 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Nick Conner
Date: 1999-10-22 03:26
Hi all. This is my first post, so bear with me. I am first chair in my school. I'm a sophomore in high school, and I've been playing since sixth grade. I'm first chair, but I believe that is because of technical ability. I know a "dark" tone isn't good, but that isn't my problem. My tone just seems really immature. I've tried a harder reed (I'm on 4's now). It's not that the reed is too hard, because soft reeds are worse. My throat seems open, but relaxed, also. My embouchure is firm, and moves very little when I tongue, and not all all when I do it fast. One problem may be that my embouchure is really flexible (I can gliss and use vibrato and all that), and I don't know if that has an effect on it. Any help would be appreciated. thanks.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dee
Date: 1999-10-22 03:30
What brand and model of mouthpiece are you using? What brand of reed are you using?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Steve
Date: 1999-10-22 04:45
How is your chin positioned? My tutor noticed right off that I wasn't pointing my chin out far enough. If you aren't doing this, try it and make sure that half of your bottom lip is curved up over your teeth. This has helped me quite a bit (and I am still working on it). It takes several weeks to build up the muscles to where you can keep them taught for any great length of time.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-10-22 04:51
You might experiment with taking in more mouthpiece. It has teh effect of adding a lot of color to the tone and also helps you to project. You do have to work at keeping your mouth open wider so you don't squeek. Second, make sure you aren't pinching the reed. To see if you are pinching, try playing a tone then puff your cheeks. IF your tone changes, you are pinching the reed. You should try to match the puffy cheek tone with your normal emboucher.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-10-22 07:42
1)Thicker heel reeds gives the sound more depth.
Traditional reed heel thickness is around 2.8 mm,whereas
Vandoren V12 has 3.15 mm.
ex. Vandoren V12,Marca Traditional,Zonda,
Alexander Superial Thick Blank,
Grand Gland Concert Thick Blank,and Orivieri
My favorite reed is now Alexander Superial thick blank.
2)Some people, such as Keith Stein, recommends to try
double lip embouchure even tentatively to obtain
eveness of lip pressure on on reed and mouthpiece.
3)I prefer not to curling up my bottom teeth by lower lip.
By exposing softer part of inside lip to the air flow,
I feel my tone seems to become warmer.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Kevin Bowman
Date: 1999-10-22 14:07
Nick,
The production of a good clarinet sound is a career-long endeavor. You said that a dark tones _isn't_ good - I would differ with that. You _do_ want a dark tone (as opposed to "bright", whatever all that means). Flexibility of embouchure has nothing to do with being able to gliss and vibrato (these effects are made possible by a moving jaw). Flixibility of embouchure means that your lower lip is not so rock-solid that it cannot make small (automatic) adjustments for intonation and tone color. The advice about not pinching is a good start. Keep your lower jaw "set" so that your teeh are parted slightly. You use the right thumb, pressing upward, to hold the clarinet in place. I like to think of pressing my jaw forward a bit (not too much) instead of upward, into the reed. A great product (and concept) I have found for keeping lip pressure on the reed even is Ave Galper's Tone Enhancers. There's a link in the sponsor's section of this site.
OK - so now that I've gone on about embouchure - make sure your have a good mouthpiece, ligature, and reeds. Even on a student clarinet, these items can make a world of difference. I'd recommend a Vandoren 5RV or 5RVLyre and either a Bonade inverted lig (if you can find a good one) or a Rovner cloth lig. with Vandoren V12 reeds. The "proper" strength reed for the 5RV lig is a 3.5 or 4 (I think - pay attention to Vandoren's charts). You don't need to play on a hard reed to get a good tone. Match the reed to the mouthpiece. There are other good combinations - this just happens to be the one that works for me a many of my students. Some of my students hate the 5RV though and are playing on a Jewel mpc.
Finally, if you are really motivated to play the instrument well (as it seems you are) you should consider studying privately with a professional clarinetist. Lessons can be expensive but I have found there are many instructors willing to work with motivated and enthusiastic individuals.
Good luck.
Kevin Bowman
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 1999-10-22 16:20
Try this test. (It needs to be tried several times as it is not easy to start with).
