Klarinet Archive - Posting 001111.txt from 1998/05

From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: don't get sick from playing students equipment
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 21:20:05 -0400

Robyn wrote (referring to turning the mouthpiece around):
> This method is very good, especially if it is a beginner complaing of "notes
> not coming out." Yesterday I was teaching a lesson to a semi-beginner
> clarinet player. She was complaining of her C# not coming out, so instead of
> putting my mouthpiece on her clarinet, I turned the clarinet around and told
> her to blow in it. As it turns out, the clarinet played fine when I fingered
> the note, so obviously her fingers did not cover the holes entirely. This
> happens often to many beginning clarinetists, and the turn-the-instrument-
> around method works very well in testing instruments.

This also works quite well for the more advanced students who are
learning the altissimo range and are tensing up (and therefore
overblowing) when they try to hit the note. Since the student
don't know what note you are about to finger, they don't tense up
etc... it is simply amazing how well those notes will sound if the
problem is tension (and it goes a long way to convincing them that
they really can hit that note)!
diane k.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
For additional commands, e-mail: klarinet-help@-----.org
For other problems, e-mail: klarinet-owner@-----.org