Ben by Michael Jackson Clarinet - Digital Sheet Music

BEN (MICHAEL JACKSON) - Bb CLARINET and GUITAR DUETFor Classical or Acoustic Guitar - sometimes it's erroneously listed here as Electric Guitar.Derek Hasted writes "If there was one piece of music that showed the true extent of Michael Jackson’s musical prowess, it would surely be "Ben", sung faultlessly and with great maturity at such a tender age.My arrangement for clarinet and guitar is a tone below the original - F Major, because the melody would cross the break over and over and over in that key, right at the most poignant part of the tune as well...Setting the piece a tone lower allows me to offer the clarinet player two versions an octave apart.There’s a husky chalumeau version, which crosses into the clarion register in just a couple of places.And there’s a clarion version, more akin to Michael Jackson’s voice, which needs just one note from the altissimo register.Eb is a key which makes most guitarists go weak at the knees because of the need for endless tiring barrés coupled with a generally woolly sound. For my arrangement, I have tuned the guitar’s bottom string down to D and placed a capo on the 1st fret, moving the guitar part into 2 sharps and giving the resultant key of Eb a resonant, open sound.The combination of clarinet and guitar makes a wonderfully haunting and moving sound that an audience will most certainly enjoy.I hope you enjoy playing this piece!" This is one of a large and growing range of accessible ensembles from experienced arranger Derek Hasted, and is supplied as full score and parts. Derek's website at www.derek-hasted.co.uk/smp lists all his arrangements by title and by "number of instruments", with links to soundclips and sample score.