Rhapsody in Blue Clarinet Solo - Rory Mazzela

[TheBernie2201]

Bless benny goodman, the King!

[Enhanihero]

Thats one hot solo!!!!!!

[IMASIANSNIPA]

31 people can't glissando like a boss

[gsco82]

Far too shortened.

[LouieOmega]

This man has no chin....

[frenchvanilacoolwhip]

HOW does he keep the gliss sooooo smooth ?!

[12345hoe12345]

@frenchvanilacoolwhip

The other day I was working on doing a glissando and I nearly did one that sounded decent. Until I squeaked the C. Still I think people who can get a glissando to sound so smooth are just....wow.

[mynameisalexyu]

i can gliss at 8th grade right now:) but its really hard to even out the gliss. You can either do it really fast and it'll sound really rushed, or really slow, but you have to level your tongue higher and higher by little intervals or you'll crack

[cowlurver]

He makes me feel bad. :( Along with the rest of the world.... Anyways, this guy is amazing at the clarinet! I wish I could bend notes like that as well! =3

[ReinforceZwei009]

@cowlurver I wish i could to fellow clarinetist.

[katiemaem]

cnt wa8 2 get my clarinet so i can strt playin!!! wish id b able 2 play like dat!!!

[ViperousFox]

The fifth person below me is queer. :)

[MrHorrorX]

i used to play clarinet.

[Johnathan186]

i play the clarinet and i love my clarinet

[yoyogo13]

THE 4TH PERSON BELOW ME IS QUEER

[KzRocky]

Исполнение средне -_-

[maddielovessarah]

I love my clarinet. :)

Even though I really suck <3

[MsMycookiemonster]

i love playing my clarinet......

[lovesprayz]

@MsMycookiemonster same with me!

[RatormaHS]

I would love to play like that, just wait, I'll do it sometime in the future. I guess I would've played better if I had that gorgeous lady next to me. :P I get really nervous around ladies.

[ThEcAtScAmEbAcK]

wooow..the fluidity of the beginning- I i)magine that would take a lot of practice! I've kind of moved onto piano and guitar now but I still like clarinet..might dig it out again :)

[MrGameSkiller]

I am in 6th grade and has been playing the clarinet for 3 years so far. I am hoping I'll be able to play high numbers and play as he did. Oh well at least I playing longer than others in my class.

[yessi92hc]

.WOowW!

[stevenvato11]

my elementary teacher made me learn some of this song . she is the one that made me fall in love with my clarient

[rstipper]

my idea of the solo was: Meow. but i mean thats all i can say thats how i felt

[MelissaOngbx]

After the trill, there is 17 notes. Instead of the normal articulation, you glide the sound, which is called glissando.

[LaughGenerator]

you get the "wail" by gradually pulling your fingers off the the key holes one by one. Watch his fingers at 0:17 and you can see him do it.

Good luck! :D

[bassoon334]

how do you produce that "wail" at the beginning? I can't seem to get it

[Undermyskin93]

@bassoon334 Practice practice practice. You have to remember you are trying to do something not designed to be done on a clarinet. The main technique is sliding fingers off the holes, but trying to slide specifically off the G to the G# and then the very top B to C can be hard. Most will combine this with lipping each note up as they go, allthough the best sound is produced by using the throat muscles differently, causing the reed to vibrate enough to create the sound much easier than sliding.

[coolguy293]

really good but play out stronger

[coolguy293]

that was good

[lnrobloxguy]

MAN this song is AWSOME!

hmm, this discription was pobobly influenced my another cause, because im a clarinet player myself. ANYWAY great vid 5 stars!

[lemonOFdoom]

this is the best tone for rhapsody in blue i've ever heard, kudos

[cheezeboyyen]

... it looks like he wasnt playing it at all.

The notes were totually off his fingers ._.

just wondering

[toby0cooper]

@cheezeboyyen If you look, it's the same for the pianist. The video is just out of time

[lipsmakergirl]

you are like so in tune and you have a really good tone quality! i wish i could play like you...

