Download - Mestrado em Música e Artes Cênicas - UFG

“ESTUDO I” FOR SOLO CLARINET BY JOHNSON MACHADO:
ANALYTICAL ASPECTS THROUGH POST-TONAL THEORY
Johnson Machado (UFG)
johnsonmachado@hotmail.com
Keywords: Contemporary Music; Estudo I; Clarinet; Post-Tonal Theory.
INTRODUCTION
The Estudo I for solo clarinet represents a virtual compendium of extended techniques for
the clarinet. It was written in 2003 in an attempt to promote and divulge the extended techniques
among clarinetists and composers. This writer has been performing the piece since then in recitals,
festivals and seminars in Brazil and in the US. The work calls one’s attention in that in contains
many of the techniques in one piece, offering the musician the opportunity to listen them
as well as to motivate the study and performance of the work. However, the performer must be
willing to alter the habits he uses in performing traditional music. For example, Donald Scarvada
describes his experience in dealing with these new techniques. He recalls his unique experience,
observing that:
It was in trying to find sounds that were most natural to the clarinet that I discovered what are
now called multiphonics in April 1962. Gradually I began to realize the exciting potential of
the simultaneity of sounds that could be produced by the instrument. It was necessary first,
however, to discard old habits and attitudes about what the clarinet should sound like. It required
an open mind and much hard work and patience to explore and mine these rich, natural
complex sounds and eventually to bring them to the surface (Scavarda, 2001).
Objective
To promote and divulge both the extended techniques for the clarinet and the piece Estudo
I among clarinetists, composers and musicians. Furthermore, it is expected that it may motivate
artists in a more frequent way with the use of the extended techniques in schools and conservatories,
enabling the students to this particular field.
Methodology
This article is based on the piece Estudo I and through the appreciation and study of its
analytical aspects, using the post-tonal theory as a tool to understand and enumerate the nuances
found in the piece one is expected to grasp the ideas that permeates the work accordingly. Thus,
methodology becomes assertiveness towards its experiments and quality.
Expected Results
The understanding of the extended techniques as well as their use among musicians may
promote the practice and performance in a more fluent way.
Comunicações Orais 55