 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: coasten1
Date: 2004-04-01 17:02
I did a search and did not find or missed the answer I was looking for.
When someone says the clarinet should be free blowing. What does that really mean? How much resistance should there be. Is it like the force to blow out a candle. Should it be more. Obviously there are resistances formed by the reed and the mouthpiece but for ease of playing without the struggle, how do you know what is right?
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-04-01 17:08
What is right is itself a subjective thing. Resistant for me may be too "free-blowing" for you. Or maybe too resistant for you. It's all up to the player what they want. I prefer a certain amount of resistance, and have played clarinets that I thought were too free-blowing, and have playe clarinets that I thought were too resistant.
For the record, I think much of the 'resistance' in a clarinet comes from the mouthpiece, and a good amount comes from the barrel. Also, I believe that it is better to have SOME resistance. Resistance often helps you to control the dynamics (particularly of the higher notes). Without it, they would have a tendency to want to BLAST OUT at forte every time and it'd be just a little harder to control.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Clarinetist
Date: 2004-04-01 17:20
I prefer clarinets that have quite dark sound, which means that a clarinet is resistant, but not too much that the free-blowiness will suffer. It´s sort of a compromise between free-blowiness and resistance.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2004-04-01 21:19
I tend to not like a freeblowing concept...I like a slightly resistant set up which allows the Altissimo harmonics to sound freely....to hard a reed and the chalumeau is airy...to soft a reed and you can't get the upper notes to sound with focus...
David Dow
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-04-01 22:11
Your "blowing out a candle" hit my button. If you can exhale a "sigh" and get a decent sound that's free blowing to my way of feeling. It's all relative, of course, as pointed out above. Yes, the mouthpiece/reed/ligature combo has a significant effect as far as I'm concerned.
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Author: coasten1
Date: 2004-04-02 18:54
Thanks for the input. I realize that everyone's setup is different and what is right for one is not necessarly right for another. But on a common thread, there is a 'right way' to make the instrument work.
It is kinda like you wish you could just get in the head of someone who plays really well to know what they feel and how they are playing so you can duplicate the same. You can say, "Oh yeah! That is what I am doing wrong."
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Author: thomas.b
Date: 2004-04-02 19:15
I play a Dietz clarinet (German, very resistant) and a Buffet (E13, very low resistance). I play on both a Viotto mp , both mps having the same facing (G3). The Buffet requires stronger reeds than the Dietz (resistance difference) . I choose the reed-mp-clarinet-combination so, that the overall resistance is nearly equal. But there is a huge difference in playing since the clarinets are different resistant. Buffet: clear, direct, resonant, bright. Dietz: covered, velvet, dark. A huge difference occurs when playing around g"-c'''. In Fortissimo the Buffet tends to be shrill, metallic and in pianissimo the tone tends to thin out and vanish. The Dietz keeps the tone colour in fortissimo and when playing pianissimo it holds the tone . On the other hand with this concept you have a loss in flexibility of the tone colour. , its much harder to "force" the tone.
Choose, which concept you prefer. Or perhaps both?
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