Last month, Tad Calcara, our principal clarinetist, made a music video for the Utah Symphony in which he played four instruments (clarinet, cornet, drums, and piano) on “Somebody Loves Me,” by George Gershwin. Within ten days, this video had gone viral with more than one million views. After the success of his first video, he recorded the song made famous in Singin’ in the Rain, “Good Morning” (music by Herb Nacio Brown, lyrics by Arthur Freed), in which he plays every instrument and even sings three-part harmony. This video reached one million views within a week!
I was recently able to sit down and ask Tad a few questions;

How has this pandemic changed your routine?

I still get up every day at 7:30 and generally start with a warm-up and practicing. I do my scales and I work on reeds. Now instead of practicing for this summer, my next concert will be in September. So I’m practicing Prokofiev, Strauss, and other music that is on the concerts for this fall. I’m just taking it seriously. That’s just going to be the next performance. I love working with my kids with their school work. I have various hobbies that I keep up with. I go for bike rides with my son, and I like to cook. Even though my kids don’t eat anything I cook.
I miss performing with my colleagues at Abravanel Hall and I look forward to returning again soon. I will be as ready as I can—I’m practicing the music for next season. And since [some of] this summer’s concert lineup is being rescheduled for next summer, I’m practicing that music as well.

What kinds of projects have you been doing, musically speaking?

I’ve been enjoying using the Acapella App (Mixchord) in my own music videos. It’s been fun because I choose what I’m playing and how to put it together.
We were encouraged by the Utah Symphony to stay in touch with our audiences, and to make these mini performances. I always liked this Gershwin song. I was playing it at the piano and I was thinking…I can play this on trumpet, I can play it on clarinet, and I play a little drums, so I could put it all together, and I just came up with a little arrangement. I tried to keep them not-too- long, and also do a little introduction, Maybe adding a little levity to the introduction.

What do you think made the Gershwin and “Good Morning” videos go viral last month?

I think it’s mainly because we were at the height of the quarantine and I think people were craving stuff – novelty things online. I think people found it amusing.

Maybe people were starved for some good lively music?

Maybe. People like Gershwin and part of it was that the symphony had just performed Singin’ in the Rain “Good Morning” was featured in that movie, even though it wasn’t written for that movie. That was part of the reason of why I did it. Plus, I like the tune. I like both movies it was featured in.
It was in the 1939 movie Babes in Arms, starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. And it was reused for Singin’ in the Rain about a dozen years later. So, I think a lot of people are familiar with the tune.
Anyway, it’s kind of fun. I like playing different instruments. I’m not confined to just the clarinet. My musical expression maybe as a symphony clarinetist is on hold right now, but I find different avenues to be expressive in different types of music, different musical situations, and of course different instruments. I like playing the piano.

I noticed that you sing.

I try to sing. I know I don’t have much of a voice –my voice is awful–but I like the novelty 1930’s vocal trio style in harmony. That’s been really wonderful doing that because it’s been an excellent exercise in ear training–learning how to hear and sing those inner harmony parts.

How did you come to be influenced by Jazz and Swing music from the 20’s and 30’s?

When I was 9 years old my 4th grade teacher showed us a silent movie made in 1922. It was a comedy. I was fascinated. I had no idea there were silent movies. I was intrigued by what I saw on the screen. It was a Buster Keaton movie. It was funny. But to make it more amusing, my teacher played 1920’s jazz as the soundtrack. This was such a visual and audio sensation to me. I was seeing something that was so engaging and was hearing music that was so engaging. I immediately became fascinated and wanted to learn more about the music from this time. Not long after that, our class went to the San Diego Symphony children’s concert and the conductor announced that they were going to play a piece that was written in the 1920’s. All of a sudden my ears perked up. He announced that the name of the composer was George Gershwin. I remembered repeating the name all the way home after the concert, so I wouldn’t forget this name. I had to hear more of his music. I later discovered the 30’s swing music and the big bands.

Then, my father reminded me that my grandparents grew up through that time and that my grandfather was a bandleader. He performed this music. So I started going up and bothering my grandparents to learn more about this music. My grandfather started to teach me the songs from this era.

What are you planning for future projects?

Since people seem to like what I’m offering, I will continue to make these musical vignettes. There are so many American composers and like Gershwin, or Irving Berlin, or Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and it’s fun to come up with all these mini arrangements playing various instruments and possibly vocalizing.
 
You are doing all your own arrangements, right?

Yes. I play at the piano, play the song a lot, and come up with ideas as I’m improvising over the tune. Also it’s very important to know if the song has words. Even if I’m not going to sing this song, I think it’s important to know the lyrics because it gives you a better feel and understanding of how to interpret and play the piece. If you play a song with certain lyrics and it it’s too fast and you can’t sing the lyrics, then it’s the wrong tempo. You need to know the lyrics. That helps you find the tempo for every tune.

-Lynn Rosen

Watch Tad’s videos here and here

View Tad’s Bio here