 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarisax
Date: 2004-06-16 04:47
hello, i dont post here much, but i have really enjoyed reading and learning from everyone elses posts. anyway, i am a highschool student (going to be a senior next year), who plays on a buffet festival clarinet. i've recently acquired a new mouthpiece, going from a morgan 10 to a morgan 6. ive found that the morgan 6 combined with vandoren v12 4.5 reeds and an olegature (sometimes BG super revelation) gives me the sound i, and my teacher, are looking for. however...since i have gotten this new mouthpiece i have found it increasingly hard to play anything above high G. is this a usual problem when you first get a new mouthpiece or is there a defect in my mouthpiece? could it be that the harder reeds and more closed facing are actually making it more difficult for me to play these high notes? like i said, i really like the tone i have in all the registers with this set-up...but those high notes (specifically high C, B and Bb) just won't speak like they used to. I didnt notice this problem until i was playing the first spohr concerto tonight, and came to the C major arpeggio starting on low E and going up to C. I am a fairly advanced player...i've been to state band, pa governors school, and im going to the tanglewood institute this summer. any imput would greatly be appreciated. thank you.
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Author: JessKateDD
Date: 2004-06-16 05:08
I use a Morgan 6 with a blackmaster 4 or 5. I have no problems with super high C. Perhaps you are using too much jaw pressure? Pull the horn close in so that your chin is practically touching the ligature. If the C speaks that way, then the problem is too much jaw pressure.
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-06-16 08:27
Do the reeds you currently use feel softer than the reeds you used on your old mouthpiece? I switched to a mouthpiece that was considerably more closed about a year ago, and until I found the perfect reed for that mouthpiece (which was a challenge) I had trouble on the higher register because the reeds seemed too soft and I was using too much jaw pressure (a hold over from harder feeling reeds, I suppose).
What might help on a run like that, to see if it is an embouchure problem is start with just the high C. Get a good C, making sure jaw pressure isn't too tight and that it is the air, not your embouchure or jaw pressure that is making the note. Then play play G-C... then E-G-C... then C-E-G-C, until you have reached the bottom. I've found that on arpeggios/runs up to high notes, there is a tendency to tighten up unconsciously, which causes problems for high notes speaking.... This method helped me on the Spohr and other similar passages in other music, I think because you start backwards and maintain an embouchure that you know will allow the note to speak (as opposed to starting low then tightening and hoping for the best as you approach the top). From my experience, if the reed is hard enough, you can practically bite through it and the high notes will still speak (though a reed that hard will cause enough other problems to negate any possible benefit for the highest notes). However, with softer reeds, I have needed to adjust my tightness on the high notes considerably to get them the way I like them. May work for you too!
DH
theclarinetist@yahoo.com
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Author: clarinetstudent258
Date: 2004-06-16 17:53
i used to use a morgan 6 mouthpeice, and i had the same problem. it was too much jaw pressure, and toung position. it's something that could be fixed with interval work.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-06-16 18:27
There is one mouthpiece characteristic which is basically independent of other parameters such as tip opening and facing length, and this characteristic has a great effect (I've found) on altissimo response: it is the sharpness of the 'break' (also known as the 'fulcrum' or 'pivot point') or transition between the flat table and the curved lay, and associated with it, the steepness of the curvature away from that 'break' (going towards the tip end of the mouthpiece). Since altissimo note production is assisted by moving the jaw pressure on the reed closer to this 'break' point, a mouthpiece can play perfectly fine in other registers but have difficult response in the altissimo if this small but important portion of the curvature isn't just right. I've refaced many a mouthpiece that sounded great and felt fine but couldn't produce altissimo notes, thus causing them to be tossed back into the "needs more work" bin! This may be the situation with your current mouthpiece.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-06-16 19:13
clarisax -
You get to the extreme altissimo by voicing, not force. Here's an exercise I got from the Leblanc Bell magazine several years ago:
Stuff a balled-up cotton swab or handkerchief up the bell, finger middle B and blow hard. You'll get a dreadful sounding middle Eb (approximately). Work on it, dropping your jaw and blowing harder and harder until you get an almost normal tone.
Then find the higher overtones, using changes in the position of your tongue and soft palate, and practice bugle calls. By doing this, you learn the correct positions for the altissimo.
Finally, pull out the swab. In addition to getting about twice as much volume as before, you should be able to use the tongue and palate positions you have learned to get the high notes out.
Also, go to my posting on Clarinet Day at Mannes, http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=101441&t=101441, and read the section called "TECHNICAL DIGRESSION: The clarinet overtone series and voicing," in which Charles Neidich gave a very enlightening demonstration and exercises.
Let us know how it goes.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: clarisax
Date: 2004-06-17 04:54
thank you all so much for your suggestions. today i practiced for a few hours and it seems that i WAS using too much jaw pressure. who would have thought my embouchure (spelling?) would have been TOO tight. go figure. after a while the notes seemed to come out alittle bit easier. i didnt realise it, but i was bighting way too hard and i think i was actually choking off the reed instead of allowing it to vibrate. the notes are still not really reliable and are far from being in tune...but i think it will come with practice. i just found it odd because with my old mouthpiece i could easily hit those notes. i guess with a new mouthpiece you need to modify or embouchure to fit it. thank you all again for your suggestions.
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-06-19 02:32
I don't feel like starting a new post, but it would be interesting to discuss the pros/cons of voicing. I had one teacher who was a big voicer. My current teacher say he doesn't do it. I personally do it... I guess it's a matter of taste (or who your teachers have been!)
DH
theclarinetist@yahoo.com
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