Orchestral musician and teacher Clement Barone (1921-), played piccolo in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony Orchestra for over forty years. A native of Philadelphia, Barone plays an open g-sharp system, which he learned from his first teacher, his flutist-father Clemente Barone. Subsequent teachers included Joseph La Monaca, Frank Versaci, Fernando Morrone, and the eminent William Kincaid, who recommended Barone for his first major orchestral position: piccolo and assistant first flute in the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
While playing in Houston, Barone secured and refined his piccolo technique performing for conductors Efrem Kurtz, Sir Thomas Beecham, and Leopold Stokowski. In 1959 Barone moved to Detroit to play piccolo in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under principal conductor Paul Paray. During his thirty-two year career in Detroit, Barone collaborated with fellow flutists Albert Tipton, Irvin Gilman, and later members, Ervin Monroe, Shaul Ben-Meir, and Robert Patrick.
In addition to presenting a chronological study of Barone’s professional activities, this document also discusses selected aspects of Barone’s flute and piccolo pedagogy, formed from his premise that the flute “should imitate the human singing voice in style and quality of lyricism.”
Additional chapters include an account of lessons with William Kincaid, a discussion of Barone’s publication, Learning the Piccolo: A Treatise on the Subtleties and Problems of Playing the Piccolo in Relation to the Flute (1975), and Barone’s perception of changes in orchestral procedures as they impact the professional orchestral musician.