 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: lp_427
Date: 2015-02-26 07:42
So its about time I've come back to clarinet from my bass after a year. However, I noticed my embouchure has changed a bit and it's difficult to play in tune and with good tone.
Plus I'm going to have to regain my abilities to play melodic notes and rhythms, a whole different world from that whole note life.
I know having a year and a half of bass clarinet barely did me any good, but had anybody else had similar struggles?
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-02-26 18:03
From the tone of your post, I am gathering that you seek advice (and maybe some commiseration) from those in the same boat as you: rediscovering the instrument. I respect your right to either or both sentiments.
While this doesn't describe me as much, I am gleaning you could also use a bit of a "pick me up," although a realistic one, to keep you on course towards improvement.
It's frustrating when we can't do something as well as we use to.
I am going to guess that unlike many octegenarians, who lose such functions to age, and aren't going to get them back, that you are better described as someone younger than that, whose perishable skill set, like anybody else's, was subject to partial extinguishing due to its less than regularly scheduled reinforcement (the behavioral jargon aside, this is also known in more common terms as "clarinet practice.")
As you likely realize, we don't just reach a level of proficiency on clarinet, that like riding a bicycle, is with us from that point on (geriatrics notwithstanding.) We have to practice, sometimes rigorously, to simply maintain it, let alone advance.
But what's also true, almost invariably, is that to relearn something (provided we didn't learn it incorrectly the first time), is for nearly all healthy people, far, far easier than first mastering it. It's been years since I drove a manual transmission vehicle. Put me in front of one now, and for a short while my driving will be somewhat abrupt as I relearn. But the basic concepts of understanding the subtles of the clutch's friction point, or even the idea that if I role backwards a micron on a hill, before gaining forward movement, that my first reaction shouldn't be to hit the brakes, are still with me.
So too, I believe, will you find your inner clarinetist much faster this time than initially. There are dozens of nuances about play, that you already know, (because you play) that it's easy to take for granted that new players also know (which they don't.) From the idea that some notes blow easier than others, to "is it the reed or is it me," you are light years more advanced they you may give yourself credit for being. And this is why sometimes the most virtuosic of players don't make the best introductory teachers: it's too easy for them to make assumptions about a student's prior knowledge.
As far as techniques to advance go, my suggestion, which I suspect you are already doing, is to take everything slow. Blow long tones on your clarinet and make subtle changes in your embouchure, seeing if anything improves tone. Change reeds to see what affect that might have. Make sure your instrument is in a decent state of repair. Work with a metronome at a slow pace. Hit the etude books. Subscribe to an excellent site like, IMHO https://sightreadingfactory.com/ (I subscribe to this site and think it great, but am financially unaffiliated with this company) and start with level 1 sight reading. Your abilities will improve quickly, and you'll get to see that as level 1 becomes too easy for you (6 levels.)
Of course private instruction from a solid teacher is great if you can part with the money to pay for it.
"but had anybody else had similar struggles?"
Nobody that picks up an instrument after a hiatus from play, to one degree or another HASN'T had your struggles. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I will play something with ease on a "Wednesday," that for reasons less than clear, gives me issues on a "Thursday." Frustration is every player's potential experience when expectations are set too high. I remind myself that the graph that tracks progress daily looks like a jagged edge, and only the one that measures weeks, months and years is smoother, more linear, and upward rising. And for only brief windows of advancement, usually during the formative stages, can we hope for any change in improvement (the 2nd derivative for math lovers) that doesn't increase at a descreasing rate.
I wish you luck with progress. The most advanced player faces the same struggles as you, as they seek a level of proficiency today, that they didn't have yesterday, repeating complex phrases at slower metronome speeds hundreds of times until they can "do it in their sleep."
Post Edited (2015-02-26 18:15)
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