About the Work

We thank the composer for sharing a few notes about her work:

The Six Studies For Various Clarinets were written between March 20th and April 20th 2020. They came upon me rather suddenly and unexpectedly as never before had I wished to write for a single-line solo instrument that was not a piano. They were inspired by major events which were happening in my life at the time; my dear mum, Margaret Mary Denny, known as Pearl, at the great age of 91, passed away on March 24th 2020 - right on the first official day of our UK Lockdown amid the growing worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic! Mercifully, I was able to be with Mum at the end.

So, the sound of a solo clarinet seemed to be the only way I could think during this extremely strange time. I wanted to write a piece for each of my clarinets and each study was conceived for the type of clarinet for which it was written. However, all of the studies can also be played on a Bb clarinet. I have transcribed No.3 for Bass Clarinet for the Bb clarinet.

The studies are highly expressive, individual pieces which seek to give the player much fun as well as practice to greatly improve technique. I also hope that audiences will enjoy them, too. Their styles range from the very dissonant to the very melodic and everything in between. They are tragic and desolate in places, witty and full of fun and michief in others. I hope you enjoy them!

Solo score: 26 pages, spiral bound.

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About the Composer

Geraldine Green was born in 1967. Her interest in music was awakened when she was 7 years old, during a holiday when she stayed with a family of musicians including the composer John Dunn. At 11 she began the clarinet and piano at the Belfast School of Music, where she studied until the age of 18. It was during this time that Geraldine's passion for composition began, and she began writing her first piano pieces and studying orchestration with the help and encouragement of her teacher Gerry Deignan.

In 1986 Geraldine went to the London College of Music to study clarinet with David Campbell and piano with Renalda Mackie. Following a 3 year degree course, she then completed a post graduate diploma in Film Music under Francis Shaw. By then the urge to write music could no longer be contained and in the years that followed she wrote a number of works. These included a Recorder Concertino, the Bass Clarinet Concerto, a Septet for string quintet, flute and harpsichord, and a concerto for B-flat clarinet and orchestra. During these years, Geraldine also wrote four musicals for Herne Hill Primary School in London.

Throughout the 1990s Geraldine taught clarinet and piano at Ibstock Place School in Roehapton, London, and this soon led to her producing orchestrations and arrangements for the school's orchestra, band and choir. Through this work she met Peter Morris who commissioned her to write a piece for his Thameside Clarinet Choir. The 3 movement Divertissement was the result. A clarinet quintet, commissioned by Michael Bryant for his clarinet 'play days' was soon to follow.

After a break in music writing to start a family, March 2008 saw Geraldine return to writing with a seven movement piece for piano, 'Miscellany'. The year 2009 saw the world premiere of her flute concerto, performed by flautist Gary Woolf (who commissioned the work) and the Chiltern Camerata in High Wycombe, UK, and conducted by composer Simon Lambros.

Geraldine is now married and lives in the UK with her family. She regularly plays clarinet and cello with local symphony orchestras, and also enjoys playing and writing traditional Irish Folk music. For further details on Geraldine Green please visit her website at GeraldineGreen.co.uk or at OakMountMusic.co.uk.