Greg Oakes on Clarinet Amplification, Contemporary Music, and Multiphonics
Date Posted: November 03, 2017
What projects are you working on?
I just finished a recording project of pieces by Helmut Lachenmann (German composer). The whole CD is three pieces: Dal Niente, a solo clarinet piece, then two trio pieces: Allegro Sostenuto and Trio fluido.
I’ve been working on it for a little while and I’m very excited to finally to get it together. It has a really adventurous sound. For example, the piece Dal Niente “from nothing” is kind of a double meaning. You have dynamics from really quiet, but also he’s approaching the clarinet from nothing—as in someone has never heard the clarinet before. What kind of sounds does this thing make? He’s creating all of these different air noises and key noises. So it’s a really inventive piece that I’m excited to work with. That’s been pretty fun!
How will you be amplifying the clarinet?
I have a rig. Here are the arms - the bell - and then I have these two microphones that fit onto the mounts there. It’s used to balance out the volume of the clarinet versus four percussionists. It’s pretty hard to do that. On the high end you certainly can, but most of the stuff is going to get drowned out. It also changes the timbre a bit as well.
There are two different mics: one’s at the bell and one’s in the middle. Depending on what part of the instrument you’re on, different mics will pick up the sound.
Do you have any advice for people getting into amplified sound or contemporary music?
I think the first thing is to just listen to things and find something that’s really exciting, because I think sometimes it’s hard to know how to get to it.
You might say abstractly, “I would love to play this kind of music.” But for me, it came from something I really wanted to get into and then learning all the stuff you do to make it possible. It works the best when you’ve got a sound in your mind that you’re going for.
Rather than getting a piece of music and saying to yourself, “Umm, what do I do with this?” For me, being inspired by something that you hear is like, “Oh yeah, I can do something like that.” I think that works the best. Because then you’re working with that energy and excitement.
"...the first thing is to just listen to things and find something that’s really exciting." - Greg Oakes
Is that how the Eric Mandat piece influenced you?
Yes! That was the first one that made me feel like that. Since then, there have been many composers or different sounds, and different settings I’ve worked with.
There’s a composer that I’ve worked with for 20 years now. His name is Ken Ueno. He and I have done collaborations since we were students together - he’s written lots of things. Sometimes that energy of working with a composer is one of the really exciting things. Because then you create a piece together. He is writing that piece knowing what I have to offer and then I’m giving him feedback. So rather than having it be just like “here’s the music play it, “you’re an integral part of the birth of that.
To me that’s very exciting. People don’t have to wait until they’re already professionals to do that—they can find a composer while they’re students and be creating those things at the same time.
Do you explain your pieces before you give a performance?
I like to, when the venue allows that. I give people something to listen for and explain it. Hey, listen to this if the piece has something programmatic about it. But I also feel that when I’m performing, my job is to really make it very clear what is exciting and interesting about the piece.
There’s lots of different ways to perform a piece. “Here’s what’s on the page, here’s what’s exciting about the piece, and here’s what I love about the piece!”
Just like anyone talking about something they’re passionate about, there’s a way of describing it.
What we need to do in playing contemporary music is to show in the performance. Give people something to listen to but then really take them along on the journey. *Gestures arching movement with hands* I think about music in these long arcs and I think that whether it’s Mozart or a piece that you’re premiering for the first time, it always brings that continuity. You have to bring people along and make sure that they feel ownership in where you’re going.
What’s your favorite extended technique?
It’s multiphonics! My Twitter handle is @multiphonic! I love multiphonics because they make the clarinet sound like so many different things.
Some multiphonics are really delicate and gentle—these dyads (just two notes). Some are really raucous, and there’s everything in between. So, when you’re doing a solo clarinet piece, you’re just hearing the clarinet’s timbre repeatedly. It can get limiting. You can listen to a piano solo because it can have all of these options of different registers and textures. If we’re going to ask a listener to sit for a while, you want to give an array of timbres, and I think multiphonics can do that especially well.
What gear are you currently using?
My mouthpiece is a Vandoren M15—just the standard. I play on the Rue Lepics #4.5 and an M|O ligature. My clarinet is a Buffet R13 with a Moennig barrel. Nothing is extraordinarily strange, it’s just good, solid equipment that works really well for me. I tend to not change my equipment much. I find what works and then stick with it. You have to form a relationship with your equipment and understand how it works. And every time you change something, that part changes. For me, I feel like if I were to change too much, I would constantly be re-adjusting myself. I’d rather not. I’ve been playing on this setup for a while now. I found something I feel good with, and I’ll keep doing that.
About Greg Oakes
Gregory Oakes is an exciting and energetic clarinetist performer and a passionate champion of the music of our time.
From his Carnegie Hall debut with members of Ensemble Intercontemporain and Pierre Boulez to his performances as a member of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Oakes has been praised by critics for his “outstanding performance” (New York Times) and “jazzy flourishes” (Denver Post).
His performance highlights include a concerto with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Telluride Jazz Festival with Grammy® Award-winner Terence Blanchard, a concert at Amsterdam’s venerable new music hall De IJsbreker, and a solo feature at Berlin’s prestigious MaerzMusik festival. Oakes has performed at multiple International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests, the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, the New Music Gathering, and the International Computer Music Conference. He has performed throughout the United States, Brazil, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Thailand. He has held residencies at Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth, Aspen, and Amsterdam's STEIM. His CD Aesthetic Apparatus: Clarinet Chamber Music of Helmut Lachenmann appears on the New Focus Recordings label. His other recordings appear on Bridge, Centaur, CRI, Gothic, Karnatic Lab Records, and Naxos and broadcasts on National Public Radio.
Oakes is on the faculty of Iowa State University and is principal clarinet of the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. He is a Buffet Group USA and Vandoren Performing Artist.