Klarinet Archive - Posting 000284.txt from 2000/02

From: Nicholas Yip <nyip@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] daily playing
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 20:45:22 -0500

At 09:24 AM 2/5/00 -0800, Neil Leupold wrote:
>--- 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
Mark has done a good job. He has preached to me the metronome gospel
too many times.
It is part of my constant practice routine.
>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.

I have tried taking the whole 10 bars and slowing it down with the
metronome, but that failed to work. All I ended up doing was kicking and
screaming at myself for days. However, I then began to swallow the phrase
in slowly bar by bar. I started at a slower tempo, and increased everytime
I was comfortable. This only helped a little. What I fear the most, and
this has happened, is that the next day I will have to start from the
beginning again, because I will forget it all, or I am not focused enough.
I am the type of person, that wants to meet the expectations NOW, not
later. (Amazing since I am a music teacher!(^_^))

>Not only is there no such thing as a perfect clarinetist ~ there is no such
>thing as a perfect *teacher* either.
THANK GOD! If we were all like that this world will be insane!

>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
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
>http://im.yahoo.com
>
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