Description
The Black Spaniel Rag
A Version of this piece can be found in “Play in the Style of the Benny Goodman Sextet Book 2”
The Black Spaniel-Clarinet Performance (Andy Firth)
Level: Intermediate-Advanced
The Black Spaniel Rag
Dedicated to the memory of Jazz Firth & Sarah Kate Waugh
Perhaps more than any other piece of mine, “The Black Spaniel Rag”, holds the happiest and saddest moments of the past twenty years or so. Quite a few precious souls have left my life since and this piece reminds me of just how joyous and precious and fleeting life is.
Jazz Firth was the second cocker spaniel to enrich my life. The first, Luke Firth, was our family dog and he was the first cocker spaniel to introduce me to the magic bond of boy and dog, a lifetime bond that transcends time and space and that continues to this day. Jazz was my wife, Liz and my first dog in our married life together in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia where we still reside.
Jazz was a loving, self confident and oh so human soul that we lost in October of 2016 from an tumor on his spleen, he was just short of his 13th year with us. He left this life peace-fully, comforted and securely held by his mum and dad until his last breath. He taught us so much about life, love and finally how to face death with big peaceful snores. I think of and miss him everyday and know that I always will. A few weeks ago, we lost our beloved 13 year old, Harry, also a black cocker spaniel from the same terrible affliction.
This piece was written about Jazz however, as Harry came into our lives as a rescue dog in 2020, also the year the year I lost my father. This piece was composed in 2004 when “Jazz” was a young puppy and it abounds with his love of life, his joy of being loved by his mum and dad and so many other little traits about his nature and personality.
In 2009 I lost another dear friend and clarinet student, Sarah Waugh ,through a senseless and irresponsible case of horse riding negligence on behalf of the riding school that she was attending. Her parents Mark and Juliana have through their untiring efforts now set in motion sweeping changes to the previously outdated, lax and irresponsible laws governing the ownership, need for registration and records for the ownership history of horses in Australia.
“The Black Spaniel Rag” was one of Sarah’s favourite pieces of mine and she would delight in playing it at the end of each lesson, sometimes with me improvising and harmony to her lead part.
We never know what’s ahead for any of us all as we traverse our individual paths and face the unknowns that life constantly confronts us with. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is love, friendship, empathy for one another, art and music. Everything else is an illusion that we create to sustain, enhance or distract ourselves from the rigors, injustices and frailty of this reality we call life.
Andy Firth (2026)
This product comes with soloist part, piano accompaniment, mp3 performance and backing tracks.
Range: E1 to F4
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