[skatefallen117]

i forgot how to play a clarinet after i played bass (and contra)for so long

[bhav1110]

oh man clarinet is such a fun instrument to play... i remember my first time playing and my first time playing bass clarinet :)))

[hannah4colbert]

Well, I'm in love with his tone quality. oh dang.

[DisneySinger12]

Wow amazing! To be honest, my school is doing this song mixed with rap songs for our theme this year, and the clarinets can't top this man! Amazing! :)

[4mayZing]

I've been playing for three years and I know a chromatic scale in three octaves...yet I don't know how to glissando because my teacher neevr tought me. I want to learn SOOO badly!!!

[Battlefield2Pilot]

look it up on google, that's how I figured out how to do it.

[holasweety]

I used to play trumpet until I had an accident with my teeth, and I was going to get braces anyway so now I'm learning to play Clarinet and it's sooooo fun!!! haha

[twirlyboggs]

steve vai on the clarinet there haha

[truthmaster00]

:D i love my clarinet. i just got it today. ITS AWESOME. I love em.

[amadrys77]

... am sorry for ye neighbours...

[truthmaster00]

Clarinet's arent that loud in the slightest...well they aren't right up until you mess up and the pitch completly changes and squeaks higher then a pissed off 6 year old... In a group we're really loud though.

[musicalrapture]

that's not true.

[truthmaster00]

To you maybe... to me not so much/

[jose121495]

Ain't that the truth. If you try to play loud, you just end up messing up and squeaking and a whole load of crap that makes you sound horrible. The pitch changes, the squeak gets worse, you have to have really centered air to be able to play loud on a clarinet, where other instruments *couch*sax's*cough*are made loud* lucky sons of....... yep. All depends if you have good control of air. Unless, of course, you're a naturally loud instrument.

[StAmander]

Yeah I know what you are talking about something with flute. it also applies to sax especially soprano sax. However the clarinet has the most of this trouble. So yeah don't be complaining because even though saxes are louder they are heavier and you need lots of air. and yes you need good control of air especially if your in a small ensemble and no speakers or in a marching band. We only have one clarinet in our band and 11 brass 5 sax. Small marching band. thanks for saying that.

[pansyinthegarden]

I bet it sounded like a donkey....

[Zerofire18]

The clarinet in the begining of Arturo Marquez Danzon No 2 is also very beautiful.

[Battlefield2Pilot]

0:32 is a trill to G#, not A.

Other than that, it was very good.

[PugLoversGRHS]

I heart my Clarinet

[MasterXDPivot]

@PugLoversGRHS Same here

[3arik]

the best clarinetists in the world say that the mozart concerto is the hardest because EVERYONE knows it and is expecting it to be perfect, however that doesnt stop me from liking weber more

[powellpicc1985]

Yep. I think his concerti are among the most difficult rep for all instruments for that very reason...and it's so funny, because the first time you learn them you think "oh, what are people complaining about? This is EASY!" Then they become progressively more difficult each time you pick them up!

After a while you start to panic when you can't find difficulty in a piece (any piece). It then becomes..."oh crap! What am I missing here?!? This can't be IT."

[Michelle2815CV]

Love clarinet! Need to work harder... I'm just at Grade 4.... need to work harder..

[mightybooshfan14]

CLARINETS ROCK!!! I hope to get as good as this is, I have been playing for three years...not very much but I am still the best of my class

[manifestdestiny17]

@mightybooshfan14  i have been playing for 7

[joeclarinet09]

Yeah!!! i agreed with you :) but i already graduate on last year... :(

[ShadowsOfLite]

@mightybooshfan14 I've been playing for 7 years. Im pretty BA but I just started listening to my Band Director. I started playing my scales till they're are perfect and my tone is beautiful :D

[Lezardine09]

The seats are so great ^^

[Tech502]

I kinda don't like his gliss... it's not smooth enough... he has a really nice tone though...

[anthonydg2]

Damn, I've played the clarinet for 11 years and I'm just learning how to gliss. I know some of you are like, "DAMN, you must suck, but I most definitely don't suck." It's one of the hardest things to do on the clarinet besides getting a really good tone quality. GOOD JOB!!!!

