 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: lloft
Date: 2013-09-20 17:56
Recently I've been having issues with my tone quality. I'm in highschool, and for marching band I play alto sax. I think the embouchure required to play the sax is a main reason for my currently bad tone. I have wind ensemble auditions next week, and would like to remain first chair. Having said all of that, what are some things I can do, not including equipment (mouthpiece, barrel, etc.), to improve my tone quality. Thanks in advance, Luke
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2013-09-20 18:48
Depends on how you approach the clarinet. You have to approach it as a different instrument. Keep the angle at about 45 degrees, give or take but don't hold it out to far. The angle of the mouthpiece should not be as straight out as a sax. Keep your embouchure firm, especially with your top lip securing the mouthpiece, alla double lip but with out the top lip covering the top teeth but still on the mouthpiece. Keep your bottom jaw and lip secure but don't bite or pinch. You should be firm but also relaxed blowing in a more foward motion, sort of like blowing out a candle or puckering without so much forward projection. Keep the air going through your throat unobstructed, an open or relaxed throat. Also make sure your tongue doesn't impede the flow of air from your lungs throat to the reed. See, it's easy. Of course find the reed that gives you the best tone.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2013-09-20 18:52
How would you like it to be? Perhaps timbre of Gigliotti, or others. If so, you should listen to one and strive for it too. Once it's in your head you may make progress, otherwise you are not so likely to "improve" your timbre. Progress is slow, in any case.
richard smith
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Author: kdk
Date: 2013-09-20 19:46
You've presented two different problems. One is that you want to sound good enough on clarinet "to remain first chair." The other is that you want to improve your tone quality.
To keep your first chair position in wind ensemble, you probably only need to get back in control of the clarinet and undo whatever changes playing alto sax and marching have produced. That's relatively easy if you sit down with some fresh reeds - of the same brand, model and strength you were using before - and just relax and remember what things felt like before this year's marching band season started. Next week is too soon to make any meaningful changes in your approach, especially without a clarinet teacher to help with an outside pair of ears and some longer experience. Hopefully, what got you into the first chair on the last audition will be enough next week to keep you in it.
For the longer term, improving tone is a question of developing a consistent concept in your imagination that you can use as a point of comparison to the tone you actually produce. That takes time and a good deal of listening. The basics of tone production are simple (not necessarily easy - simple and easy aren't the same) enough. The tone needs to be supported by a steady stream of air that flows unobstructed through your airway and into the mouthpiece and instrument. Your embouchure needs to provide support for the reed's vibration without interfering with it or choking it off. Your reed needs to vibrate easily (not too hard) but be resilient enough (not too soft for your mouthpiece) to vibrate even with the controlled embouchure force needed to provide support. Your mouthpiece and instrument need to be in good condition so they don't introduce unnecessary strain and resistance into the whole process.
There's a lot here in the archives (use the search function) and a lot more written in a hundred books by knowledgeable authors about details of approach to sound. Ed's advice is certainly useful and reflects what many other player/writers have written and taught. But most of us, at least at the beginning, have needed a model - usually a teacher or sometimes a particular performer - to get a concept started. After that the concept evolves and, given time, becomes a very personal thing.
But none of this is of much use in getting things put back together for your upcoming audition. Concentrate on restoring what you had already accomplished and leave the rest for later.
Karl
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