 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jane
Date: 2000-01-04 23:43
I'm a junior in high school and I am looking for a way to improve my techniques. I want to focuse mainly on tone and articulation. I also want to work on rythms to help improve my sight reading skills. Can anybody recommend an good technique books or exercises?
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Author: Sara
Date: 2000-01-05 02:36
Rubanks always good or you could try Klose. I believe that their was nother discussion a few days ago, I think the topic was What are good excersises? ar something along those lines. I think the most valuable thing you could do if your really commited is to get a good private teacher one that you can work with. Besides whats the point of getting an excersise book if you don't know if your doing them correctly?
Sara
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-01-05 15:21
I have to agree with Sara. Get yourself a good tutor first so you know exactly what to do and more importantly, how to do it right.
There are some very good drill books out there. Baermann III is a good one, and there are many others. For instance, Southern Music Company has an entire collection of books from the masters that you can get for around $100 or so retail. Now that I have all of these books, at my slow pace I have my work cut out for me for at least the next decade or two.
The main trick here is to get the lessons from a pro to learn how to articulate, learn how to breathe to keep the rhythm, and learn rhythm reading techniques. Many of these techniques are hard earned, just like scales drills do for your fingers' muscle memory. That's why I believe that the Baermann III book is a good start. It combines both scales drills and some articulation drills to get you started in the right direction.
You might find Hite's edition of the Baermann III book (from Southern Music Company) easier to play because the notes don't stay in the very high altissimo range like the original text.
Another very good drill is to play music from the popular study books to learn how to make real music instead of a series of disjointed mechanical responses. This is where a tutor will be the most help for you.
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Author: Kevin Bowman
Date: 2000-01-05 16:04
I, too, must agree that a good tutor will be an invaluable aid in improving your technique. A tutor will help prioritize the things you need to work on and will be able to check your progress as you improve. A tutor will also help to correct things you may not be able to detect by yourself.
However, you can get a good start on things by reading Keith Stein's "The Art of Clarinet Playing". Not only does this text cover all of the essential clarinet technique, it also has a wonderful list of methods and other literature for various developmental levels.
You mentioned two specific areas that you would like to improve: tone and articulation. For improving tone, nothing beats long tones. I and many others have written a lot on this subject right here on this BBS - search the archives for "long tones" and I'm sure you'll find more than you bargained for. On the subject of articulation you can also check the archives but I would recommend that you begin working on the Klose characteristic studies or the Klose 20 etudes. These are chock full of stacatto and articulations in many patterns. Also, the Rose 32 etudes are full of technical challenges (and are a little more "musical" in my opinion). Any of these study books will serve you well during your entire clarinet playing lifetime.
good luck and have fun.
Kevin Bowman
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Author: steve
Date: 2000-01-05 18:00
imho, kevin's advice is right on, especially the use of long tones....long tones with controlled cresc and dim.....helps control intonation stability...
here's a long tone exercise that is pretty odd...I've never heard of anyone mentioning this....Sidney Forrest called it the "throat Bb focus exercise"...you play long tones starting pp on throat Bb with no resonance fingerings, attempting to get the best possible tone with breath support, embrochure support, mouth cavity size, back of tounge placement, etc cresc to mf of f through 8 counts at mm= ca 40, then use bonade legato fingers to go up to B natural in the middle of the staff (hold until out of breath then controlled dim), repeat, trying to match the tone of this better sounding B note to the Bb by "improving" the tone and center of the Bb...then go up chromatically, always starting on Bb..e.g. Bb-B, Bb-C, Bb-C#, etc...it becomes more extreme when you get to C and above to about G in the 1st space above the staff....also go down to A below Bb (no resonant fingers in the throat, and run this as above exercise to C below the staff...you can alternate up and down, or always up or always down, but you always return to the awful unresonated throat Bb, trying to get it as good as the other notes....the net result, is that the throat Bb still sounds inferior to the real notes, but all tone quality has improved....try it...
s.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-01-06 00:59
Carmen Opperman "Modern Clarinet Technique".
It gives systematic finger exersizes.
But this is a side exesize book. "Must have"s are:
1)Rose 32 etude, 40 exersizes(French school)
2)Baerman Books 1,2,3(German school)
3)Cavalini(Italian school)
Daivd Hite issues good books for these from Sourthern music company. Their prices are very cheap.
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Author: David Blumberg
Date: 2000-01-06 02:07
Flutists do it all the time. A common and standard exercise among Flutists.
D.B.
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steve wrote:
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imho, kevin's advice is right on, especially the use of long tones....long tones with controlled cresc and dim.....helps control intonation stability...
here's a long tone exercise that is pretty odd...I've never heard of anyone mentioning this....Sidney Forrest called it the "throat Bb focus exercise"...you play long tones starting pp on throat Bb with no resonance fingerings, attempting to get the best possible tone with breath support, embrochure support, mouth cavity size, back of tounge placement, etc cresc to mf of f through 8 counts at mm= ca 40, then use bonade legato fingers to go up to B natural in the middle of the staff (hold until out of breath then controlled dim), repeat, trying to match the tone of this better sounding B note to the Bb by "improving" the tone and center of the Bb...then go up chromatically, always starting on Bb..e.g. Bb-B, Bb-C, Bb-C#, etc...it becomes more extreme when you get to C and above to about G in the 1st space above the staff....also go down to A below Bb (no resonant fingers in the throat, and run this as above exercise to C below the staff...you can alternate up and down, or always up or always down, but you always return to the awful unresonated throat Bb, trying to get it as good as the other notes....the net result, is that the throat Bb still sounds inferior to the real notes, but all tone quality has improved....try it...
s.
