anti-Mendelssohn
I think Mendelssohn must have had a bad experience with a clarinet in his youth. Why else would he write these terrible terrible solos for clarinet? Okay... granted, they're big and exposed... but soooooo evil! He must have liked torturing poor clarinetists whose wrists hurt and who only want to be able to play those two small measures, dammit! Is that really so much to ask? I didn't think so either... but apparently it is. And it sucks that every time I think I figure out what it is I'm doing wrong, it STILL doesn't work! Not consistently anyway... which is bad because I need that consistency to be able to play under pressure. *sigh* and cramming has never worked wonders for me either. I guess I'm just screwed. Oh man. This really really sucks.