Klarinet Archive - Posting 000264.txt from 2001/09
From: Sean <feanor33@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Long tone discussion again
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 11:48:34 -0400
I thought I'd pipe up. While I agree with all of David Hattners reasons, I
think there is plenty of time to incorporate long tones into your warm
up. If you are a student, then you do have the time to spend on a good,
long, warm-up daily. If you're a professional, you will have less time for
a warm up daily, but since David is avocating scales over long tones
because you need technique, then I presume he's talking about students, not
professionals. If you are a student and you don't have time to add a warm
up at the beginning of a day, then you are either at a point where you
don't think you need improvement from it, or you are not dedicated enough
to succeed. Harsh, I know, but it's tough out there, and you have to be
honest - which is sometimes harsh.
A warm up should be designed to free your mind, and allow it to concentrate
on one or two aspects of playing at a time only. This cannot be
accomplished by playing an etude (or any other piece of MUSIC), where
you're concentrating on making smooth intervals, proper technique, good
tone, intonation, phrasing expressively and appropriately, keeping a good
embochure, coloring the sound, getting over the breaks, etc., etc.,
etc. A warm up should have components that isolate all of these, so you
can concentrate on starting the day RIGHT on all the basics.
Let me tell you about the warm-up I crafted while a student at Eastman,
that I did every morning for a few years, that did me wonders, and I still
do parts of it today.
It only takes a half hour, and I know it was worth it for me.
I started with two sets of long tones chromatically rising from low Bb,
then falling from throat Bb at sixteen beats each, and MM 69, and dynamic f
(but not ff). During this I concentrated on a good sound, proper
breathing, proper embochure, and I stopped when my embochure got tired. I
was having endurance problems then, and this warm-up helped me increase my
endurance and monitor my progress.
I then did another set of longtones with crescendos from pppp to ffff and
back to pppp, to add concentration on evenness of sound and increasing my
dynamic range. Do this with a tuner in front of you, and you add intonation
concentration, which is especially hard on the clarinet when changing
dynamics (and keeping a consistant tone at the same time)
Then I did a set of scales from the Jettle Klarinettenschule Book II (which
are FAR superior to Baerman, as is the whole book), at 1/16th notes, MM
132, 152, 168, 184, 200. For this, I was concentrating on obviously
technique, evenness of notes, evenness across registers, extending my
altissimo (those scales go HIGH), and getting a fluid, super-fast
technique. For a couple of years, I also added the Bb solo from Capriccio
Espagnole to this because I wanted it to be consistant and sound good.
Next I did a excercise I stumbled across designed by Jimmy Abato, Bass
Clarinet at the Met before Jim Ognibene. It's called the "Abato tone
study", and is best illustrated by example. Playing p (but not pp), and
legato, and fairly slowly, you rise low E, F, middle E, F, clarinet E, F,
altissimo E, then back down F-E-F-E-F-E. Then play E F# E F# E F# E (then
down), then E G E G E G E, after you get to the E D# combination, play E
octaves, then start the whole thing over on F F# etc. I did two of these
each day, followed by two new ones each following day. This is great for
concentrating on slow-finger technique, breath support over intervals, and
general legato. This is best done AFTER the long tones, because you will
have to have already established the good embochure and breathing that you
were concentrating on during the long tones. You don't have time to think
about them now, you have to concentrate on legato.
Lastly, I had a tonguing excercise I developed to speed my articulation up
(which got to 156 at that time). It's two bars of 4/4 time, repeated
consisting of four 1/16ths, a quarter, four 1/16ths, a quarter, twelve
1/16ths and a final quarter, on open G. You set the metronome wherever
your limit for tonguing is, and repeat the rhythm (tatatatataaaaa,
tatatatataaaaa, tatatatatatatatatatatatataaaaaaaa) until it feels like your
tongue is going to fall off. The quarter note at the end of M2 is there to
be shortened so you can start the repeat of M1 on time again, and you
should be doing at the MM where you can just barely make the last quater
note in time. Do not advance your MM in a single day, just do the excercise
until your tongue gets very tired, wait a minute and do it again until it's
tired. That's it. If you find you get to the last quarter-note in time,
then it's time to move the Metronome one MM up. This of course allows you
to concentrate on proper tonguing, and air stream during tonguing.
This warm up worked great for me, and I do a lot of it now whenever I feel
I need time to concentrate on basics. I guarantee that if you're a student
with any shortcomings in air stream, tone production, technique, legato,
tonguing, or intonation, that a warm up like this will help more than
anything else you practice all day. All it takes is a half-hour. I think
it's even better to design your own warm up based on what you want to
concentrate on. If it's technique, do all 24 scales, instead of just 10-12,
like I did. If it's legato, do an interval excercise and spend more time on
it. Write your made up excercises out! A warm-up is the best way to get
into the habit of playing correctly.
Cheers,
Sean Osborn
http://www.geocities.com/osbornmusic/
http://www.mp3.com/metopera/
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