Plus, I know now the Spanish name for my piece: La pequeña Fantasia de Navidad

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Also here are some thoughts that Christy shared with us after the performance:

“It is a very challenging piece! It hits the top altissimo notes on the clarinet, and has modern techniques like flutter tonguing, slap tonguing, sort of a beat boxing (air accent), a woodblock like smacking sound, glissando, and pretty much everything but the “kitchen sink!” Or maybe that’s in there too, I don’t remember. Lol! Thanks for listening to the performance! It’s taken me two years to get up the courage to perform it, and I was pretty nervous because I knew it was being recorded. I also didn’t realize I’d be playing this in the lobby with the echo-y effect. That made me have to think a little more on how to pull off some of the sound effects, and I had to take a little more time in spots so that might be heard in that big room…so that was interesting!

It goes to the “super C” as I like to call it. It’s the highest note on the advanced fingering chart I have, probably a whole octave higher then the fingering chart you would get in your band book! It’s not a low stress piece to play because you never know if the reed is going to make the notes in that octave speak correctly every time! This one is a tough piece to play…took me two years to get up the courage to perform it much less record it and post it! … One of the hardest pieces I’ve probably ever played!”

“The piece was a hit! The audience cheered twice as loud for Fantasy versus anything else on the program today. Great piece!”

Congratulations to Christy as she was also the only one who got two bows in before the cheering subsided! While here, have a look at the original video of Mihael’s performance that inspired Christy.

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The Magazine is distributed across the globe and is the flagship outlet of the CASS – The Clarinet & Saxophone Society of Great Britain. It should also be mentioned that this is the first clarinet piece ever by a Croatian composer/clarinetist to be featured in the Magazine.

Order sheet music here and read the whole review by Mr. Michael Pearse here

‘…sensational, seasonal showpiece of considerable worth and a welcome addition to the repertory.’

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Croatian-born clarinettist Paar is a young, emerging artist with an ever-growing reputation at home and abroad. His Little Christmas Fantasy takes the well known Christmas tune we all love to hate, Jingle Bells, on a light-hearted, humorous journey through a variety of styles. But if you are looking for a simple little piece to sight-read to your grandma on Christmas day after a few glasses of sherry, be warned, this piece is not for the faint-hearted! Mihael Paar is a performer who possesses a brilliant virtuosic technique, which he aptly demonstrates in his YouTube performance of the work.

The Fantasy uses a number of extended techniques including flutter-tonguing, slap-tonguing, double-tonguing, high notes up to Super C and a particular favourite of mine, an unusual effect where the performer is asked to play and release air outside the mouthpiece simultaneously to create an off the-beat percussion effect. To make the work more accessible, Paar has written a number of ossia lines and has suggested some useful cuts which remove some of the work’s more technically demanding passages, but I would still say that even the abbreviated version of the work is of a grade eight standard, especially if performed at the given tempi.

If you are up for the challenge, I would highly recommend learning the Fantasy in its entirety, along with all the extended techniques Paar incorporates so effectively into the work. lt is a superbly crafted little piece, which is highly effective, texturally interesting, fun to play and is sure to put a Little Christmas smile on your face. Bah Humbug!

Michael Pearce

© Clarinet & Saxophone, Autumn 2014

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© profil-international.hr, December 15th 2013

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‘Jingle Bells will never be the same again!’       

‘Anyone who has ever played, or considered playing, or even heard a clarinet should listen to this!’       

‘Pretty amazing little remake…’       

‘Goes from great to amazing.’       

‘Jingle Bells like you never heard it before. Fantastic!’

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