 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2005-01-19 00:22
I've got an audition piece for an honor band, and all of it is fine except for one part....there is a slurred jump from throat tone G to altissimo G and it's in a 16th note run. I can do this by making a small break in the slur, but if there are any useful fingerings or techinques to pull this off i feel like it would give me a little bit more of an edge over my competetion if i could pull this off.
Thank you for any advice!
[ Post retitled for clarity - GBK ]
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-01-19 00:34
Which fingering are you using for G6? ...GBK
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2005-01-19 00:50
I don't know the standard notation, but I am using the third finger(middle hole) on the left hand, 2 and 3(first and second hole) on the right hand, and the Eb key with my fifth finger.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-01-19 01:10
The "textbook" G6 (sometimes called "Junior High School high G") is usually sharp. It has a tendency to be quite resistant in wide skips, thus it is not dependable. It can also "pop" and be out of character with surrounding notes.
There are many better choices for G6.
Since there are more than a dozen different fingerings for G6, work with a tuner and find a few that are comfortable as far as response, pitch and flexibility.
For the passage you briefly described - without seeing the music in question, I might suggest playing the throat tone (open) G with the right hand down and the right pinky on the Ab/Eb key:
o o o / x x x Ab/Eb
Then slur to G6 by adding the thumb, register key and first finger of the left hand:
TR x o o / x x x Ab/Eb
The resulting G6 may be a bit low in pitch, but for the above rapid passage it may suffice.
That is just ONE of many possible solutions ...GBK
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2005-01-19 01:12
Thank you very much ill work on this and get back to you on how it went.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-01-19 14:47
mkybrain -
Three things.
(1) Fingering. Here are some secure, in-tune ones:
TR X 0 0 X X 0 Eb
TR X 0 X X 0 X Eb
TR X 0 0 0 0 0 + top 2 trill keys
(2) Setting your mouth shape to play the high notes. There are two exercises for this:
(a) Take fingerings that work in all three registers (for example, A/E/C#) and work on carrying the warmth and roundness of the low register into the high. See http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=4212&t=4103.
(b) learn the mouth shapes that promote each register. Again, there are two exercises:
(i) Charles Neidich's exercise http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=101441&t=101441
(ii) The swab-in-the-bell bugle exercise http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=101441&t=101441
(3) These exercises work best if you make sure that your lip is at the optimum place on the reed.
Look at the mouthpiece from the side and note the point where the reed separates from the lay. Make a light pencil mark on the reed at that point.
Put half the red part of your lower lip over your teeth and rest the reed on it so your teeth are exactly under the mark. Looking in a mirror helps.
Then, make your embouchure so that your upper teeth are even with the lower ones, with your upper lip tucked neatly against the mouthpiece and your teeth. (Keith Stein called this a "dressy" embouchure, though he did it double lip.)
There should be almost no distortion in your face. Everything should be where it is when your face is relaxed. Again, looking in a mirror helps.
Finally, avoid a change in embouchure as you make the big leap. From the outside, you shouldn't seem to be doing anything. Think of the high G as a medium note, not a high one. The (2)(a) exercise is particularly good for learning how to do this.
This is a lot of stuff to do and pay attention to. Work on things one at a time, and very slowly, with a metronome. Get one exercise so you can do it perfectly 10 times in a row. Don't go fast. Go perfect.
Then, put it away for three days to let it "cook." In the afternoon, or the next day, do a different exercise and put it away, and so on.
On the fourth day, go back to the first exercise and perfect it again. It will be easier this time, but you must resist the urge to play faster.
Once again, put it away, and repeat on the seventh day. This "burns" the process into your muscle memory, so that when your eyes recognize the pattern, your muscles do it without any need to think.
This also explains why you need to work at a very slow tempo. Any mistake is absorbed in your muscle memory, and you only train yourself to make mistakes. Once your muscle memory is perfect, your fingers will go fast by themselves.
Give it your best time -- 10 minutes of total concentration at the beginning of a practice session. Then, go have some (musical) fun. You've earned it.
Ken Shaw
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