 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kristen
Date: 2000-03-04 02:36
I need a little help. My band teacher recently let me play the Bass clarinet. I had a big part in a concert song ( "The Mickey Mouse Club") after all our trombones( all 2) switched instruments. I am having a lot of trouble, espically on low notes and having enough air to even mave a sound. I do fine with fingerings, but while we are all practicing I sckweak and sckwack (like a goose) The only other thing I have trouble with is putting the reed on. If you can, please help! :Þ
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-03-04 04:49
It may be that you're still new to thr bass mouthpeice. Assuming you have the reed on correctly and its in good condition, you may not have your embuchour(sp) correct. Your "bite" may have to be further forward on the bigger mouthpeice. Also too, the big clarinets, bass, contra alto, contra bass, are not forgiving if you have even a small leak. Have your director check the instrument and try different positions on the mouthpeice.
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Author: Katherine Pincock
Date: 2000-03-04 13:05
Everybody always goes through a squeaky phase on the bass clarinet, so don't feel bad. There are a few tricks I've figured out, though, so maybe these will help. First of all, if your bass clarinet has a removable neck, you can be sure that you put the reed on right by putting the neck and mouthpiece together when they're not on the rest of the bass. That way, you can see where you're putting the reed, and whether it's straight. If you can't do that, put a lot of cork grease on the mouthpiece so it's easy to slide on and off, and put the reed on before you put the mouthpiece on the horn.
As for squeaking problems, be sure that you're not putting too much pressure on your embouchure. Bass clarinet embouchure is a lot more relaxed that clarinet embouchure, and that takes a while to get used to. You'll also probably find that you have to tongue a little differently, because the reed will squawk if you tongue too hard; use more of a "da" or even a "la" sound, at first, and that'll help.
You'll have to take a lot more of the mouthpiece in your mouth that you're used to, also. Hold the mouthpiece with the reed on it up to a light from the side; you'll be able to see light shining between the reed and the table of the mouthpiece. Where you can't see the light anymore (where the reed actually touches the mouthpiece) is where your mouth should go. This will feel very strange, but if you try it, it'll make things a lot easier once you're used to it.
Otherwise, about all you can do is play on the bass as much as possible; it takes quite a while for the body to adjust to the differences. See if your band director will let you take the bass clarinet home with you to practice; if so, just spend ten or twenty minutes a day doing a few scales and simple patterns. Slowly, your body will get used to the feel, and then it'll suddenly get easier to play.
I hope all this helps!
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-03-04 16:18
Excellent advice, K P, particularly re: put reed on mp [carefully and evenly] when attached to neck only, and use the "modified" legato tongueing particularly for the lower clarion notes, even with the help from "double register keying" if you have it. Try different reeds and diff. mp's to minimize those problems. That's where I squeek the most easily [clarion]. Also the pads must be very well seated and the interconnections precise or there will be trouble on fast passages. Keep at it, I'm still learning. Don
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-03-05 01:31
One thing I learned on bass sax, which has an enormous mouthpiece, is that I have to pull in the corners of my mouth more than I was used to on clarinet and on smaller saxes. That mouthpiece is so fat that my mouth tends to be open a bit at the corners if I don't pay attention -- and that's a guaranteed tone-wrecker: squeaks and hissing noises. It's a little bit strange learning to pull in the corners *without* tightening up ("biting") and without closing down the inside of the mouth.
Rubank publishes a good book of exercises and lessons especially for bass clarinet and alto clarinet. I bought it for alto clarinet and found it very useful. Some of the best fingerings on the larger clarinets are different than the best ones on soprano Bb clarinet.
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Author: Kurt
Date: 2000-03-06 01:54
By all means, make sure the instrument has no leaks. You'll be killing yourself for no reason, especially around the break. Much less forgiving than the Bb in that respect. I've also found that resisting the temptation to tighten the embouchure and throat up is important. It seems to me that it's important to keep air moving freely through the instrument to keep the big reed vibrating evenly. Also, I've found that reed selection is even more important on the bass. I've had an extremly difficult time finding reeds that react as well in low registers as high. When I find one, I guard it with my life and treat it lovingly. I spent a lot of time messing with mouthpieces, reeds and ligatures before I found something I liked. Good luck. When you get what you want, its a fantastic instrument and makes wonderful music and is definately worth the effort.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-03-07 17:27
Kristen -
Great advice by everyone. I have a few tiny things to add.
Try a slightly softer reed, particularly if you don't have to play in the upper register.
Make sure the reed is sanded absolutely flat on the bottom.
Make sure the reed is very well soaked, so all wrinkles across the tip completely smooth out.
Make sure the shape of the reed tip matches the shape of the mouothpiece tip. The corners of the reed are often too rounded off, leaving tiny leaks at the corners.
Mount the reed on the mouthpiece so its tip is slightly higher than the tip of the mouthpiece -- by about 1/32" or the width of a line drawn with a sharp pencil. This is because the reed has to bend along the lay, which is a longer distance than a straight line. On a soprano clarinet, the difference isn't enough to matter, but on the larger mouthpieces it can mean that the reed doesn't quite get to the end.
Bass is great. Have fun.
Ken Shaw
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