Klarinet Archive - Posting 000247.txt from 2000/02

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] daily playing
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 12:24:36 -0500

--- Nicholas Yip <nyip@-----.edu> wrote:

> I assume most of us have problems playing the clarinet. However probably
> not as severe as mine. My problem here is that I have a difficulty playing
> even. Now, everytime I practice everyday and I practice slow, however there
> is always an inconsistency. I would play even sometimes. This has been my
> problem for several years, and is very frustrating to my teacher and some
> performers too. I watch and listen to other people play perfectly, and it
> is more frustrating to me. Please that there is something wrong with me, or
> is there really a perfect clarinetist?

>From your email address, it appears that you are studying at UC Santa Cruz
in California, which would make Mark Brandenburg your teacher. I assume
up front that Mark has preached the metronome gospel, imploring you to make
constant of use of it in your practice routine. With a player of Mark's cal-
iber, you have doubtless had literally dozens of ideas and suggestions thrown
at you, which have proven effective with the majority of his prior students
regarding rhythmic inconsistency in their playing. Sometimes, though, you
need an angle on the problem that your teacher hasn't thought of. People
are different this way, so try not to feel inadequate about the situation.
Not only is there no such thing as a perfect clarinetist ~ there is no such
thing as a perfect *teacher* either. Hopefully one of the ideas recommended
on Klarinet will tickle your brain in the right way, and you'll rise above
the wall that has blocked your path up to this point.

My technique in situations like your has always been to break my concept
of the problem down to the level of simplicity that is necessary to make
a guaranteed inch of progress. In other words, your initial goal is to
engage in a relevant exercise *so simple* that your chances of doing it
properly on the very first try are almost 100% assured. You might have
three miles of road ahead of you, but if you can't confidently take a
single step, there is little hope that you will ever realize your goal.
An example for rhythmic unevenness? If I find that I can't play a simple
major scale in perfect synchronicity with a metronome, I'll play only
*part* of the scale. I'll progressively slow the metronome down if nece-
ssary, even to the point where each individual note gets a click. Rather
than attempting a run of notes in sequence, I might try keeping time with
the metronome between *two* notes. This is, in effect, a very slow trill.
The idea is to continue the incremental reduction in the complexity of your
approach until you are able to execute a given relevant exercise accurately
and with total confidence. Once you discover this lowest common denominator,
this is the point from which you must build upward.

Hopefully the paragraph above is comprehensible. If not, ask questions.
When you have discovered the level at which you can perform the technique
without difficulty, I recommend that you practice your evenness at that
level for at least a few days, without making an attempt to increase the
complexity of your approach. This means that, regardless of the playing
that you are required to do in ensemble rehearsals, you include a solid
block of time in your private practice routine where you practice that
basic exercise to a metronome, developing total confidence and comforta-
bility with the sensation of keeping perfect time with that "click."

The next step, of course, is to raise the bar, but only slightly. This
might merely involve increasing the metronome speed on the same simple
exercise. Or you might throw a third note into the exercise and develop
comfortability with playing *that* little sequence perfectly. At no point
during your private practice should you increase the complexity of the ex-
ercise to a degree where you are unable to perform it perfectly, lest you
over-extend your reach and begin enforcing improper technique. This is
where patience and discipline are critical. By raising the bar on your
progress ever so slightly, you are developing a foundation of rhythmic
accuracy so precise that, over time, it will become a subconscious act
for you. Many players take their sense of rhythm for granted, compla-
cently assuming that they are consistent when, in truth, there is appre-
ciable lee-way relative to the evenness of their technique. There may
be no such thing as a perfect clarinetist, but it is naturally your goal
to approximate that ideal to the greatest degree of which you are capable.
Building upward from this level of simplicity will enable you to discover
exactly how far you can go ~ which is quite far indeed. Believe me, there
is nothing wrong with you or your potential to play well. You just need
an approach that resonates with your naturally developed pattern of devel-
opment.

If you've been trilling in perfect time between chalumeau C & D to a set-
ting of 60 beats per minute (say, in 8th notes), throw an E into the mix,
going up & down this little run in perfect alignment with your metronome's
steady rhythm. After practicing this for a day or three, add yet another
note to this routine, slowly working your way up the C-major scale as the
days pass by. This is something you should practice in consistent blocks
of time during your daily practice sessions, the remainder of your practice
time spent on all of the other exercises and repertoire that you must cover.
When you are practicing these other things, do not worry that your inconsis-
tency at these more rhythmically complex levels of playing will undermine
the progress you're making. By dedicating a solid block of each practice
session to the steadily growing basic exercise, your brain will "remember",
and you will begin to experience the effect of these simple exercises when
you switch practice modes and pull out the regular music. As little as five
to ten minutes of daily practice on the basic exercise will be sufficient to
show results within a week. The more time you dedicate, the more quickly you
will see a difference. And over time, you will develop rhythmic sensitivity
to such a degree that those colleagues of yours won't appear to have such
perfect rhythm after all...

Best of luck, and don't hesitate to ask more questions!

~ Neil
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