Klarinet Archive - Posting 000242.txt from 1999/04

From: "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] highnotes
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 13:10:18 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Rachael Gillett <witch58@-----.com>
Date: Sunday, April 04, 1999 12:48 PM
Subject: Re: [kl] highnotes

>
>
>Hi, I have been playing the clarinet for 6 years and have
>had the same problem with my clarinet (cracking e and f),
>one of the clarinet players in the area told me to use a
>higher # reed ( i currently use a vandoren 3 1/2) so i
>switched up to a 4 and had the same problem, could it still
>be the ammount of mouthpiece used or what??
>Please help me in this dilemma.
>Rachael Gillett

Actually a harder reed is apt to have more of a problem cracking on the high
notes. I suspect that you may be "biting" or "pinching" on these notes to
get them out. When you do that, the instrument will be very prone to try to
jump to the next harmonic (in this case altissimo A and Ab). Another
possibility is that if you happen to have recently learned the altissimo A
that your embouchure has yet acquired the necessary "experience" to
successfully select between the E and its next harmonic (the A) and between
the F and its next harmonic (the Ab). The note that you get is controlled
strictly by embouchure and breath support. Once I started playing the A and
Ab, there was about a month or two when I had a little trouble with the E
and F as they wanted to jump up to that higher note.

Try holding long tones on the E & F. Also try slurring the E up to the A
above and down again. This will help to develop the necessary control of
the embouchure.

Dee Hays
Canton, SD

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