Klarinet Archive - Posting 000456.txt from 1997/10

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: answer to Janet Mcnaught
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 15:07:17 -0400

Answer to Janet McNaught " And does this make any difference? Am I
just hearing things? Is there some
weakness in the voicing of the clarinet for which I should be trying to
compensate? "

It is interesting to quote from Carl Baermann's preface to his method:
'Every degree of pressure acts so decisively on tonal color and
articulation that the finished artist will ultimately experience that
EVERY TONE, properly speaking, has its OWN EMBOUCHURE, though this of
course, is an enigma to beginners.
In a posting of September 9th, I maintained that everyone has some sort
of a "computer" in his
Mind (and mouth) and depending what he or she is playing., they would
adjust the blowing or whatever, to get the sound and effect they wish to
get.
To answer Janet McNaught's question re: the variance in the notes she
mentioned the Bb, B natural and C.
First check to see that the Bb vent is clean. That the barrel is the
right length.
The Bb, we know, is a bad note. (The side Bb is better) One has to get
used to that bad note to make it better by judicious blowing and
intensity. Of course, use the side Bb, when it is possible.
Because the B natural and the C are at the bottom of the tube, they
usually are not as good as the ones further up the tube.
I play those notes with extra intensity.
For instance, the opening of the Mozart Concerto, the fourth bar ends
with a B natural.
Normally because that is the end of the phrase, one would tend to
diminish the note.
I advise the pupils to play that note louder to overcome the weakness of
the note.
Some lines later, when the phrase ends with a trill on D, ending with C,
I ask the pupils to play the C stronger than they normally do because
that note just "falls" when not "prodded "a bit.
This is going on all the time, all over the clarinet. Some notes are
stronger, some are weaker, and some are just played that way. One has to
take care that the notes come out evenly.
One should all this slowly, to acquire the "computer" I mentioned above,
and automatically things take care of them selves.
It takes practice and perseverance to equalize the notes. No matter what
clarinet you play.
Use the Barman interrupted scales and returning scales. Take care that
over the break, the notes are even, that the transition itself over the
break is even. Play the throat notes with more intensity (something I
advocate). And Good Luck!

.Avrahm Galper

   
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