[tunagirl12]

some one needs to poke his cheeks, they puff out A LOT!

[kakashimasta]

George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue:

One of the hardest clarinet solo's ever composed :P Based on true facts folks!

[memphis148]

are you serious? You obviously either don't play clarinet or you haven't played anything by Weber or Krommer. Haha this solo really isn't dificult.

[kakashimasta]

Can you play it very cleanly?

Smooth Gliss?

[memphis148]

yes. All you have to do is play enough jazz and it becomes relatively easy. And I also like to through in a gliss later in the solo up to the high F and then let it ring.

[emoClarinetist]

i personally think Mozart's Clarinet Concerto is one of the hardest over Weber. I sightread the 1st concerto of Weber in a sinch. I've been practicing the mozart one since October of last year in preperation for college and it's still a killer. D:

every major university's school of music and orchestras WILL want to hear the mozart clarinet concerto for auditions. might as well start now.

[memphis148]

of course, Mozart is the most commonly used piece of literature in clarinet auditions. Every single clarinet player knows Mozart. That being said, the third movement of the Weber is so hard to make sound clean.

[emoClarinetist]

i really want the Alla Polacca movement! But Music and Arts is taking forever to find the piece. >_>

[llamaboy9000]

anyone can easily sightread the weber and make it sound ok. getting it clean, memorizing, and adding your own interpretation to it can be very difficult.

[emoClarinetist]

Well, I wouldn't disagree with you there. Personally, I prefer Mozart over Weber; my views on the situation are very different.

[GinobiliRules101]

i guess you've never heard of this guy called francaix...

[haloman12456]

one of the easiest solos in my opinion....

[amyrose9106]

i play clarinet and piano

[rollingstoneschick09]

haha the piano player related to benny "goodman" haha

[blessedblueangel]

that was awsome! I play clarinet too.

[WallZZZZZ]

who rememba me

[Dragonleejae]

i thought rhapsody in blue was something made up in spongebob lol

[sush1b0t]

DAMN!!!

im still trying to learn how to play this

still trying to learn more of the super high notes also

nice song tho

[wasteofusername1]

i bet u the other clarinet player right next to him is probably like"what a a show off"

[wwe3fancena]

wow! that was awesome im still in middle school playing clarinet

[123coolmik]

First time I hear the second glissando at 0:30

[AlchemistProdigy]

That was brilliant! I play clarinet for highschool, and I just love his sound, and was that 32nd notes? Beautiful! ^^

[LummberHero]

Yes they were :D

[kparke01]

Now that's how a clarinet should sound!

[joethemusician]

so nice to see Backun!

[xXxRaybabeXxX]

I'm gonna learn the clarinet!

I play the flute and would like to learn it, it sounds awesome!

[Jeima15]

0.0

omg I wish I was as good as him!

Man!

[MelinGrata]

I'm so, so jealous. Such a good sound...

[Dylpickleh]

I wish I could play clarinet as half as good as that. All I can play is the first part to ode to joy.

[fendercovered]

that was clear sound :)

[powellpicc1985]

I imagine the biggest challenge with the gliss is keeping the appropriate sound quality and color throughout.

You people talking about how 'easy' this is...Sure, the physical task is easy, but completing it with grace and flair is another story. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you can do it well.

[TamaDrummer72]

dam i love how he rolls it from low to high at the start

[nbafaninny]

as an allstate player(not to gloat) i must concurr this guy played very well

[goginator5555]

Any of you who think that that was bad are stupid. he was really good. none of you could play that

[Trinkletty]

I get the feeling a lot of people here don't understand that this solo is meant to be played in a very laidback, blues-y way - that sounds great

[Abriggs500]

Lol I think you need more glissando. Good still.

[Saxofony89]

What a mess

[becca1769]

LOL and you saxofony 1989...what, 19 years old, and acting like you're a professional musician? this person is a paid clarinetist, what did you do, play in your hs concert band? who are you to say that it's a mess? and fleur below me, you must be benny goodman too

[vilxan]

A 19 year old is still allowed to have an opinion, and as a musician I agree with him.

