Clarinet Trio

Writing music is not easy. It's easier when you have an expensive program that handles must of the scut work, though.

2001, or so it says on the music file.

I don't know why I first sat down at the Band Hall's Music Library's computer. The Music Library was a small office that had (probably) thousands of pieces of music. There was also enough room to hold private lessons comfortably but that's about it. There was also an old computer there. It had Warcraft and a few other old games on it as well, or it did from time to time. It also had Finale.

One day, I was waiting for something or other and my friends were hanging around the band hall as well. We ended up at the music library and passed the time. For some reason, I opened Finale. I tried to see what I could do at first, but it wasn't much.

The next day, or thereabouts, I sat at the computer again. I started a new piece with a clarinet, tenor sax, and trumpet. I think I was trying to remember the blues scales I had learned at my old school and wanted to use all Bb instruments to make it easier on me. It was pretty bad.

Some time later, I started a new file with three clarinets. Instead of trying to do blues scales, I just tried to write. And write I did. I learned how to better use the program as time went on and I spent a few weeks adding to it, saving my work to a floppy disk. Eventually, I was done. I knew I was done because I showed my private lesson teacher it and he suggested an ending. I took his advice and lo and behold I was done. During one session, he and I played through the melody of my piece. It was excellent.

The piece is a baroque-esque piece. It is not that way by design, but somehow, I slopped together enough notes to make a 2 and a half minute plus song that sounded decent. Doing that really helped me feel happy about things again.

I've retouched the piece only slightly since I finished it in 2001, only to add dynamic changes really, to make it more palatable to the ear from newer versions of Finale. To this day, however, I still don't have a name for it; it's just Clarinet Trio.