Henning's Headquarters

[Karl Henning]

The traditional uphill battle to restore the clarinet to decent condition, around All That I Do. It doesn't seem to be getting easier with passing time.

[Karl Henning]

It's sounding quite dreadful as yet,to be sure, but I am having fun working The Mousetrap back up.  At times I'll look at the piece and wonder, Why does it work?  Or probably more truthfully, Why do I imagine that it works?  Yet I am convinced that it does all make musical sense.

[Karl Henning]

It's now official: I will give a lecture/demo of Henningmusick at the College of Wooster this Monday afternoon.

[TheGSMoeller]

It's now official: I will give a lecture/demo of Henningmusick at the College of Wooster this Monday afternoon.

Any chance it will be video taped for our viewing pleasure? 

[Karl Henning]

I'm doubtful, Greg. But thanks for asking!

[Karl Henning]

Just about packed for travel.

[Karl Henning]

After practicing last night, I said, "What I really need is another two weeks."

Says the shrewd missus, "Haven't I heard that before?"

As Peter Falk says in *The In-Laws*: "When you're right, you're right."

[Sergeant Rock]

Just about packed for travel.

What the itinerary? Flying into Akron-Canton or Cleveland? When will you be meeting Cato, and where? And are you planning to sample some good Amish/Mennonite cooking while in the area? 


Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Flying into Columbus, and we shall meet tomorrow — after some intense rehearsal of The Mousetrap with Peter Lekx.

[Cato]

That's right ladies and Germans, right here in my living room, and sitting in my wife's easy chair, was the incredible Karl Henning!

Karl had just driven 3 hours from Cleveland, in the rain, but was still chipper and dapper and like a rapper was ready to rhyme about Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Organic Tofu!   

Karlbestowed us with some nice gifts, which were completely unexpected!

Unfortunately, poor Karlthen suffered a brutal and completely unwarranted physical assault when CATO cranked up - on a 5-speaker SurroundSound system -  a cassette tape of one of his quarter-tone works a la J.S. Bach, which was programmed into a sine-tone synthesizer on an Apple IIGS, which sounds like a wheezing, broken down vacuum cleaner...from Mars.

Somehow it had survived all the purges during the Clinton years!   

After bandaging his ears, we then stuffed him with homemade custard pie and pumpkin bread.  0:)

[Karl Henning]

The topic of tofu never arose!

Delightful visit, sine-waves and all. Who can guess the two composers represented on the two CDs which I handed to Cato?

Rehearsal with Pete Lekx yesterday was long, applied, and time very well spent. You may not credit the idea, but here's a violist who willingly endures the hours of practice needed to get The Mousetrap into shape. We'll rehearse a bit more in Wooster herself at the noon hour.

Not tofu — Topol! ; )

[springrite]

Sounds like a meeting I would like to re-created next year, only better (I plan to convince Karl to part with at least 3 Cds...)

[Karl Henning]

: )

The lecture/demo went splendidly. More later...

[springrite]

I played some Henning Musik for a friend last night and he loved it. I may convince him to go with me to the conference in Baltimore next October. I wonder if there will be a Henning Concert in New England just before or soon after the concert that we could go to, or a Carter premiere, or ...

[Karl Henning]

October 2012, eh? I think my King's Chapel date is in October ... will check when I've returned to Boston, Paul.

If not, creating an occasion should not be inordinately challenging. Let me know your Baltimore dates when you can.

I'll enlarge later with a detailed post-mortem, but Pete Lekx sounds eager to keep the collaboration going.

[springrite]

October 2012, eh? I think my King's Chapel date is in October ... will check when I've returned to Boston, Paul.

If not, creating an occasion should not be inordinately challenging. Let me know your Baltimore dates when you can.

Hilton Baltimore
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Conference Dates: October 17-20, 2012

In the extremely unlikely event that the Orieles get into the World Series, I do have full view of the inside of the ball park from the hotel window. Too bad it is not Fenway where the WS will actually take place.

[Karl Henning]

Back in Boston.  Preparing stuffing and roasting a bird. More tomorrow.

[Karl Henning]

Saturday.

Arrive safely in the Buckeye State.  Once settled, practice for not-quite-an-hour. (Not enough? Of course, it wasn't.  But I did practice until the chops started to tire.)

Went to dinner with mine hosts.  The later dining hour (which was driven by my practice session) was a boon, as we missed the traffic out of the Ohio State / Penn State football contest.

Sunday.

