Klarinet Archive - Posting 000964.txt from 1998/09

From: Shouryu Nohe <jnohe@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] A Hard Interval
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 14:29:43 -0400

On Fri, 25 Sep 1998, Karen Horvath wrote:
> Hello! I'm a freshman at college and I'm currently workin out of book one
> of the Kroepsch Studies. There's quite a few difficult intervals in some
> of them but the one I'm having the most trouble with is from open G to
> high C. I just can't seem to get it smooth. Does anyone have any
> suggestions? Please help! Thanks.

Well, this may sound elementary, but again - embouchure embouchure
embouchure! The embouchure must be set correctly and firm so that it
doesn't move an iota between registers. Even for college students, it's a
tricky thing - I should know, since I'm a college student myself, and I'm
still perfecting the infamous Klose' p.16 ex.37, which is octave slurs.
That is one of two (in _my_ experience) most common causes for an interval
problem such as this. This can only be fixed with constant drilling of
long tones and embouchure development - a firm, unmoving embouchure is no
magic trick, and there's nothing easy about it unless you've been doing it
for several years. It's been two years for me since I've gotten it set,
and I'm just now the the point where I really don't have to think about
it. (Of course, now I have to perfect tongue position - that verdammt
altissimo!)

I'm not trying to belittle in any way - but having that correct embouchure
solid is a key factor in doing those slurs correctly.

Other possible culprit if you're sure your emb. is sweet? Fingers.
You've going from all open (if you're not finger shading/venting) to
nearly all closed, which 1) is coordinging all those fingers and 2) going
from a short tube to nearly the lenght of the stick. To facilitate this -

1) Finger shade the G if you aren't already. Right hand 1 and 3 is a good
G shading - it tunes the G better and makes the tone less 'throat'
sounding. It also gives you two less fingers to worry about coordinating
when you go to the C, since they're already down. Another option is Right
hand 123 and the F/C key - that way you don't have to coordinate two
hands. All you have to do is close the left hand holes and open the
register key - the less fingers you move, the easier to coordinate.
(However - R123+F/C tends to make the G flat...I only use that in quick
passages).

2) Practice SLOW! Coordinating those fingers takes focus - so practice
slowenough until they're coordinated perfectly. Then bump up your
metronome 4 clicks and practice coordinating at that tempo until that's
perfect. It's tedious - but most commonly the most effective.

That's all I can think of at the moment - I know it sounds elementary, but
once we get into college, I find that a lot of us forget the basic little
things because we tend to look to the complex - but if we forget the
simple little things, the coplex is downright impossble. ^_^

(Verdammt Klose!)

J. Shouryu Nohe
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
Professor of SCSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
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"You're thinking in Japanese, aren't you? If you must think, DO IT IN
GERMAN!" - Sohryu Asuka
"Um, okay - bratwurst, strudel..." - Ikari Shinji

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