We recently connected with Stefanie Gardner and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Stefanie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The growth and popularity of bass clarinet over the past few years has been tremendous and the clarinet community was ripe to support a low clarinet festival. The bass clarinet used to be kind of an awkward step child of the clarinet family–many players were banished to play it if they didn’t perform well enough on soprano clarinet in schools, but now musicians are choosing to identify as bass clarinetists and actually WANT to play it and play it EXTREMELY well. Bass clarinet has now become the “cool” sibling in the clarinet family and is finally coming into its own. The instrument is versatile, with its merits as a solo, chamber-music, orchestral, band, jazz, or new music instrument. You even hear it in rock and progressive rock bands! Many clarinet manufacturers are building new and improved bass clarinet models and releasing more affordable instruments, opening up the market to more enthusiasts.
During the pandemic, I chaired the International Clarinet Association (ICA) New Music Committee (2020-2023), and our committee had the brilliant idea to organize the very first international low clarinet festival. After some encouragement, I applied to host the inaugural Low Clarinet Festival with the support of the ICA and my institution’s support (Glendale Community College, Arizona (GCC)). After gaining approval from the ICA board of directors and my administration at GCC, I quickly formed a team of international low clarinet specialists to help me with the artistic vision and organization.
Approximately 275 alto, basset horn, bass, contra-alto and contrabass clarinetists from all over the globe gathered at the very first ICA Low Clarinet Festival January 5-8, 2023 at Glendale Community College in Glendale, Arizona. As Artistic Director, I was assisted by members of the Artistic Leadership Team: Jason Alder, Jeff Anderle, Lara Diaz, Mike Lowenstern, Marco Mazzini, Jon Russell, Stephan Vermeersch, and Sarah Watts, alongside the ICA board of directors and staff including ICA Executive Director Jessica Harrie and ICA intern Rongbing Shen. The committee selected the theme of “Community” which was evident throughout the festival—young and upcoming players and seasoned icons of the low clarinet world intermingled, both inspired by one another!
The 2023 Low Clarinet Festival program showcased performers of all levels and backgrounds, embraced diverse programming, and featured equal representation of women (really important to me and will be discussed later in the interview). Events took place one at a time and all performances, master classes, presentations, and clinics were well-attended! Most of the attendees and performers stayed until the very end of the festival and were sad to see the wonderful event come to an end. From beginning to end, the festival atmosphere was welcoming, celebratory, and warm—a long-awaited celebration of the low clarinet community.
Some events were streamed on the ICA Facebook page and later on the ICA YouTube page for anyone not in attendance to watch, including master classes and the opening artistic committee ensemble concert as well as the massive participant low choir (at least 100 members) led by Arizona State University Director of Bands, Jason Caslor. I was awarded the Reimagine Grant by Maricopa Community Colleges to help run the festival, funding artist travel through valuable outreach concerts in the Glendale area for approximately 1,000 middle and high school students. The grant also paid for commissions for six low clarinet ensemble works, adding incredible new pieces to our ever-growing repertoire!
Words cannot describe how happy the attendees and performers were to gather for this historical event. Jon Russell said it best after the first day: “My cheeks are sore from smiling so much, and it is just the first day.”
The Low Clarinet Festival marked a new day in clarinet history. Its success and enthusiastic reception ensured the Low Clarinet Festival will return biennially, and the next one will be January 8-11, 2025 in Glendale, AZ once again.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
At age 13, I found my first bass clarinet in a small pawn shop in my hometown. I didn’t even know what it was, but I was excited to find out. I quickly traded in my Beanie Baby collection to take this instrument home. I went to the local music shop to have it serviced into playing shape and fell in love with its sound. By age 14, I was first chair bass clarinet in Florida’s All-State Band. I had found my voice. Unfortunately, no music schools allowed me to audition on bass clarinet when it was time to select a college, so I focused my attention on soprano clarinet for college. I did not come back to the bass clarinet until after I finished my doctorate and started playing it in a reed quintet. Since my schooling, some universities and conservatories have started offering bass clarinet programs, and I wish I had these options when I was looking for places to study. At my school (GCC AZ), I allow students to study both soprano and bass clarinets.
All my degrees are in soprano B-flat clarinet studying with Dr. Robert Spring at Arizona State University, but I am primarily a self-taught bass clarinetist. In addition to solo work, I play bass clarinet in a professional duo with my husband and partner, Joshua Gardner. Our duo is called Égide Duo, and we commission, perform, and record music that supports social change. Pieces we have commissioned are based on topics including climate change, homelessness, animal rights, the pandemic, fake news, and we commission underrepresented composers to help diversify the repertoire for clarinet and bass clarinet. We tour widely and frequently give performance classes on clarinet and bass clarinet. I am a consultant/performing artist for instrument-maker Henri Selmer Paris, traveling to France yearly to test prototypes and provide feedback. I am also sponsored by the American distributor for Henri Selmer Paris, Conn-Selmer, and the ligature and reed manufacturer Silverstein Works in New Jersey.
