 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: RKM
Date: 2003-04-07 22:53
I am attempting to learn to finger quietly, and having the dickens of a time doing this, while unlearning the bad habits from a previous teacher who liked notes to be definitively and crisply "popped".
I have Marcellus's interview where he talks about fingers in the open position being almost vertical. Wow! This seems logically inefficient for fast passages, but, hey, who am I to question this? My main problem is getting the fingers down quickly enough to produce an instant clear note without the "fuzzy" transition. If I'm quick enough for the clear note, I get too much noise. Does anyone have any tips on this? Thanks in advance-
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Author: William
Date: 2003-04-08 00:18
Try this excercise for learning legato finger control. Take the Rose Study that uses a lot of thirds and wide intervals (I don't recall the exact number) and play it very slowly, like one beat per 16th note at mm=42. Move as smoothly as you can between the notes moving your fingers slowly up and down producing no "pop". The fingers move off the keys and back onto them in exact rhytumn, but very gently--almost like in slow motion. A slight relaxation of breath support as you finger the next note helps the smooth transition that you are looking. After many hours of practice, you will notice results--I had to do this (and the Bonade staccato excercises) for my entire freshman year. Time well spent, I might add.
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Author: diz
Date: 2003-04-08 01:14
Who ever said noisy key work was wrong?
Unless it's a highly de-noised studio recording you'll almost always hear the bassoon's clacking away ... I think it adds to the ambience
Bass clarinet keywork is notoriously noisey - but it is fine in my book.
If you'd like to hear a classic example of clacking keys, Naxos recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe Suite 2, with a Czech orchestra whose name escapes me (maybe Bratislava?) has a wonderful clacketty bass clarinet during the opening "birds at dawn" sequence.
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Author: PJ
Date: 2003-04-08 01:38
This Bonade trick did it for me as well. Not only did it help with the 'pops' but it made a difference in break jumps as well in faster pieces. Serves us right, Bonade was a master! I still do it to this day to relax my fingers as I warm up going from open G to all fingers B, G to C, G to D and so on. GREAT warm up!
Incidentally, if you will watch Larry Combs, I believe you can see him doing this on slow passages.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2003-04-08 01:42
There is a difference between noisy keywork, which is a function of the mechanical properties of the instrument, and noisy fingering, which is due to things like "slapping" the fingers down on the holes. The latter is a problem since it means that there is unnecessary tension in the hands and fingers which will unnecessarily limit your fingering speed.
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Author: RKM
Date: 2003-04-08 02:09
This is very helpful. Actually I'm working on the Rose Study No. 1 right now(which I think may be the one you're all referring to), which is what triggered my question. Marcellus also talks about the need for "strong" fingering of legato passages. It's hard for me to kinesthetically understand exactly when "strong" becomes "unnecessary tension". Oh, it's all so confusing...
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-04-08 02:14
Noisy mechanism can be almost totally eliminated by:
- eliminating excessive play in pivots.
- using a variety of lubricants, each with a viscosity suitable for the situation and especially the surface area involved.
- Using appropriate silencing materials for keys and linkages. I now use 6 or 7 different materials in an overhaul, depending on the requirements for each location. Many technicians have not thought beyond using cork and more cork.
That leaves the noise of a pad closing, which depends mainly on the type of pad chosen. Every year there are more options, each having its strengths and weaknesses which have been discussed elsewhere.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2003-04-08 02:40
I would think about it as "controlled" rather than "strong," necessarily...
If you have your fingers relaxed they can still be controlled, rather than "snapping" back from the "off-the-key" position. In my yoga class we work on controlled motion of limbs without a sort of reflexive "jerk" or "jump" back from the limit of range of motion. If you think of a smooth transition between moving your fingers away from the clarinet and changing the direction back down (and vice versa), I think this is the ultimate "legato" finger technique. And it's harder than playing lots of fast staccato, IMHO!!!
Katrina
(who still HATES practicing legato, because it's probably the worst aspect of her playing!)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-04-08 12:21
I can appreciate the artist's desire to finger quietly but I'm happy to just hit the right notes at the right time most of the time.
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Author: Vic
Date: 2003-04-08 14:00
In my opinion, one of the best performances of K622 is by Alfred Prinz, and I hear quite a bit of his keywork if I listen carefully enough. I don't find it distracting. I suppose there are limits, however, beyond which it does become distracting. As Dee said above, there's a difference between the mechanical properties of a particular instrument and slapping one's fingers down in a sloppy fashion.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2003-04-08 15:13
Well, I knwo I've heard one or two works where the key popping seemed to be an integral part of the music. I was listening to a clarinet quartet (clarity) from australia. I bought their CD called "Alive". I think it's pretty good and fun. Lots of little variations of themes and some nice variety from a classical style, to blues, to a more jazzy style. In one song that I like (can't remember the track, but I think it's either 9, 11, or 19), the bass clarinet plays a steady repeating bass line. However it jumps from a higher note (let's say throat G) to a very low now which sounds like it could be all the fingers down to an E or so. And he forceable pushes the keys down. You can hear the keys pop and the clank of the metal, but to me it seems almost like a small "percussion" line. I think it really adds to the music rther than takes away.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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