Klarinet Archive - Posting 000395.txt from 2000/02

From: Nicholas Yip <nyip@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] daily playing
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 11:04:41 -0500

I apologize if it was a little bit confusing. I have trouble playing
rhythmically even. This has been a problem for my 10 years of playing. I
often rush 16th notes or play them out of rhythm such as one longer then
the other. I do practice with a metronome, and everyday. I have tried,
playing the notes unevenly, taking the whole phrase and slowing it down
then speeding it up when I am comfortable, (meaning mistakeless), then I
have tried(which is the best so far) learining each phrase bar by bar by
learning the first bar slowly, starting at 80 and increasing to 130 then
the first starting at the same tempo then increasing to 130. For example,
this quarter we are playing "Dance Of the Jesters" at quarter note equals
140. There are 3 ten bar phrases in which the clarinets are going off on
sixteenth note runs. I first tried to learn ALL ten bars as a whole,
starting at quarter note equals 80 and then increasing slowly to 130,
however that failed after 4 weeks of everyday practicing it because I could
not get any faster after 100 then I tried learning the phrase bar by bar as
explained above, and that is working, but ever so slowly. 3 days into doing
this I am now at a quarter note equals 125. I like the clarinet. However,
the harder I work to make this problem go away, the more it does NOT want
to go away.

At 01:55 AM 2/8/00 GMT, you wrote:
>On Sat, 05 Feb 2000 17:35:48 GMT, I said:
>
>> On Sat, 5 Feb 2000 09:24:36 -0800 (PST), leupold_1@-----.com said:
>>
>> > --- 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?
>>
>> [snip of wise advice]
>>
>> > Best of luck, and don't hesitate to ask more questions!
>>
>> Can I just ask a question of Nicholas?
>>
>> Will you give us some examples of what you mean by, "not playing even"?
>>
>> Tony
>
>And Shouryu Nohe later wrote in a similar vein (a little edited):
>
>> I'm afraid I would need more clarification on your problem here -
>> 'playing uneven' or 'inconsistently' can be interpreted a million
>> different ways:
>>
>> Various notes pop out - your volume and voicing is uneven.
>>
>> Your playing in particular registers suffers compared to other
>> registers - your playing range is uneven (I suffer from this).
>>
>> Your rhythmic timing is inconsistent.
>>
>> Your tone quality or articulation is inconsistent.
>>
>> If you could please be a little more specific, it would be easier to
>> address the issue, and offer possible remedies.
>
>But you then wrote, in part:
>
>> I have tried taking the whole 10 bars...
>
>Of what?
>
>> ...and slowing it down with the metronome, but that failed to work.
>
>*How* did it 'fail to work'? How did you know it failed to work?
>
>> All I ended up doing was kicking and screaming at myself for days.
>
>What do you mean by this? (Surely you don't mean us to take it
>literally?)
>
>> 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.
>
>Comfortable in what way?
>
>> This only helped a little.
>
>How did it help 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.
>
>What do you mean by "not focused enough"? How do you know when you're
>focused enough?
>
>> I am the type of person, that wants to meet the expectations NOW, not
>> later.
>
>Join the club. But wanting that just doesn't work.
>
>> (Amazing since I am a music teacher!(^_^))
>
>You're in the wrong job, then, unless you get yourself sorted out.
>
>If you're actually interested in getting yourself sorted out, I'd like
>you to be even more specific -- for example, tell us about a particular
>few bars in a particular piece -- or better, just *one bar* in a
>particular piece, with details of exactly what happens.
>
>Well?
>
>Tony
>--
> _________ Tony Pay
> |ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
> | |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
> tel/fax 01865 553339
>
>
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