Drive to Cleveland.  Google maps sees me to Pete's place with customary ease and efficiency, and I arrive at half past eleven, as planned.  Pete comes home from church shortly after.  (He's become involved in a local Episcopal parish, which may prove a suitable venue for Henningmusick hereafter.)  Allowing for a hot cup of tea, we probably got playing at 12 or so, took a break in the middle (refreshing tea) and went on until half past three.  Lots of work on the gnarlier bits (quite a few of those in The Mousetrap, truth to tell).  The two of us do indeed enjoy working together, and I am impressed/honored anew at the work Pete is willing to lay in, on this challenging piece.  Since it is for a master class rather than a formal performance, we settle on less frantic tempi for the, well, frantic sections, which will nonetheless sound impressively rapid.  Both of us feeling (a) that we wish we had a week to work the piece more, the two of us together, and (b) that the piece merits arranging future concerts, both in Boston and Ohio . . . and possibly in NYC (Pete has a new contact).

Drive back to the Heart of the Buckeye State, and have a lovely visit with Cato and Mrs Cato, hot tea and custard pie.  I thought Cato was going to play Haydn but instead it was a playful quarter-tone exercise.  Mrs Cato observes that the sine-wave tones somehow wind up sounding harmonica-esque.  Also found was the tape of an organ piece Cato wrote for their wedding; not your ideal recording, to be sure, but a charming document.

Monday.

Pete & I have decided to meet at Wooster at noon, to rehearse some more early enough to allow the wimpy clarinetist a goodly chunk of time for embouchure recovery.  KH arrives at the Scheide Music Center at about noon, Pete is slightly delayed (no worries).  I am thinking, as someone in the Music Dept office where we might play for an hour or so, but the office is dark: week of Thanksgiving, just the secretary on duty, and she deserves her lunch break as well as anyone.  I find where the practice rooms are, but they are all locked.  I sit down and look at my pieces, which is a little different . . . when looking at these pieces, I am almost always trying to play them, so it is a good prep for the master class to sit and look them over, just as scores.

A likely chap appears, to whom I introduce myself, and he opens a practice room for me.  I get settled, assemble the clarinets, and . . . there is only one stand.  I accost a student who helpfully opens another room so that I can grab a second stand.  Pete lands, and starts warming up.  I step out into the hall, and Dr Gallagher (Jack) appears, my first composition teacher. Very pleasant reunion, Jack introduces me to a trumpet student, a senior who is thinking about grad school, at (among other places) B.U., so I bring Pete (who did his doctorate at B.U.) into the conversation.

We do at last set to practicing, probably for an hour and a bit.  Arriving at a musical place where we feel reasonably good, we pack up and head to downtown Wooster for a bite to eat at a Hungarian café.

Pete & I return to Scheide about a quarter past four (class is to start at 17:15).  Jack booked room 106, which has a raised stage area.  The chairs, though, are too low.  I wander about and find the large ensemble room, and borrow two chairs (fully intending to return them, natch), whose seat height is much better.

A scant five minutes before we were to start, we had only three students in the room, and when Jack enters, his face shows grievous apology.  I reassured him that there is time yet . . . and to be sure, more cruised in, and we must have had seven students (plus two teachers other than Jack).

The students were quite timid at first, but after Irreplaceable Doodles they warmed up a bit.  Each of them to a man had at least one intelligent question to ask.

Pete and I had agreed to break The Mousetrap into three parts, so that we could invite questions and conversation in the piece's midst.  At first, I found stopping points so that the three "parts" were all about the same duration; but then, Pete suggested that we play a longer "part 1," and allow for diminishing attention after with two somewhat shorter "parts."

So . . . we play through the first "part," we stop and chat a bit about it.  And as we are about to start back up, Pete asks me if we should take the second break, or just play through. We both felt that the students were engaged, so I decided to just play it out to the end.

Afterwards, Jack took us out to eat at a Mexican restaurante, and we must have talked until the place was about to close.

Tuesday.

Weather is sopping wet.  I spend the morning essentially relaxing, drinking hot tea, nibbling on some very tasty pumpkin bread which Cato baked, and listening to King Crimson with my old Wooster mates.  Cato and I meet for a brief lunch near where he works.

Then I meet at last a fellow I've been in e-mail contact with for probably two years, a clarinetist with one of the orchestras in Ohio.  We got on well.  Every year he comes east to visit family and friends; so the plan now is that I shall write some clarinet duets, and we shall play them in either or both places.

Wednesday.

I get up at quarter past four for my first flight, have a tight-ish connection in Milwaukee, but everything goes smoothly.  Although the weather in Boston is windy and rainy, my plane lands surpassing gently.

And now: Thanksgiving.

[Karl Henning]

With mild modification, I cross posted that to the blog. But I wrote it here for my GMG mates first.

I've started a clarinet duet, wrote a bit this morning. Will get more done before bothering to attach any score.  For that matter, will get more done before heading to Sibelius.

[Sergeant Rock]

I get up at quarter past four for my first flight, have a tight-ish connection in Milwaukee, but everything goes smoothly.  Although the weather in Boston is windy and rainy, my plane lands surpassing gently.

Columbus to Boston via Milwaukee? Screwy! 

Thanks for the write-up. Next best thing to being there.


Sarge