 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: K.B.M
Date: 2005-10-07 21:25
Hey everyone,
I had a question about air speed. My teacher has told me before that I need to use the same air speed for all volumes. She said that the amount of air does not need to be the same, but the speed of the air does. I am okay at using the proper air speed when playing loud, but I just don't understand how to use the same air speed at a softer volume. How can you use enough air with a fast air speed and play piano? I do not see my teacher for a few weeks, and I am really trying to get this concept down. If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Katie
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2005-10-07 22:05
As Robert Marcellus might have said, the airstream becomes more focused. If you blow on your hand you should feel a very thin, COOL stream of air, as if you were trying to cool down a hot beverage. As you play softer, the airstream remains equally supported but you get more of the above effect. In other words, backpressure!
.......Paul Aviles
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-10-07 22:52
Have you tried starting a note with nothing but air? For instance, the very first note of Carl Von Weber's Concertino (Bb) is supposed to fade in from nothingness. Ken Shaw had a post about it a while back (perhaps from a masterclass) where the recommendation was to keep your tongue completely off it and let the air literally do all the work. If you try it out, you might find that you'll be blowing the air through at a great speed just to get it to sound and that, like above, there'll be a difference in backpressure as you get louder.
Alexi
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=54123&t=54052
Ken Shaw's post and the post afterwards allude to the idea of airstream being the supporting factor in starting a note "piano" without use of the tongue. You shouldn't need to 'squeeze' the note out either with your embouchure once you've got it down.
US Army Japan Band
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Author: K.B.M
Date: 2005-10-08 01:05
Thanks for the replies so far! I'm actually working on the Concertino for All-District right now, so I'll try out that suggestion next time I practice. I also tried to work on backpressure today, and I found it made a little bit of a difference, but I'll need to practice on it some more. Thanks again, and if anyone else has any suggestions, please let me know!
Katie
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Author: Gandalfe
Date: 2005-10-08 01:25
I was always told that the airstream should be warm, not cool, as it is being pushed using the diaghram. I can demonstrate the warm vs. cool air to other players and they seem to get it too. Is this just a wife's tale?
Note: Updated rather ignorant post. Thanks Tony.
Jim and Suzy
Pacifica Big Band
Seattle, Washington
Post Edited (2005-10-08 20:52)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-10-08 01:32
Gandalfe wrote:
> I was always told that the airstream should be warm, not cool,
> as it is coming from the diaghram. I can demonstrate the warm
> vs. cool air to other players and they seem to get it too. Is
> this just a wife's tale?
More or less, the "warm" vs "cold" air isn't a physical thing, but a metaphor. Either one, if it leads to correct results, is correct, since it's really just a mental picture, not a reality.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2005-10-08 01:55
I respectfully disagree with the concept of warm vs. cool air being the same. The warm air is a SLOW speed of air, used to warm your hands after being out on a cold day. Blow across the top of your hand and you will immediatley feel the difference.
One excercise for airstream used by Leon Rushinoff was to take a a piece of notebook paper several inches square and hold it up against a wall with only the force of your breath. Can't do that with warm air. Listen to the vastly different timbres you get from the horn, especially in the low register using the two types of air side by side. I think you'll want to stick with the "intensity" of the fast airstream.
.........Paul Aviles
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2005-10-08 02:21
Paul Aviles wrote: As you play softer, the airstream remains equally supported but you get more of the above effect. In other words, backpressure!
I'm not so sure the airstream is equally supported if you are talking about core or abdominal support. Seems like core or abdominal support is often greater at a softer volume, which helps maintain airstream speed. I believe that is part of the equation K. B. M. is trying ot understand and balance now.
Post Edited (2005-10-08 02:28)
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2005-10-08 10:45
The term "back pressure" has been thrown around here, seemingly rather frivolously, as it has been before in woodwind forums.
Perhaps it should be clarified what is meant. Perhaps different writers actually mean different things!
- More air pressure coming from inside the player's body.
- More resistance to air passing the reed on account of there being a smaller space between the reed and the mouthpiece when the amplitude of vibration of the reed is restricted by lip pressure? (hence a need for greater balancing breath pressure from the player?)
- A sound wave hitting the reed after travelling the length of the air column and 'reflecting' off the open end?
- A combination of things?
And a different perspective on this question....
A louder sound has more ENERGY. This energy has to come from somewhere. It has to come from greater air PRESSURE in the player's airways, &/or greater flow of air.
Another take...
The airflow when playing a clarinet is so small that it is probably difficult for a player to distinguish flow from other distractions such as lip pressure and air pressure. If a loud soft note needed the same air FLOW as a loud note, then a player could play just as long on a soft note as a loud note. Is this true? (I am far too far out of practice to test this myself.)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2005-10-08 12:42
Good questions.
I just want to clarify the earlier airstream issue first. You want to achieve the most direct, concentrated column of air possible. This becomes an issue of tongue/throat position. I used to play what is sometimes called "open throat." A similar oral configuration to saying AHHHHH at the dentists while he has shiny tools in your mouth. If you put a hand to your throat (as if you're trying to strangle yourself) and then blow as if you are playing, you should feel little if any change. If it feels like everything is dropping, then you are an "open throater." My contention is that in this configuration the air column is much more diffused, slower, less efficient.
By back pressure, I just mean support. Someone just told me of an epiphany of sound concept at a clinic when the instructor pushed a sock up the bell, told her to play a low E and basically said, "TONGUE, BLOW, TONGUE, BLOW," until she was purple. Then he had her stop, he took out the sock and had her play the same way again. The sound and projection was a revelation to her. He told her to play that way from then on.
I equate the feeling (with apologies) to constipation and the efforts one might use to relieve the situation.
I agree that there is more awareness of support in soft vs. loud because your working really hard (always of course!) but there isn't much coming out. The body needs to replenish oxygen at the same time interval but you have a lungs full of air going nowhere. How do oboe players remain sane for as long as they do?
........Paul Aviles
Post Edited (2005-10-08 12:44)
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2005-10-09 14:35
"By back pressure, I just mean support....."
And just to clarify that one, I presume that by "support" you mean increased air pressure on the aircolumn in the lung/throat/mouth by tightening the intercostal (between-rib) and abdominal (across-front-of-tummy) muscles.
Instead of "back pressure" and "support" why don't we just unambiguously say what we mean, i.e. "blow harder", so that the people asking these questions don't get confused. :-)
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