Klarinet Archive - Posting 000137.txt from 1995/07

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Pedagogy
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 23:19:39 -0400

>Hey all you educators out there!
>
>As the fall approaches (though not too quickly, yet), and the students
>prepare to return to class, I'd be interested in hearing about and
>discussing approches to teaching certain clarinet techniques to university
>level students.
>
>Of interest to me in particular are different ways of teaching players how
>to use the tongue for *clear* articulation. One clarinet problem that has
>always perplexed me is the "undertone cough" of notes in the upper clarion
>register. This seems to go away with embouchure development and proper
>use of the air, but does anyone have other ideas on how to help a student
>get around this annoying problem?
>
>I would also be interested in hearing about how some of you structure your
>lessons and what repertoire you use with first and second year university
>students. I realize that this is a rather broad request, but any feedback
>or discussion on it would be appreciated!!
>
>=========================================
>David Bourque
>Bass Clarinet, Toronto Symphony Orchestra
>Internet: bassethn@-----.org
>=========================================

On the "undertone coughs" or "grunts" as I call them, this is fairly
straight forward to eliminate. First, they are caused generally by two
problems, so there are two solutions.

Problem 1:

The speaker tube may be too long (I just learned this from Luis Rossi). If
it sticks too far into the bore of the instrument it may be contributing to
this problem. Have it shaved down slightly and see if the problem lessens.
This is the easy one.

Problem 2:

The player! Because the reed and air column are a =coupled= vibrating
system, it is important that both are allowed to vibrate optimally for each
note being played. For the air column this means good tone hole placement,
size, undercutting, and fingering. For the reed this means good embouchure
and correct placement and amount of lip pressure on the reed. In
particular, for those grunty notes there needs to be less lip pressure, and
the pressure point needs to be lower on the reed, because the reed nodes
are lower down for those notes. For a high D, on the other hand, the
pressure point is higher on the reed. The change in pressure point can be
accomplished by pushing the jaw forward, thereby pushing the teeth further
forward (and downward on the reed) while keeping the lip in a fixed
position. This causes more of the lip to roll into the mouth. The
pressure point on the reed is determined by the position of the lower
teeth, however, so the pressure point moves down. At the same time, use
your left thumb to push the instrument up against your top teeth. This
lowers the pressure of your lower lip against the reed. Have the student
practice doing long tones starting from nothing and finishing at nothing
without getting any grunts. This way he/she will get used to how much to
push the jaw forward and how much pressure to take off the reed.

As for lessons and repertoire, I base it totally on the individual student
and what his or her problems and abilities are. For basic technique,
however, I find the Baermann 3rd division to cover just about everything
one needs to play the instrument. The Opperman Book 1 also has some great
isolation excercises for left hand, right hand, octaves, staccato and other
good stuff. Other than that I suggest lots of solo repertoire. Although
orchestra auditions are very important for most students, focusing solely
(or even mostly) on orchestral excerpts, I find, makes for very weak
players both technically and musically. Solo repertoire is far more
demanding in all regards, and therefore having the students play it
develops a much stronger basis for the orchestral rep as well.

Hope this is useful.

-----------------------------

Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net