Klarinet Archive - Posting 000583.txt from 1999/01

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] breath control
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 11:14:06 -0500

At 09:56 PM 1/12/99 PST, you wrote:
>Is there any way (other than long tones) that a person could work on
>breath control so as to build stamina for those long passages (like the
>ones I have to play in Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie)?
>Your help is much appreciated.
>Meridith Jane Miller

Meridith,

Breath control is so involved insn't it? You have fast and slow, warm and
cold, spread, dispersed, focused, etc.......

If you are looking for exercises, you might consider those in the published
Stubbins book called The Essentials of Technical Dexterity for the
Clarinet, published by Piasano Press (I think that is the correct
spelling....I am working from memory here). Specifically, the Flexibility
and Embouchure Development patterns - practiced the different ways Stubbins
suggests in his forward - are very helpful.

Regarding Debussy - it is what I refer to my students as a level setting
work. The kind of practice and work it takes to achieve success on the
piece will raise you to the next plateau of playing - at least in most
cases. Just through practicing the work, you may find your breath control
improving. I personally use a lot of warm, slow air - especially on
ascending passages to altissimo as well as the over the break stuff. All
of that must happen without squeezing off the reed. Of course, tongue
placement on certain notes must be very specific - something the Stubbins
flexibility studies help with quite a bit.

Hope this, as well as all the other advice you will receive about this work
helps!

Roger Garrett
Roger Garrett
Professor of Clarinet
Director, Concert Band & Symphonic Winds
Recording Studio
Illinois Wesleyan Univerisyt

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