I currently play in one of North America’s oldest reed quintets (fairly new genre) called Paradise Winds which was established in 2011. The very first reed quintet (oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet, and bassoon) was established in the Netherlands in the 1980’s by a group called Calefax. This unique and new ensemble requires new pieces to be written for it, so we commission, write, record, and arrange new works for the reed quintet. In addition to chamber music, I am invited to play solo repertoire on the bass clarinet and in several orchestras. I actively play in the Arizona Opera, the Phoenix Symphony, AZ MusicFest Orchestra, and in many touring Broadway productions. In addition, I have commissioned over 75 new works for the clarinet and bass clarinet in my career thus far.
At GCC, I direct a low-clarinet choir of about 30 players— it’s called Team Lo-Blow—and it has such a unique, big, homogenous sound like a powerful organ. We are likely the largest active low clarinet choir in the world. The group is composed of students, professionals, and community members. It is truly a diverse group of people, and we have many composers writing and sending us new pieces all the time!
I teach clarinet, chamber music, and music theory at GCC, and previously I served on the faculty at Northern Arizona University. I have been listed in 100 Famous Female Clarinetists Throughout History and maintain an active performance career, performing with Arizona Opera, the Phoenix Symphony, AZ MusicFest, Red Rocks Chamber Music Festival, Seventh Roadrunner, the internationally recognized Paradise Winds, and grant-winning Égide Duo whose mission is to commission, record, and perform music inspiring social change. We actively seek out collaborations with composers to create, record, and perform music that addresses social change, including issues involving the environment/climate, animal and human rights, equity, access, and inclusion.
I have also performed in concert with Jason Alexander, PitBull, Ceelo, Tony Orlando, Reba McEntire, Michael Bolton, David and Katherine McPhee Foster, Jordin Sparks, Weird Al Yankovic, Hanson, and The Who. My albums are recorded on the Soundset label and can be heard on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
I have performed for the International Clarinet Association (ICA), the International Double Reed Society, the North American Saxophone Alliance, International Tuba and Euphonium Conference, National Flute Association, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, and the International Viola Society. Recently, I was invited to perform at the 2023 European Clarinet Association Congress in Tilburg, Netherlands, and have guest artist residencies scheduled at the Huilo Huilo Music Festival in Chile, the University of Sheffield (UK), the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Mexico City in 2024.
During my term as chair of the ICA New Music Committee, I founded the biennial ICA Low Clarinet Festival and the annual ICA New Music Weekend. Presently I serve as chair of the ICA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access Committee and am passionate about building a clarinet community that welcomes everyone (see clarEquality.com for more information). I have a large coalition of women and advocates helping fire up the #womenplayclarinettoo movement in response to a lack of representation in international clarinet festivals.
In addition to performing and teaching, I have a strong interest in woodwind pedagogy. In 2012, I won first prize at the ICA Research Competition with my study, “An Investigation of Finger Motion and Hand Posture during Clarinet Performance,” where I collaborated with the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at ASU to study hand posture and finger motion during clarinet performance using CyberGloves®. My dissertation research focused on hand posture during clarinet performance as an aide to prevent musician injury. My quest for improving musician health and wellness recently has led to founding GCC’s Musician Health and Wellness Series–a safe place for students to learn about taking care of their physical and mental health while growing as musicians.
More recently, I was awarded Top 30 Professionals by Musical America and “Outstanding Contributions in Private Teaching” by Arizona State University. I also work for Norton Publishing Company to review theory and aural skills textbooks, and am also sponsored by Henri Selmer Paris/Conn-Selmer, and Silverstein Works.
I’m originally from Pensacola, FL, and earned my Associate in Arts (Music) degree at Pensacola Junior College (now Pensacola State College) as a dual enrollment student. I begged my parents to let me be home-schooled so I could study music more intensively at the college. At age 18, I moved over 2000 miles away to study clarinet performance with my childhood idol, Robert Spring at ASU. I earned my Bachelor of Music (2006), Master of Music (2008), and Doctor of Musical Arts (2011) degrees in clarinet performance while at ASU. In 2007, I married another clarinetist, Joshua Gardner, while pursuing degrees at ASU, so we both decided to stay in Phoenix and build our careers in teaching and performance.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My passion is to create a clarinet community that welcomes everyone. I’m lucky to have a strong network of women all over the world speaking up about female representation in the clarinet community: Sarah Watts, Julia Heinen, Carrie RavenStem, Dawn Lindblade-Evans, Lara Diaz, Marta Kania, Fie Schouten, Kristine Dizon, Larkin Sanders, and many others. We use hashtags such as #womenplayclarinettoo to promote clarinet events embracing equality and to call out events lacking in representation of women and other marginalized populations. We are actively working together to ensure the future of clarinet is welcoming of all underrepresented populations (races and ethnicities, gender diversity, sexual orientations, and those with disabilities). In short, we are a coalition of worldwide clarinetists using our voices to demand change. We believe that our clarinet community is made stronger by the diversity within it. Events within our community should represent our diverse makeup and be accessible to all. We invite all clarinetists to join us by taking this pledge:
“I am an ally and advocate for equality and diversity in the worldwide clarinet community. I will inquire about, support and insist on increased visibility and opportunity for underrepresented populations; races and ethnicities, gender diversity, sexual orientations, and those with disabilities in events and programs that I take part in.” Clarinetists and sponsors can sign the pledge at clarequality.com and have their name listed on the website as allies for equality. There are “next steps” to becoming an ally listed on the website as well.
