Klarinet Archive - Posting 000690.txt from 2001/03
From: David Glenn <notestaff@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] The spirit is willing but the lip is weak!
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 17:16:55 -0500
Rhea Jacobs wrote:
> A re-beginner is seeking advice from all you experienced teachers!
>
> I've recently begun playing the clarinet again after a long (37 year)
> hiatus, and have been in a position to practice regularly since the
> first of the year. (Let's just say that our local instrument repair
> technician has a LONG backlog!)
>
> I definitely expected things to go slowly as far as getting my chops
> back, but I'm finding, to my great frustration, that my lip tires after
> 45 minutes (or an hour at most), and that I have to quit and rest for a
> day. I tried double sessions with half-day rests, but I blew the lip out
> to the point where my teacher sent me home and said to rest it for a few
> days and not to try to rush it.
>
> This is frustrating to me, not because I'm trying to get back several
> years of serious study in a few months, but because I feel like I'm worn
> out as soon as I'm warmed up. I'd really like to find some way to
> strengthen the lip so that I can practice for a couple hours at a time.
>
> What I think is contributing to the problem is reeds. I'm stuck between
> 3's, which are a bit too soft, and 3 1/2's, which are still a bit stiff.
> I have been starting off with the 3 1/2's and then moving down after
> I've been through my scale warmup or when I feel fatigue, whichever
> comes first.
>
> Any suggestions from those of you who are experienced players and
> teachers would be greatly welcome. My teacher is fine, but she has very
> few adult students, and I doubt she's had to deal with this before.
>
> Thanks so much,
> Rhea Jacobs
> rhea-j@-----.net
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I've been meaning to contribute this having seen the same complaint recently.
There's been lots of good advice already but maybe this will be an additional
help.
When I was having lessons with James Kanter in Santa Barbara (1971) , he gave
me a set of overblowing execises. He said, and I find it to be so, that these
exercises help get the chops into shape relatively fast. I do them after
vacation usually. Do them at the end of your practice. They go like this:
All exercises in ff. All without register key:
1) Play a slurred chromatic scale slowly from D above the staff down to third
line B but finger a twelfth lower (i.e. no register key).
2) Repeat No. 1 but with the top D between each note (D, C#, D, C, D etc.).
3) Lipslur from top D (no reg.key) down to open G, C# to F#, etc.
chromatically working down to thrird line B to bottom E. Get as much of the
pitches inbetween as possible. The lower you go, the harder it gets.
4) Repeat No. 3 but with as little as possible between the two pitches.
5) Fingering bottom E play bottom E, third line B, first line F#, B, F#, B,
F#, B. Work your way up chromatically to: Fingering open G, play open G, D
above the staff, A above that, D, A, D, A, D. Top pitch approximate, after G
the top pitch gets extremely flat.
For learning, where necessary, tip open the register key shortly until the
overtone comes out. Later it won't be necessary any more. Start with only the
first two exercises until they work well. Then add Nos. 3 and 4.
Do a good slow warmup first (I like the three by Thomas A. Labadorf or a
shortened version of Robert S. Spring - both available on sneezy), then a
little rest, then your pieces or whatever, and at the end, these 5 (or 2 or
4) exercises. Last but not least make sure you have a mouthpiece which is
free blowing (doesn't "put the brakes on"). Reed also not too soft (I think
David N. commented on that already).
Hope it helps you. Don't be too ferocious with the exercises. Build up
slowly. Good luck!
David
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