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Author: David Blumberg
Date: 2000-01-06 02:11
Abe Galper's Tone Technique & Stacatto book is soon to be released by Mel Bay Publishing. You can get from Abe in the mean time - a great, great book on developing those aspects of playing. Also see his Baermann III book titled the Upbeat Baermann Scale Studies. I helped write it (preface), and it is really good too. The most easy to read version of Baermann with eighth notes in cut time instead of 16ths, and is larger font. Luyben Music carries all of them.
David Blumberg
paul wrote:
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I have to agree with Sara. Get yourself a good tutor first so you know exactly what to do and more importantly, how to do it right.
There are some very good drill books out there. Baermann III is a good one, and there are many others. For instance, Southern Music Company has an entire collection of books from the masters that you can get for around $100 or so retail. Now that I have all of these books, at my slow pace I have my work cut out for me for at least the next decade or two.
The main trick here is to get the lessons from a pro to learn how to articulate, learn how to breathe to keep the rhythm, and learn rhythm reading techniques. Many of these techniques are hard earned, just like scales drills do for your fingers' muscle memory. That's why I believe that the Baermann III book is a good start. It combines both scales drills and some articulation drills to get you started in the right direction.
You might find Hite's edition of the Baermann III book (from Southern Music Company) easier to play because the notes don't stay in the very high altissimo range like the original text.
Another very good drill is to play music from the popular study books to learn how to make real music instead of a series of disjointed mechanical responses. This is where a tutor will be the most help for you.
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Reply To Message
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-01-07 03:45
>DB wrote:
Flutists do it all the time. A common and standard exercise among Flutists.
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More specifically,it is the method introduced by late Marcel Moyse in his book "De la Sonorite"(Alphonse Leduc,Paris).
Primay purpose of this method is to make every tone levelized in its quality with the reference tone(the most beautiful tone) of H2(B2 natural).
Second purpose is to be able to emit every tone with the as same embouchure and pressure on the mouthpiece as possible(of course this is not possible literally).
Another emphasis is put on creschendo-decreshendo exercizes.
This is made with very slight jaw movement to keep intonation.(Moyse book does not write a simple long tone exersize.)
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-01-07 03:46
>DB wrote:
Flutists do it all the time. A common and standard exercise among Flutists.
----------------------------------------------------------
More specifically,it is the method introduced by late Marcel Moyse in his book "De la Sonorite"(Alphonse Leduc,Paris).
Primay purpose of this method is to make every tone levelized in its quality with the reference tone(the most beautiful tone) of H2(B2 natural).
Second purpose is to be able to emit every tone with the as same embouchure and pressure on the mouthpiece as possible(of course this is not possible literally).
Another emphasis is put on creschendo-decreshendo exercizes.
This is made with very slight jaw movement to keep intonation.(Moyse book does not write a simple long tone exersize.)
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-01-07 18:17
I just started page one of my copy of the Rose studies, so I don't have any significant experience to base any personal opinions on it at this time. However, if this book measures up to what my pro tutor and the other folks on this BBS say, it should be a fantastic foundation builder. At almost every lesson, my pro tutor makes at least one reference to the Rose studies. My copy of the Rose Studies book cost only $12.50 (US) retail, so money isn't a big issue. After a couple of years of weekly lessons, you think I'd get the hint by now.
I have to agree with the other posters about dyanamics (ppp to fff to ppp, etc.) development to help make better tone. It's a standard warm-up exercise from every book and source I've seen. There has to be a good reason for it being that popular.
I'll make a stretch and say that another good tone development exercise is to learn how to play smack on the mark in tune for all situations, especially at different dynamic levels. A good analog gauge chromatic tuner comes in handy for this drill. Many folks say you need to have someone else read the meter for you as you are playing long tones. If you can get someone else to hang in there with you, great. If not, playing into the meter and reading it on your own is at least better than nothing.
Another drill is to learn how to play in tune with an ensemble. Tune one instrument against a meter and then tune with that player of that instrument and add more instruments to it. The trick here is to learn how to adapt to other folk's intonation so the whole group sounds like it's in tune. From what I can tell, that's a lot more challenging than playing solo into a meter.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-01-07 22:39
paul wrote:
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... From what I can tell, that's a lot more challenging than playing solo into a meter.
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Yes it is a challenge as other instruments have different characteristics than the clarinet. Trumpets and flutes tend to have just the opposite characteristics of a clarinet. Where the clarinet tries to go flat, they go sharp and vice versa. It's inherent in the mathematics of the instruments. So it takes a good ear, willingness to listen, and willingness to adapt.
It can be done. The piccolo and I (when I was playing my Eb soprano for one piece) were spot on with each other when we played our short exposed line. Boy did that feel good!
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Author: Keil
Date: 2000-01-14 23:12
i strongly reccomend the P.Bona book for rhythm and articulation. Its done wonders for my rhythms and helped me through sight reading emincly (sp?)
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