The hashtags #womenplayclarinettoo and #clarequality grew out of frustrations that women and other marginalized groups have been excluded in recent clarinet events. In just April and May of 2023, there were at least 24 international festivals with male-only faculty, jurors, or guest artists.
We publicly asked the organizers and panels of these events on social media “Where are the women?” Many organizers did not reply, deleted our comments, emailed us or privately messaged us threats, or, even worse, said that they only hired the best faculty and artists (implying that women can’t play or teach as well as men). We have asked sponsors to think carefully about supporting these events, and how that reflects on their company and their consumers.
Many women in the international clarinet community have come forward with personal stories of inequity, harassment, and even sexual abuse by male colleagues and teachers.
The #womenplayclarinettoo movement has met resistance from some men in the clarinet community. Some have told us to “be more ladylike,” “stop shouting,” or “plan your own events” (excuse me, but we do!), or warned us we are “burning bridges.” Others have threatened lawsuits and changed our slogan to “B****es play clarinet, too!”
Asking nicely or ignoring the issue has not brought change. With our campaign, we are finally getting festival organizers and sponsors to think carefully about their rosters and programming, and getting allies to spread the word and speak up for us too.
In addition to never having a female teacher or role model, I am often the only woman in the clarinet section. It is rare for me to play with another professional female-identifying clarinetist in orchestras and other gigs. I’ve been attending ICA festivals for decades now, and it has only been in the past 6 years or so that we have had women headliners at the night concerts. I can recall past years, such as 2016, when there were zero women soloists performing in the coveted night concerts.
I want my diverse clarinet studio (primarily female, Hispanic, and LGBTQIA+) to see themselves in the performers they admire and want to study with. I don’t want my students to feel like they don’t belong in the clarinet community because they don’t look the same as the teachers or artists in the poster, or that they can’t be professional clarinet players too.
When with my spouse, Joshua Gardner (another professional clarinetist) at music festivals, I am often introduced as “Josh’s wife” and rarely introduced as another clarinet player or even by my name. (To be clear, Josh never introduces me this way, but other males in the clarinet community often do.)
The low clarinet community used to be very male dominated, but in recent years has been a very accepting community of all marginalized players with the work of Sarah Watts, Jon Russell, and the very first ICA Low Clarinet Festival. 50.6% women low clarinet artists performed at the festival last January.
The ICA has took notice of the #womenplayclarinettoo and #clarequality movement. They worked with us to create a powerful diversity statement to remind the international clarinet community that we are an inclusive community and support a strong commitment to diversity at their events. I have recently been appointed to chair the ICA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Committee to make our association an inclusive community welcoming clarinetists from all backgrounds.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Using my voice to make a change.
At this point in my career, I have job security and am able to use my voice to speak out when I see something wrong. My institution and performing ensembles are all supportive of my goal to make the clarinet community and larger classical music community a welcoming space for everyone. From women’s rights, fighting for marginalized performers and composers represented in festivals, programming, and jury panels, I am using my music to make bold statements, inspiring student and the next generation to follow their own passion projects, and emboldening others to be confident in their own performance and musical statements, while forming an international network of people wanting change. Our online social network is quite large, and with the internet we can share information instantaneously.
In my own performance and creative activity, I am also using my voice to stir emotions in others. I actively seek out collaborations with composers to create, record, and perform music that addresses social change, including issues involving the environment/climate, animal and human rights, equity, access, and inclusion. Music can express what words cannot. I hope to evoke passions in others when they listen to my music. Listening to music can totally change moods and soften hearts to change.
I also use my position at my school to speak up about curriculum changes to incorporate more music outside the Western European Canon (not eliminate, but add on) in repertoire and theory. I strongly believe students should be well rounded and a music degree should prepare students for more than an orchestral or classical career. It is also important for students to see themselves not only in role model performers, but also in the music they are studying.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.egideduo.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefaniegardner/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hargergardner
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EgideDuo
Image Credits
Joshua Gardner Afrodita Ellerman