Arrangements

From my first tango CD purchase in 2007, I wanted to arrange tango for solo clarinet. I fell in love with the articulation styles of the bandoneons and with the lyrical melodies in the violin and vocal lines. SO much fun, SO clarinet!

I needed two main things to actualize this idea. The first would be MUCH easier music notation software than the old dinosaurs available in 2007. The second would be online access to original scores and lead sheets. And in hindsight, almost two decades of dancing and listening to this incredibly beautiful music would not hurt.

Fast forward to the availability of far better resources, I started arranging in the summer of 2023, choosing to start with the articulation of milonga. And you can guess, once I started, I did not stop. It’s now my drug of choice (second only to coffee). Partway through the year, I added vals, tango, and some unique cortinas to balance out an already fat folder. I’ve lost count of the number of arrangments at this point. Most recently, I’ve been sneaking in beautiful alternatives.

Most of these arrangements are structured to stand alone as clarinet solos, but I chose to keep them in standard keys and form so that they can be easily used with tango bands. And more often than not, I’ve added a third voice to the arrangements while I wait for just the right person to find us. Another clarinet? A cello? A cool guy with a bandoneon?