 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Tim T
Date: 2001-12-07 15:17
NEED BIG HELP:
The church music person picked Jesu, Joy of man's desiring for me to play. I can pretty much play all the parts.
BUT
I can't finish, I keep running out of air(not a professional clarinetist). I have put breathing marks in it, and I try to get air as much as I can, but I just cannot make it. Her score has no real rests in it. don't know what to do???
Any advice on breathing, or if someone knows of a really good score (that is better) it would help.
Tim
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Author: Irwin
Date: 2001-12-07 17:24
I played first part on this last year in my band. You need to take a fast breath in lieu of one of the triplet eighth notes at a place where the rest of the band is playing strong and no one will notice the missing note. If more than one person is playing the same part, then just coordinate with that person where to drop the note.
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Author: sarah
Date: 2001-12-07 17:26
You should try to increase your air supply gradually. Time yourself to see how long you can hold one note, then try to add a little bit every time you play. This should help. It might help with your current situation if the performance is far away.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-12-07 22:02
Tim -
You should of course work on being able to play very long phrases. However, even if you could play for five minutes on one breath (or circular-breathe), you will make your audience turn purple in the face if you do it. The music and the audience need places to breathe, just as you do.
"Jesu Joy" goes in four-bar phrases. You need to do the same thing with the continuous triplets. The place to breathe is the place where the very begining of the music is. In "Jesu Joy," you begin on the second note of the triplet. Therefore, you take a breath after the first note in the fifth bar. Slow down very slightly before you do this, take a comfortable breath and pick the flow back up.
Nobody expects you to play like an organ or a metronome, and it wouldn't sound good even if it were possible. Make the music breathe naturally. Make music out of it. Pretend you're singing. Sell it to the audience, and you'll be find.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2001-12-08 04:42
Actually, you don't mention if you are doing the triplets, or the sustained phrases on top of them. (Those actually are the melody, the triplets are ornamentation.) Ken's advice is right on, phrase it as it is sung.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-12-08 16:12
That's my daily warm-up exercise. If I can get all the way through that first part before the first rest without breathing, I'm in good shape. If I can't, I'm out of shape. Keep practicing and increase your lung capacity. It is possible to do, but does take a lot of practice.
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Author: Meri
Date: 2001-12-08 17:47
Are you inadvertantely creating tension at the spots that you have difficulty with? You might write a reminder to "relax" at those spots, and practice breathing at the spots you've marked, taking full, quick breaths.
Try expecting to succeed, instead of bracing yourself for failure. (From Eugen Herrigel's Zen and the Art of Archery--which my teacher made me read (but I'm glad he did))
Meri
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