Klarinet Archive - Posting 000490.txt from 1999/10

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Altissimo
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 20:36:16 -0400

on 10/15/99 2:14 PM, Rebecca Williams wrote:

>When teaching them the fingerings, do you start with the half hole or do
>you teach first finger up and introduce the half hole concept later?
>
>We are going to approach the notes first by long tones to get them used
>to not biting for the high notes.

I always teach the first finger all the way up at first. My grad school
teacher, Leon Russianoff, made us *always* lift the first finger, and
*never* use the half hole (What never?!?...Well, hardly ever...!). He
claimed that it made for sloppy connection of the intervals, and in many
cases, bad pitch on the altissimo note.

When I teach this, I have the students play low A, add the register key
to 4th space E (my standard long tone routine) and then lift the first
finger to get altissimo C#. It's usually pretty easy and stable for them.
When they can do that, I add low Bb/F/altissimo D and Eb (starting from
the chromatic or forked low B natural), at first minus the Eb pinky. The
D and Eb are flat that way, but I find that adding the pinky at first
usually leads to squeaks and frustration for the student. When they can
do the slur without the pinky, and I see that they aren't doing too many
embouchure gymnastics, I have them add the pinky to improve the response
and pitch.

HTH

David

David Niethamer
Principal Clarinet, Richmond Symphony
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/

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