Klarinet Archive - Posting 000023.txt from 2004/11
From: "Josh Gardner" <jtgardner@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Playing scales three octaves up
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 17:23:31 -0500
I apologize for the confusion - I should have been clearer. I do indeed
mean the 2nd C above the treble clef. I believe most trumpet players refer
to this C as "super C". When I say this, I do not intend to suggest that a
fourth year student would be fluent in this extreme register, but that that
pitch is available to them. The clarinet wants to play high. How many
times do we unintentionally squeak? Usually more times than unintentionally
dropping to the lowest register. If a student is allowed the opportunity to
experiment with those squeaks, the range can be tremendous. This doesn't
mean that the sound is wonderful, but that they are manipulating the air
column to the extent that the reed is able to vibrate at very high
frequencies - just as more experienced players do when playing these notes.
Giving them the opportunity to play with these notes also wears off the fear
of actually playing them.
I agree that this is unlikely (but not impossible) with students not taking
private lessons. I remember back when I was entering high school I thought
the highest note on the clarinet was a D or an E above the staff. A jazz
clarinetist corrected my view on this. It would have been difficult to
learn the extreme upper register without knowing that those notes exist.
Josh Gardner
-----Original Message-----
From: Lacy, Edwin [mailto:el2@-----.edu]
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 11:43 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] Playing scales three octaves up
<<<After four years of playing, a student should have the capacity to
play all the way to a high C. With enough practice and experimentation
with reeds, the sound should free up and become less shrill.>>>
By "high C," do you mean the second C above the treble clef? If so, I
have to respond to this one. In part this depends on what is meant by
"four years of playing." If you mean four years of private lessons
under a highly-qualified teacher, then this might be reasonable
expectation for players of above average ability, and perhaps some of
average ability also. But, if you are referring to the far more common
experience of most students, meaning four years in the school band, with
no private lessons, and more than half their time spent in the marching
band, then it essentially never happens.
Ed Lacy
University of Evansville
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