Hoedown for Copland’s Rodeo has always felt like a vicious tonguing exercise on the wrong clarinet.  Why would an orchestrator of Copland’s caliber make us do anything in E Major on a Bb clarinet when a perfectly good A clarinet could do it better in F Major?  So, the principal clarinetist and I collectively decided to do it on A clarinet. (Links to the parts are below.)  Of course, it was much easier to play in F Major, but I started to wonder if it was worth it.  I, admittedly, was painfully flat on my opening F playing on a cold instrument, but even more obvious was the unsuitable timbre.  I missed the extra “punch” that is a little easier on Bb.  I think Copland knew exactly what he was doing when he put a Bb clarinet in E Major.  (Of course he did… He was a master orchestrator!) So, before you download the transposed parts in A, please consider the original version in Bb.

Hoedown – 1st Clarinet in A

Hoedown – 2nd Clarinet in A

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  1. Thank you sooo much for transposing Hoedown to A. The Bb parts have difficult fingerings and we have always wished someone would transpose…and so I went on line to see if I could find a transposed part. We appreciate you! Clarinetists of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis.

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