 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: GenEric
Date: 2018-10-20 08:51
I'd like to hear your opinion on my all-state scales. I took a bit of time out of my busy week to record my scales. There are some mistakes but aside from that, what are some tips/advice to get my scales more consistent?
Also, for the chromatic scale, it should be 96bpm for dotted quarter so for ever 3 notes. I can't play it that slowly in one breath so I make it faster. This is a reoccurring theme in my recording. Would you rather have a faster recording or a recording with a breath in between?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SUpsR1e00OcgPV7oME5onOv15viDvlqk/view?usp=sharing
Post Edited (2018-10-20 09:06)
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Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2018-10-20 18:23
If you have a format of, rhythm, range, tempo, articulation, scale order, etc. that you must follow in an audition, there isn't much you can do other than playing them perfectly without thinking about them.
It is a shame there is a format because learning this way doesn't mean that a player 'knows' the scales. Knowing the scales means they are in the fingers and a player doesn't have to think which notes are sharp or flat.
I remember in one of my All-State auditions, hearing one student play a three octave F scale OK. The piece in the audition was the Weber Concertino, Op. 26 and she fumbled the scales at the end. I was astonished that she didn't know that these were F scales! After mentioning this, she played the scales without any fumbling.
After practicing them in the required format, then be creative and make up a different format every practice so you teach the fingers how each scale feels. For my students, I ask that they make up a new 3, 4 or 5 note melody every practice and play them in every scale and register. My good students have no problem playing any music in any key, not necessarily at any tempo, but without fumbling.
I have also seen music in the key of F where every 'B' in the piece is marked in pencil with a flat! Yikes!!!
Good luck - some auditions are not fair, but neither is life sometimes.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2018-10-22 02:35
This is California All-State, yes? Could you post to Soundcloud or Youtube? This file trips all my virus detectors because of it's size, and so I haven't listened to it. You should be able to do the chromatic scale in one breath. Work on expanding your air capacity and efficiency. It will almost certainly count against you if don't do it one breath (because lots of other people can) or go faster in order to compensate. The extra breath is probably going to receive less of a deduction than not following the directions about tempo.
Don't have any mistakes in your scales. If you can't play them error free, especially in a recording situation, you are playing them too fast. You still have time to work up the tempo. Tempo is much easier to fix than note mistakes that I'm guessing you are making over and over again in your practicing. If you are in a hurry to improve, slow down the tempo so that you are building correct habits. If you can play it really solidly slowly you'll also be able to play it really well at the specified tempo given enough time and an orderly approach. Start with the tempo for each scale that you can actually play it well consistently today. Play it over and over and advance the metronome a little each week at a pace that will bring you to the target tempo a week or, ideally, two weeks before the recording is due. If tongue speed it going to be an issue at the target tempo, work on that separately for now. Hope that helps!
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Author: kdk
Date: 2018-10-22 05:44
Please forgive the following rant - scales in auditions are a sore point for me. If you can, stay with me until the end of this post.
I'm enough of a traditionalist to think that scales are worth making a regular part of every practice session, and for a serious clarinet student that would include all 24 diatonic scales (major and minor) and chromatic. Until you know them well enough so that wrong notes are once-in-a-blue-moon flukes caused only by lapses of attention and not recurring issues, they should be part of every practice session. If a student does that, then mistakes (wrong notes) won't be an issue to worry about for an all-state or any other audition you'll ever need them for.
The point of practicing and learning scales isn't, or shouldn't be, to pass or score high in an audition. Scales and their related rudimental studies. arpeggios and scales in thirds, form a basic vocabulary from which a great deal of pre-20th century and even 20th and 21st century tonal music is built. If the rudiments become ingrained in the brain and the fingers, a large percentage of the technical issues in real repertoire will already have been solved. They are also useful for building tone, staccato, legato, dynamic control endurance and almost anything else you may need in performing repertoire of any kind, style or period.
For a serious clarinetist, scales in school level auditions ought to be a gift and feeling a need to worry about them simply means, IMO, that you haven't practiced them enough. Part of playing them reliably is repetition, part is understanding their structure, part is having the intervals in your ear so they can help guide your fingers.
They tend not to be such a gift, though, for many students, and that's probably because so many students practice what the audition requires and mostly only in the weeks before the audition. They become part of audition prep and are not taken seriously otherwise and then, often, only the scales required by the auditioning organization.
To GenEric I don't mean this as a direct criticism of you or your recording. To the extent that the above seems hypercritical, it's inspired more by the frustration I feel when my own students or the ones I hear in local auditions in my area don't seem to take scales seriously.
I don't hear anything in your recording that's scale specific that ought to cause you any serious concern. I'm assuming the rest of the required scales are as well under control as these. As you continue to practice them, I would suggest paying specific attention to playing them legato (slurred) and making the tone as seamless and uniform as possible. You're doing the diatonic scales, I think, with a 2-slurred-2-tongued articulation. I have my students play them all legato first, then add articulations to increase their usefulness. You may already be practicing them legato and just recorded with this articulation. Your chromatic scale is accurate, but I don't get a sense of real connection from one note to the next, no sense of phrase (yes, phrasing can exist in a slurred scale) so that it sounds like a dry exercise and not a musical one. I'm not sure how much this will matter in the all-state audition - I don't know the level of either the playing or the judging - but developing a sense of musical commitment to the notes you play should be the goal of practicing them (and anything else you play). Note accuracy should really be a given.
