Klarinet Archive - Posting 000261.txt from 1995/06

From: jay eric niepoetter <niep@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Glissandos
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 23:18:10 -0400

A while back I mentioned some of these ideas. I now found the original
paper. This is to help flexibility (as well glissandos) So here goes...

Contrary to what many clarinetists and teachers of the clarinet believe,
the embouchure and oral cavity change according to the register and
intonation requirements. (Through the practice of specific exercises you
can develop the flexibility to handle almost any situation with which you
are faced.)

Brass players have been using the mouthpiece alone for practicing
flexiblitly for years. Many modern professional brass players use this
technique daily. As we know, the brass player changes his embouchure and
oral cavity in order to select the part of the overtone series they desire.

if you ask an advanced clarinetist to take his mouthpiece off and play a
well supported and focused sound on the mouthpiece alone, the resulting
pitch will usually be the concert C or C# above the treble staff. After
producing this initial pitch you should attempt to play a descending
glissando to see how low a pitch can be sounded. I have tried this with
many players over the past 20 years. The results are quite interesting.
Some clarinetists can play only an octave. I have found that saxophone
doublers and jazz clarinetists tend to do much better at this than the
exclusively "ligit" clarinet player.

The next step is to try to extend whatever range you have on the
mouthpiece to an octave. This can be accomplished by experimenting with
embouchure pressure and oral cavity settings-- the more embouchure
pressure the higher the resulting pitch. As pressure is decreased, the
pitch is lowered. When the oral cavity is set in a position for
pronoucing "eee", higher pitches are produced and progressively lower
pitches are produced as you move from "eee" to "ahh" and "ohh". While I
am willing to grant that many clarinet performance requirements can be
met with the settings needed to produce a major third or perfect fourth
on the mouthpiece, frequently larger embouchure and oral cavity
adjustments are necessary to play in tune, to affect large downslurs, to
play bends, gilissandi, and many extended techniques such as some
multiphonics. The combined control of embouchure pressure and oral
cavity settings gained through this practice cannot be overestimated.

Once you have good control of the glissando from concert C above the
staff to the C an octave below, you can begin to attempt holding specific
pitches within that range. Playing simple tunes and arpeggios is also
good exercise. Another step in refinig embouchure/oral cavity settings
is to match pitches at the piano. Play a melody or scale with the left
hand and try to play the same pitch simultaneously with the mouthpiece
held in the right hand. These exercises should develop 12 discreet
settings, one for each chromatic pitches in the octave.

Concurrently with the mouthpiece exercises you can be working on
welecting registers exclusively with embouchure/oral cavity settings. Do
this exercise using NO regester key.

C above staff slur down to first space F

do this slowly then gradually speed up until the C is just a grace note
to the F.

B above the staff - slur to first line E

Etc... until you are down to B/E

Once the clarinet is producing the first tone (if you have trouble
producing the upper 12th you may "flick" the register key) it will resist
producing the lower note in the chalumeau register. In order to produce
the chalumeau note without a break, you must make a dramatic
embouchure/oral cavity adjustment, actually going considerably below the
normal setting for the chalumeau note. Then, as soon as it is sounding,
assume the correct setting so that the resulting note is not flat in
pitch. If prcticed diligently you can procuce the chalumeau note on time
and execute the setting adjustments so quickly that you are scarcely
aware of them.

This exercise can be extended. Note NO regester key is used.

F 1rst space - C above staff - F above staff - slur back to C -
F above staff - slur to C - then slur back down to the F.

Continue down chormaticly until you are E/B/G/B/G/B/E

You'll find that you lower you get the harder this is to do.

Well what do you all think? I admidt that these exercises and ones like
it have helped me over the years. I would really like to hear comments
or questions.

Jay