 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: krawfish3x
Date: 2003-10-07 00:06
i was listening to one of my friends play her bass clarinet and she was having trouble hitting some of the higher notes(anything above the staff). ive never played a bass clarinet before so im looking for some advice via this BBoard. im not sure if its an embouchure thing or what.
by the way, she started bari sax not to long ago so maybe playing that is messing something up.
thanks for the advice
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Author: lowclarinetman
Date: 2003-10-07 17:36
well this is a common problem and a common question. Traditionally these are the hardest notes to play on bass clarinet for begginer b cl players. the notes between G above staff to say C above staff. it becomes much easier again after that.
its not that u need to change the embouchure or anythign like that, more it is learning where to "place the notes" i find a very helpful for my students is to play the highest ntoe u can comfortably and reliably play. usually an E or a F on staff. and slur up chromatically. after u can play the notes in a straight chromatic scale start going back to the same note to practice the intervals and jumping into the notes, so something like(F-F#,F-G,F-G#,F-A,F-A#,F-B,F-C) then drop the bottom note a half step and repeat. tedious but it works.
another exercise that might help is playing harmonics on the Bb below staff through F. so that you play the low Bb then u play the high F but without using the register key. you can continue the harmonics higher, but i think it is probably best to keep it to your specific problem range for now.
hope these ideas help a bit. oh and practce slow!!!!! take time to learn the "feel" of the notes.
good luck
bob
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-10-07 18:00
I might suggest that on some B C's, having the "double register keying" [DRK] could be helpful, as it is in my "running on up" [to the amazement of my sop cl friends] where I open one of the DRKs in addition to the half-hole, ala oboe. Comments, Dave S?? Using the oboe player's trick of harmonic-reaching will prob. require much experimentation IMHO, may be very useful. The highest note I've had to try-for is an Eb in the 2nd? measure of Der RosenKavalier [for band], TKS? Ken. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-10-07 19:06
Don,
I've never been a teacher, nor did I get private instruction on the bass clarinet specifically (just a few years of soprano clarinet lessons), so I'm not qualified to help a student player --- although I remember all the hurdles and stumbling my way through them, I was pretty much on my own. I can't even describe what I do with my embouchure or whatever when I play, it's become so automatic over the years. So the only advice I can offer is with respect to the instrument itself: (1) Get a really good mouthpiece; (2) ensure the instrument is completely leak-free and the register mechanism, whatever its design may be, is operating correctly.
Playing bari sax has nothing to do with it. Currently the two instruments I'm playing most frequently are bari sax and bass clarinet, frequently on the same gig and sometimes even within the same piece of music --- and never the twain shall (nor do) interfere......
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Author: JJiimm
Date: 2003-10-07 22:05
You might have said David, but what mouthpiece are you using for your bass clarinet???
JJiimm
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-10-08 14:53
JJiimm,
(Am I seeing double?)..................Lately I've been alternating between two bass clarinet mouthpieces, both of which are ones I've refaced, a crystal Pomarico (branded "Mitchell Lurie Premium") and an old hard rubber H. Bettoney. If you're looking for a good commercial bass clarinet mouthpiece, you can't go far wrong with (in alphabetical order) the mouthpieces of Charles Bay, Clark Fobes, Roger Garrett, Walter Grabner, David Hite, or Ralph Morgan. Any one of these should improve a student's ability to play up high (and everywhere else, for that matter). I should mention that I'm a big fan of Pomarico mouthpieces, but in all honesty most of them don't work for me right out of the box, I always do some refacing on them --- having said that, they usually take less modification to play 'up to snuff' than, say, Vandoren or Selmer stock mouthpieces.
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