, an homage to Jan Jacob Slauerhoff, together with Sander Bolk. In 2006 the first solo popped out, ‘Armahdus‘ which means grace in Finnish. After that the first two Rainbow sessions were recorded together with Paul van Gogh, which will be featured on ‘Narziß und Goldmund’.

In hindsight perhaps switching systems was not the best move, viewing it from sort of a “quantity-over-quality” and “don’t-try-to-reinvent-the-wheel” perspective. Let alone the being a “professional” musician perspective. If I would have had to pay my way through life with music, not playing, performing or recording anything for two years would not have been possible on my budget. Then again I do not like quantity over quality and have been known to be stubborn enough to try to reinvent the wheel, or at least find an alternative path to learn how to play clarinet. As far as being a professional goes, I do hope there is more to being a professional than making money.

Concluding all thoughts above I am just very grateful. Grateful to have found such a wonderful instrument – I wish every serious musician out there to find his or hers – grateful for finding the Nürnberger family and my home away from home in the Vogtland. Grateful for being able to live my life the way I am living it now and having made the choices I made to search for my music or more specifically my part in music. And I am certain the Nürnberger clarinet plays the most important role in playing music.

I fell in love with the clarinet quite late (’97) when I borrowed a plastic Bundy from Paul Klotz. Instantly I was captured by the wayward instrument and when I managed to produce a tone of some sort, I went out to get some lessons. Rik Meesters, my classically schooled but adventurous teacher, introduced me to the conventional method of learning how to play clarinet with books like “A Tune a Day”. But being as undisciplined and untamable as my instrument we had much better fun just playing together, so the lessons soon turned into improvisation sessions (more about the Grondtoon sessions in a future post!).

At the time Rik co-owned a wind instrument repair shop and as we both became more and more interested in the history of the clarinet, we planned our first trip to the Vogtland in Saxony, Germany in 2000. The Vogtland has a unique heritage of European instrument manufacture and the last Master Instrument Makers still reside in its picturesque villages.

One of the nice things about Germans is that they take cultural heritage quite seriously. So apart from several museums, an international school for instrument making and all kinds of musical festivities there also is a research institute for instruments made in the Vogtland, the IFM in Zwota. The IFM has a very nice library, does acoustical and psycho-acoustical measurements, wood value analysis and much more – very interesting stuff! It was at the IFM that Rik and I obtained a list of registered clarinet makers in the region on our second trip.

Our first mission in 2000 however was to learn about the differences between Boehm (French) and Oehler (German) clarinets, apart from the obvious system variations. And to try to find Rudolf Gottsmann in Wohlhausen, the maker of the Reform Boehm clarinet I acquired after trading my Noblet bass clarinet.

The Gottsmann (B-clarinet) had an exceptionally dense and rich tone. Nothing like my first and very own Parisian Paul Dupré, nicknamed the Tank, which sounded much more extrovert. In hindsight I do regret the trade-in of my bass clarinet, but at the time I felt I had to choose my specialty. Also, I would have never found the Vogtland – my home away from home –, my present clarinet and most important its makers Winfried Otto Nürnberger and Nico Sämann at Fa. W.O. Nürnberger.

Something was wrong with the Gottsmann though. Somehow its tone was restricted and its flow reduced. Rik and I suspected the original barrel joint was replaced and decided to find Rodulf Gottsmann from Wohlhausen to request him to make a new one. Unfortunately Herr Gottsmann had past away, and the man answering the door at his workshop thought we were a couple of vague and not to be trusted Czechoslovakians. So we had to find someone else to make a new barrel.

When the new barrel was sent to the Netherlands some weeks later, I hoped I would be able to capture the full potential of the Gottsmann. It was months, numerous other alterations and mouthpieces later that I finally gave up trying to revive the Gottsmann.

A second trip was planned for 2001. This time we decided to visit as many Master Clarinet Makers as possible, guided by the list we got from the IFM. I got to play the very best soloist clarinet models made in the Vogtland. Würlitzers, Adlers, you name them. It was an eye-opener to actually meet the makers of all these magnificent instruments and be invited into their homes to play on their clarinets. At the second day of our stay we drove by Fa. W.O. Nürnberger. Somehow, they were not on our list. But we decided to ring the doorbell anyway.

At first Herr Nürnberger was a bit confused with my visit. I explained that I was searching my future clarinet and he asked me whether I was a soloist or an orchestral member. When I replied I was neither, he gave it one more shot by asking if I was a jazz musician. In all honesty I did not think of myself as being a jazz clarinet player either, and in a last attempt to assess me and my interest, he asked what I would be willing to spend on an instrument? I replied that if the instrument was right, the price would not matter.

About fifteen minutes later I had a life changing experience. Laying before me was pure gold. I instantly knew, without even having played the clarinet, this was the one. My clarinet. And playing it was an epiphany. Never before had a clarinet been so willing in my hands – and I did not even know how to play Oehler system clarinets!

I went back the next day to make sure that what I experienced was real and promised to return as soon as possible to order a clarinet built by Herr Nürnberger. But more on the Nürnberger in Part II!

Vogtland Journeys, from Boehm to Oehler – Part II

2011 came and went without much news from yours truly. Accept for the third performance of “Dance in a ricecarpet” I mostly studied and worked to finally become an audicien (audiologist in English, by lack of a better translation), my day job. I spent quite a few hours working on this here brand new website and took very little time to actually play my clarinet. All of which is okay, really. Creativity flows in waves, as does creating.

My artistic plans for 2012 are simple, yet abundant! First up is the long awaited release of “Narziß und Goldmund“. It is in the final stages. Sander Bolk is mastering the recordings, making them sound better than they ever have, while I am finishing the designs for the cover and booklet. This will be the first release available on CD as well as in any digital format you can possibly desire. And I will be making the booklets and CD’s myself, at home, one by one, hand made to order, one of a kind in numbered editions.

Second, in 2012 I plan to release all my albums this way. Every single one remastered with its own sleeve. All worth every bit of work, considering the gratitude I feel for having been able to make this music.

Third, and perhaps most important, I will play as much as possible this year! Apart from my day to day solo musings at home sessions are being planned with a couple of great musicians as well as performances with husc later this year. So stay tuned…

Last, but not least, there is my photography. As it happened I found quite a bit of inspiration at the start of this year opening new perspectives to gathering views of my surroundings. Here is a little hint on a project I hope to start any day now:

“…  the essential contradiction of the front garden is how the laws and tendencies of the plant ecosystem act as a countertendency to the social forms of visuality. “

Hopefully it will be a long project, like all of the others. Taking tremendous amounts of time and effort, and bring an equal sense of completion and satisfaction as well as something nice to enjoy and remember it by, afterwards.

In december 2000 Paul van Gogh, Silvia van Heugten and I had our first improvisation session together.

If I remember correctly Paul played the clarinet for the first time that day, and Silvia only just started taking violin lessons. Still we found a connection at the Daniëls-church in Nijmegen that day and played the second track in two parts. The second part starts at 5’28″ and I in 2001 I put the two together.

In 2002 we played the second track “Offret”, which is slightly chaotic (“For Madmen Only”, as Harry Haller would say). “Offret” is one of the few tracks I have ever tried to notate (hence the Haller quote), I got about half way before giving up musical notation entirely. I figured that if I could not notate exactly what I heard, there is no point in notating any of my music at all. That said I must add that I have a deep respect and admiration for composers and musicians that do know how to translate a sound and atmosphere to paper, it is just not for me.

Silvia van Heugten: violin

Paul van Gogh: clarinet

Koen de Wit: clarinet