Start playing a note (open G to start with) at forte, then lift the top lip while you are still playing the note. The air will rush out of your lungs as the pressure drops, but the note should carry on at a similar volume to before you lifted the upper lip. If you cannot do this without the note fading or disappearing (after you have tried a few times to eliminate the psychological discomfort the exercise entails)then you are not supporting the sound with a robust air column. You then need to consult a teacher to discuss breathing, but the exercise itself may well pay dividends in improving the sound as well as diagnosing a problem.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: steve
Date: 1999-10-22 18:08
all of the above posts provide excellent advice, and you can't go wrong by exploring all their suggestions...
BUT..
imho, the most important part of clarinet tone production is getting a mental picture of what you consider beautiful clarinet tone...this involves going out to live performances and listening to well regarded professionals play. It also involves listening to excellent recordings of wold class masters....such as marcellus, wright, leister, combs, stoltzman (controversial) kell (even more controversial!!!)...
listening of this sort is an intense, lifelong pursuit, and can be a lot of fun too!!!
s.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: michael
Date: 1999-10-23 00:43
steve wrote:
-------------------------------
imho, the most important part of clarinet tone production is getting a mental picture of what you consider beautiful clarinet tone...this involves going out to live performances and listening to well regarded professionals play. It also involves listening to excellent recordings of wold class masters....such as marcellus, wright, leister, combs, stoltzman (controversial) kell (even more controversial!!!)...
Steve, why are those last two controversial? ( I'm not well versed in the professional clarinetists of our time. )
I love what Eddie Daniels does. Michael
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Nick Conner
Date: 1999-10-23 17:29
Ok. I have a Selmer Paris: Series 10 clarinet with a Vandoren B45 mouthpiece and Vandoren V12 strength 4 reeds. I know 3 1/2 is the suggested limit of the B45, but I get a little better tone with 4's. I know that dark tone is good, but it's not supposed to be too dark. I tried that raising lip drill, and I use my diaphragm just fine. I listen to many recordings, and I have a lot of CD's at home. But, the CD's are from many different eras. For example, the tone of Benny Goodman contrasts greatly with that of Paul Meyer.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: HIROSHI
Date: 1999-10-25 03:22
Totally agree to Steve. When I started clarinet, I imagined to become a Gervase de Payer!(Too much?)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: steve
Date: 1999-10-26 15:32
a lot of folks, for some reason, do not like Stoltzman's playing...he plays with a very tasteful vibrato, and imho, he has more of a soprano-contralto vocal quality than a clarinet quality to his tone...I love it...
Kell, the great british clarinnettist of a previous gneration played the old school british boosey 1010 instruments with a very wide pronounced vibrato and "non modern _centered dark_ american tone"...he was particularly cricicized for his interpretative ideas, that being said, two recordings, imho, show beautiful clarinet tone: brahms quintet (old lp, I forget the quartet, its been reissued on cd) and a duo recital with pianist joel rosen on an old decca doing hindemith, debussy, and stravinsky...
the way I approach controversial musical topics is first asking "do I like this approach"...then I ask what do other highly respected folks think of this approach...If we disagree, well, I listen closer...after all, opinions are like digestive systems...we all have one...
:)
s.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 1999-10-27 15:53
I don't think Kell ever did play on a 1010. He played on a Martel, a french instrument with a narrower bore. These instruments produced/produce a light quite bright sound which is unlike a 1010.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette, Webmaster
Date: 1999-10-27 16:27
Nick Shackleton brough to the Quebec Clarinetfest a number of years back
"...
1.a boehm instrument that Reginald Kell used for his recordings. This is an
instrument stamped Hawkes but understood to be made by Martel. It is about
the most undercut clarinet I ever looked at, makes a clear, full, creamy
oldfashioned sound very easily.
..."
<B><A HREF=http://www.sneezy.org/Databases/Logs/1995/12/000589.txt>http://www.sneezy.org/Databases/Logs/1995/12/000589.txt</A></B>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 1999-10-27 17:17
That description of the Martel sounds about right; I play on them myself. Stamped:- Hawkes Excelsior Sonorous Class A.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
