Notes for Rusty Banks:
Neebur Dot for Clarinet and Guitar (1998)
(comments by the composer)
The repertoire
for clarinet and guitar is sorely limited, preventing my wife and me from
working together as a duo. Transcriptions do not work, because they
typically employ ranges would leave the guitar buried. Also, composers
are scared enough of writing for the guitar, much less guitar with a very
loud wind instrument. But done with some care, the instruments can
be combined in a satisfying way. Neebur Dot was the first thing
I composed in Nebraska, during a summer where Christy and I lived in a crappy
apartment on 10th and Washington and eeked out a living playing dance jobs
with the Bobby Layne, Jimmy B, and Lou Arnold Orchestras. The title,
Neebur Dot, comes from Christy’s phonetic realization of the first road sign
one sees entering Nebraska via Highway 2. The sign reads “Nebr. City
2 miles” but Christy pronounces it “Neebur Dot City Two Miles.”