Music and dance students at the ESI are encouraged to bring additional instruments if they have them. I brought my clarinet to Sweden at the urging of Cajsa Ekstav, who said it would be good to play in musiklära (music learning) classes while I am here. Musiklära includes music theory, but goes beyond just theory. In musiklära we sight-read music and practice together in ensembles. We have two levels to accommodate those who have never read music before and those who have done it for many years. I have used sheet music for clarinet for a long time, both when the music is notated for B-flat clarinet and when it is written in concert pitch and I need to transpose. I can also read sheet music and play nyckelharpa, although I am more accustomed to learning by ear on nyckelharpa.

I originally thought I would practice both nyckelharpa AND clarinet while I was here, but that was too ambitious. With all the homework for both musiklära and arranging class there wasn’t time for clarinet practice too. My focus has been on nyckelharpa and I have been practicing every day. For the final day of arranging class we were encouraged to bring alternate instruments. We had a really fun time creating an arrangement together of a tune that was new to us, Svängrumpa from Skåne. Now we are playing that in the final concert. The first part is in A major, which puts it in B major (5 sharps) for me. I had to get much more comfortable with B major!

We also plan to play Schubert’s Marche Militaire together with the teachers on our final day together, the avslutning. So in order to get my lip muscles in shape for all that playing, and not embarrass myself, I am practicing my clarinet daily. There is a long tradition of Uppland clarinet players, including Curt Tallroth, Olov Johansson’s teacher. I bought a couple of booklets of Swedish tunes for clarinet at the Oktoberstämma, and have been playing through some of those. They are unfortunately written in concert pitch, so require transposition if I want to learn them in a key that others might play. So I am again practicing sight reading while transposing.

Playing clarinet in Svängrumpa; Amy is playing the banjo!