Phase 3!

And then there were three!

& The power of a random text!

They say that sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, and this has been one of those. As my frustration with the lack of bandoneon players in Northeast Connecticut mounted, and I struggled with what instrument to add as a third voice to our arrangements, one late evening I sent a text to three of my clarinet colleagues and asked if anyone wanted to come read a gig. My longtime orchestra partner answered yes, and I quickly adapted a handful of arrangements for our next milonga.

And it was a perfect fit! It doesn’t hurt that Warren and I have been playing together for decades, but also that clarinet has the chameleon ability to take over the timbre of the bandoneons, the harmonies of the violins, and the lyricism of the vocalists.

It has been a delight to stretch my arranging to include original counter melodies and harmonies. Since that gig I’ve continued to add the third voice to most of our repetoire and anything new I’m working on. We also learned that our prop hat fits Warren, so there’s that.