Friends who play together ...
Christine Rupp — Staff WriterArticle Photos
FAIRMONT - When Jennifer Tow and Dianne Bittenbinder get together to practice their music, they don't always get much practicing done.
"We get together to practice and we spend more time talking," Bittenbinder said, laughing.
They must get enough practice, though, as their duets sound flawless and draw requests for repeat performances.
Tow, the Martin County Library children's librarian, and Bittenbinder, who teaches art at Martin Luther High School and runs her own studio, met about 15 years ago through City Band.
It turns out their love of music is only one thing the women have in common: they were born five weeks apart, Tow's dad and Bittenbinder's parents grew up in Mankato, and Tow's dad and Bittenbinder's mom were even in the same class.
These similarities have only helped cement a friendship that is obvious as they chat and laugh in Tow's living room and as they play their music together, Tow on the flute and Bittenbinder on the clarinet.
The two women have been playing duets together for years. They started out playing during "intermissions" at City Band performances.
Since then, they've played at both their churches, United Methodist and St. John Vianney. They've entertained guests at a couple of lunch with the arts events at Red Rock Center for the Arts, and they've performed at Downtown Galleria.
Tow and Bittenbinder played at a wedding for the first time last year when Bittenbinder's niece got married, and they hope to do another wedding soon.
The women first started playing together when Bittenbinder sought out Tow for flute lessons. Bittenbinder was helping with choir at St. John Vianney and the music was in the wrong key for her to accompany the singers on her clarinet. She didn't have time to transpose all the music into the correct key, so she asked Tow to teach her how to play the flute.
They enjoyed playing together so much that they decided to learn how to play recorders together. Then they began playing their duets in public.
"It's really nice to have a reason to practice," Bittenbinder said.
The women enjoy playing together and look for places to perform.
Town and Bittenbinder recently played celtic music at Downtown Galleria's coffee corner where Bittenbinder is a partner.
"Jennifer gets paid a whopping cup of coffee and a treat," Bittenbinder said. That's fine with Tow, though, who liked the informal atmosphere.
The women choose which songs to add to their repertoire by playing through new music. They rate the songs as they play them: 0 means they didn't like the song, and ratings of +1 or +2 indicate whether the song is likely to join their play list.
It turns out their tastes are fairly similar.
"What Jennifer likes I like and vice versa," Bittenbinder said.
Bittenbinder said a book containing two or three good pieces of music is considered a success, but it's not always easy to find music for duets.
"We don't have a real music store in Fairmont, so it's sometimes hard to find music," Tow added.
Then she learned about a Web site that offers a variety of duet music for flute and clarinet - www.lastresortmusic.com.
"All of a sudden we had a place to find some different music," she said.
The women recently got a book of Christmas duets for flute and clarinet. They'll work on those songs for upcoming performances Dec. 6 at Downtown Galleria and Dec. 23 at Red Rock.