[chessteam]

Well im not sure how much music experience you have, but the Tone is amazing and if you listen to the original and watch other videos of this solo all the others murder this solo, and i think he did it justice.

[chessteam]

(this was a reply to Saxofony89, and vilxan)

[powellpicc1985]

That's what she said.

[MiniTim40]

hahaaaa..

[justgoingdownx]

Hahahahahah.

[xtrastage]

Welcome! Now GTFO.

[derplo1]

seconded

[Tech502]

Amazing Glissando, I wish I could do that... man that must take years of practice... I still can't even do pitch-bends correctly yet..

[lynnette19332]

we did rhapsidy and blue as our feild show opener and the 1st clarinet (i was second) had that solo and he was amazing he even did a jazz growl which sounds so cool in that song!

[bandiekara]

who cares if it's easy music? i sit first chair in a band too...and i'm sure that this is easy music. it's how he plays it that's important! just listen to that gorgeous sound coming out of his clarinet...AMAZING!

[babyonthepiano]

Glissando is easy..

I play 1st-1st clarinet in a junior orchestra... I've seen the music for this and It's actually pretty easy..

[TheOneNamedBrandy]

ok..JUNIOR ORCHEASTRA.

I am first chair in a major orcheastra in jackson, and also in high school. I am woodwind captian as well, and we are playing this song for our marching show next year. I have to do that solo, and you are saying it is easy?!?!

You know what?

That just proves how much you know about music. Its not just about the notes being played.

[emquandra]

Amen.

Real musicianship at its best.

A REAL musician can make a whole note interesting.

[grecianxpiratex07]

Amen to that. A poster in my old band hall said:

"Think about your tone and quality of sound. Louder or faster isn't always better."

...or something like that. But you get the meaning. ^^;

[fastpitch24acers]

I alwasy play 2nd i hate 1st but this sounds cool!!

[berberdude]

I can't get past the "high high C" on clarinet.

not the third-space-C, but the one above the last line. I'm always playing flat.....no matter what I do. I think it has something to do with my throat position. I know it's not my reed, barrel, or mouth piece.

[expertmax1]

@berberdude i really think its your reed

[allegroconfuco]

yeah reed.

[FleurXdeXlys]

are you pushing on the register key hard enough, or using a good size reed aka vandoren. or check your embouchure and air stream.

[groovybiatch]

glissing above the break is one of the hardest things I've ever managed to do...

[heyitskenji]

hey is good

[superman2039]

Too slow... the big bend at the beginning could have started a little higher, too. Otherwise, great!

[iGookin]

Gaa!!

How can people slur like that?!

[iGookin]

Excuse.

*Glissando. Not slur.

:D

[BellaPeony]

You have to glissando up. Something with the mouth piece though. I'm still trying to figure it out o.O

[jerkanimal]

i love you Alice

[uhohlookwhoshere]

you have to slowly move all fingers off the holes at the same time, rather than one at a time, as well as do something with the mouthpiece. (think about how a trombone slide goes)

[bene951]

The way I do it is I drop my throat which causes the pitch to drop a lot too, then I slide my fingers off and voila... glissando. To work on the part with your throat, just play a high-C and try to "bend" the note down as much as you can. By using your throat you should be able to bend it down as far as a G. If you can do that, then just do it on your middle D and pull of your fingers and... Rhapsody in Blue.

[rankfrankrank]

I know you commented ten months ago, but are you sure you don't mean to drop your muscles in your chin

[emilycharmante]

if i were the second clarinet i'd be soo jealous

gliss. in the golden beams of spotlight- and the solo's not mine!

[berberdude]

Lol, I know right. I often play 1st part....never get the solo though.

[TheShark909]

Beautiful tone!

[aiba07]

oh come on, couldnt u include the whole thing? nice anyway

[asdfbobasdf]

it was ok

[denzelwvu]

yea...