Karl
Post Edited (2018-10-22 18:31)
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Author: QuickStart Clarinet
Date: 2018-10-23 16:35
This is good! I like what everyone else has said so far, but I wanted to add a little more specific feedback for your recording.
Make sure the articulation is clear, I can't always tell if you are tonguing everything or slurring sometimes.
Try not to emphasize the tonic note so much. It is longer as an 8th note, but not louder. Maybe practice playing straight through it (all 16ths) as this will help with your fingers and being able to smooth out all the notes, especially the tonics.
I think you do need to follow all of the instructions for tempo (and everything else), I personally wouldn't be that offended by a breath, especially if everything sounded great. You could also play it a bit softer to conserve air, potentially.
The biggest issue for me is actually the way the tone and pitch spreads on the highest notes. Keep the air aimed high and strong, relax the fingers, and keep the embouchure steady, round and forward, as you go up higher into the altissimo.
I hope this helps, good luck!
Josh Goo
QuickStart Clarinet Founder
www.quickstartclarinet.com
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2018-10-26 11:07
A tad bit clumsy. Work on one scale at a time per week. Slurred in 1/8 notes. Metronome at 88, then build it up each day for a week to 16th notes. Then triplets. Then sur 2 tongue 2. Listen to each note. If it doesn't sound good do it again and don't move the metronome faster until you nail it. Play it 3 to 5 times right. Then move on.
4 sharps, 4 flats major and all minors.
Sound is weird. Play long tones for 15 minutes a day as warm up's as the sound is bright and the reed in some places sounds too hard and messed up. Maybe it's the mouthpiece. Sounds too open and bright. Need information. I have a great ear. You struggle to play soft with a quality sound. Hopefully it's a reed issue.
Sorry if I am not giving you that wicked WOW factor you want to hear, That image saying you are the best I've ever heard. But stay with me and work with me and I'll get you to that point.
On the metronome aim for 132 slurred to 138 for slurred 16th notes. You are way behind.
Aim for 152 for the triplets.
For the chromatic slurred 140 plus. Push more air through the horn. The sound is weak.
Email me if interested for more instructions since I did teach college, but only for a year as I hated it. I wanted to perform more and I got my wish. 475 solo performances and growing.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: GenEric
Date: 2018-10-27 11:26
Thanks for all the input! It's marching season so I barely got to play any of the repertoire. I will definitely upload another mp3 of some rep after marching season ends. Till then, I'll keep on practicing to perfect my scales. For scales, I'm trying to do a legato tongue. I don't know if it's not picking up on my phone or if it's just too light. I'll ask my band director what he thinks.
Speaking of the sound, I think it has to do with my mouthpiece. It has accumulated a couple of chips on the tip from clumsy ligature placement. If I use my marching mouthpiece (debut), it sounds less buzzy. Might need another mouthpiece.
Post Edited (2018-10-27 11:26)
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Author: GenEric
Date: 2018-10-27 11:33
I agree with Bob that my tone is a bit open and bright. Might be from bad habits from marching band where I'm used to biting and playing as loud as I can. When I practice long tones, it there anything I should focus on in particular? On my close faced mouthpiece (M13L), even though I'm making sure I'm not biting with my tongue tip close to the mouthpiece, the sound still comes out as spread out, buzzy, and bright. Should I take in less mouthpiece? I could use some helpful tips to get me started.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2018-10-27 20:54
Some more unvarnished advice:
Don't get 'marching-band-itis'. It's a terrible disease and the recovery process is longer than the time you'll have before your recording is due. During marching season it's especially important that you focus on the fundamentals of good tone production and hand position as these things tend to suffer. Practice slowly and well in front of a mirror and do extra work on your tone.
Don't sacrifice your musicianship for marching band. It's not going to help the marching band anyway. A full well balanced in-tune tone contributes much more than your loudest edgiest sound, although it might not feel like it from your perspective.
You need to multi-task now to have a good audition in December. The Mozart really can't be learned in a just couple weeks, especially if the scales present any kind of a real challenge. There are many students who are almost ready for the audition now in terms of technical skills and will spend the remaining time just getting more and more consistent and really digging deep into the musical issues. Most are also doing marching band and doing lots of sight-reading in preparation for the more strenuous All-Southern live auditions.
PS These are students who work on fundamentals year-round and have been preparing for this audition slowly, steadily, and methodically since mid-summer when you originally posted on this topic. They also have AP classes, other solo pieces, competitions, etudes, etc. but they make the time consistently because it's a priority for them. There's still time to do good work, but barely. Best wishes.
Anders
Post Edited (2018-10-27 21:22)
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