A year before our wedding, I decided to surprise my wife with a performance of one of our favorite songs, Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. It was the song I had proposed with. I had only performed as a soloist once before in 2009, so I knew that I had to re-build my clarinet embouchure and skills. So over the course of 2022, I secretly practiced whenever Cathy was out, which was sometimes tricky to hide! I REALLY needed the practice and found myself out of breath before the piece ended. Intonation was also a major issue, so I spent a lot of time with many of the high notes to get them in tune.
I needed a very talented accompanist as well, so my cousin Daniel graciously stepped in to play the difficult piano part. The best aspect of the piece is the rubato ebbing and flowing of tempo. It's what gives the piece life and expression. So Daniel and I sent a few recordings back and forth to try to get on the same page with the tempos that I wanted. Just one week before the wedding, we had an opportunity to do one secret rehearsal, which proved to be very important. I had the piece fully memorized by that time. Finally, on the big day, I secretly put my clarinet together in the morning and hid it in the closet. After the cake cutting, I warmed up for just a minute and then hit the stage.
I'll be honest and say that I don't remember exactly what I was thinking during my performance, but I do remember the cool air on my skin. I remember reacting to cues from Daniel. And I remember Cathy sitting in her chair with her mom's white coat on. It was probably one of the rare few moments that day when I wasn't planning. When you're playing music, it's about being in the moment. You can't worry about the past or the future, you can only play the best you can on any given note. And that's something that I'm continuing to learn each day, thanks to my wife. She's been keeping the music alive in me for the past 9 years...and keeping me in the moment too :)
Sheet Music Link: www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/pro...
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