Klarinet Archive - Posting 000340.txt from 2003/01

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <patricia@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Weber Concertino
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 10:54:17 -0500

Neil Leupold wrote:
> All I'm seeing are responses about finger technique. That's part of it, to be sure, but there is
> also a likelihood that it's an air support issue. Within a 16th note quadruplet, there are
> inherent strong and weak beats, namely 1&3 and 2&4, respectively. Conceptually, a quadruplet has
> a meter of 4/16. It is a common bad habit to subconsciously ease up on air support on the weak
> beats, which is particularly problematic if it happens at a register break.
>
> In the section of music in question, the throat G happens to be on a weak beat of the quadruplet,
> i.e., #2. It's all too easy to become a slave to the natural accents of the internal meter of the
> quadruplet and have that reflected in how you support the air stream. One way to disrupt the
> habit is to alter the accent structure by practicing the passage in a meter with a different
> accent structure. 4/16 is simple duple. If you practice the passage in compound time, e.g., in
> triplets, the accent structure puts the strong beats in different places.
>
> Start the first triplet on the F# itself and play the triplet F#-G-A. The second triplet starts
> on the problematic throat G, meaning that the throat G is on a strong beat within the meter. If
> you lean into that strong beat when playing the second triplet, the habitually stronger
> strong-beat air support will facilitate the connection as you cross the break from throat G to
> clarion C. If your fingers aren't moving in perfect synchronicity as you go for the clarion C,
> you're likely to get a squeak or hiccup of some kind, as opposed to the silence that you described
> in your original message. The silence suggests an air support issue, whereas a squeak or other
> sort of hiccup lets you know that, at the very least, the air is being supported consistently.
> THEN it becomes of matter of refining finger movement to ensure that they're coming down together.
>

Great advice, Neil. The only thing I'd add further, is, simply for
matters of air + smoothness and facility, to practice these licks in a
number of patterns, placing the emphasis on different parts of the beat,
etc. just as you said, but also adding the metronome, beginning slowly,
then working the way up. A bit time consuming, but I have found that if
something is particularly bothersome, it tends to smooth out right away,
once I've alternated the emphasis on different places. (hope this made
sense. It's a bit difficult to explain what I mean in an e-mail!)
Sometimes, the only way out is through! :O

For example - take one set of sixteenth runs. Rearrange it so that you
have it in sets of sixteenth triplet groups - six notes to a beat
instead of four - then start with the met on quarter note equals, oh,
anywhere from 60 onwards. And make sure you are using proper air
support. Work it up to tempo. Then, take another pattern, my favorite
is four notes per beat, but in a thirty second- dotted sixteenth
alternating pattern. That one gets me everytime!

Patricia Smith

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