 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Darek
Date: 2004-11-02 10:33
Whar are the best exercises to improve the quality of high register notes?
Darek
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Author: Iacuras
Date: 2004-11-02 11:14
Darek,
In order to improve my range and quality, my instructor has me doing twelfths.
Steve
"If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon."
"If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly."
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Author: RAMman
Date: 2004-11-02 11:43
There's a fantastic set of excercises in a book by Rosemary Lang...but I only have the pages themselves and have a nasty feeling the book is out of print.
Worth a bit of research though...they go to top C.
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Author: hans
Date: 2004-11-02 12:59
The more you play in the altissimo the better your sound will get. Try playing your usual music while transposing up an octave.
Regards,
Hans
P.S. Use ear plugs
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-11-02 14:05
Darek -
Here's an exercise I've recommended several times before, taught to me by the great teacher Keith Stein.
Play low E at a big forte -- full but not forced. Gradually dimuendo, listening for the overtone B. When you get to ppp, the B should sound as loud as the E to you. It helps to stand facing into the corner of the room.
Do the same with low F, listening for C. Work your way up as far as you can -- at least to low C.
Then start on low E again. Don't decrescendo at first. Gradually press the register key, so that you don't know exactly when you will jump up to the clarion B. Concentrate on keeping the warmth and roundness of the low A in your sound. Decrescendo to ppp, maintaining good quality.
Work your way up to low A. When you get there, maintain the volume on clarion E and gradually roll your left index finger down, once again so you don't know exactly when you'll jump up to the altissimo C#. As before, work to keep the warmth and roundness of the low A.
Gradually dimuendo to piano, maintaining the nice tone quality.
Repeat the exercise on Bb/F/D, B/F#/Eb, and so on.
You will find that the sound is rather "covered." Once you are comfortable with the exercise, you can start to bring out the natural brilliance of the altissimo while maintaining a good tone quality.
I do this exercise often, even after 45 years of playing. You need to check from time to time and remind yourself of what to listen for.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Cliff Scale
Date: 2004-11-02 21:06
Try a book titled: The Development of the Altissimo Register for Clarinet by Norman Heim. This book is published by Kendor Music, Inc. I have found it very logical in its presentation and very helpful.
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-11-04 01:38
Playing in the fortissimo Altissimo is particularly effective in frieghtening off unwanted neighbourhood cats calling in the moon light ...
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: Contra
Date: 2004-11-05 04:00
Also be warned that extended use of fortissimo altissimo can have the same effect as a low e played by a triple octocontrabass.
RUN FOR THE HILLS. THE BUILDINGS ARE COLLAPSING!
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-11-05 04:14
Long tones (where you either start loud and then go as soft as possible, or start soft and grow as loud as possible, or go loud-soft-loud or soft-loud-soft, the combinations are ALMOST endless), seemed to help me out. At this point, I can play up to altissimo F with a fairly nice tone at ppp or fff. Still workin' on that G and haven't tried anything above that.
Also, I found that concentrating on airspeed helps. I found that when you go UP, your embouchure try focusing on making your embouchure LOOSER instead of pinching out the note. Really concentrate on making that airstream go right through the clarinet very quickly. This will show you how important airflow is. When you go down to the lower notes (low E, F) a firmer embouchure brings it up to a better pitch (usually they're a little flat) and keeps the tone fuller down there.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-11-05 06:25
I like Ken Shaw's suggestion about simply taking these fingerings through the harmonic series. Start low. Up a 12th. Then a major 6th. It's amazing how many players don't see a connection between some of their altissimo fingerings and the fundamental low register fingering.
Allen Cole
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Author: Jazzy04
Date: 2004-11-05 13:21
Just be careful to practice your altissimo register with crappier reeds, cause if you use ur concert reeds while extensively working your altissimo register your reeds weaken and your emburchure is strained... especially if ur working up too and past C above C above the staff.
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Author: MTitus
Date: 2004-11-05 20:52
"I like Ken Shaw's suggestion about simply taking these fingerings through the harmonic series. Start low. Up a 12th. Then a major 6th. It's amazing how many players don't see a connection between some of their altissimo fingerings and the fundamental low register fingering.
Allen Cole"
So very true.
I do this exercise daily, it helps me with altissimo and it makes my sound more solid, meaning i'm less likely to squeek. Since I started this exercise some 6 months ago i've gone from the guy-who-always-squeeks to the guy-who-never-squeeks lol.
-Play an open G without tonguing the beginning of the note.
-stop playing the G, adjust your embochure (for me I think corners of my mouth into the mouthpeice, that does not mean I'm pinching, it means i'm making my corners firmer) and play an open G without tonguing, but try to get a high D in the altissimo range, this is the 12th, which is also a harmonic on the clarinet.
-Next, try it again but try to get a high, high Bb or B natural (this is a 6th from the high D, although on the clarinet it comes out flat which makes it a minor 6th)
I remember the first time I tried I couldn't even get a high D out by using the harmonic (or overblowing) on the open G, don't worry if you can't get it out the first, just keep trying and remember to use BREATH ATTACKS. Tongue is not needed and will only impede your progress to control the harmonics.
After a while on open G, move to F#, then F, and all the way down to low E. The lower you go, the more harder it gets. However, on a low E you can get about 5 maybe 6 notes out of the one note... it's pretty crazy how many notes you can get from one fingering really.
As the previous poster mentioned, long tones. Get your handy dandy tuner out and make sure your on the pitch, and hold it. Take a small break, and tongue the note again, keeping it in tune the whole time. Your family may tell you to like go in the basement or something but this practice is invaluable.
After you can get the notes out, start adding them into your scales, especially your chromatic scale. Nothing is more impressive, when at an audition, that you fly up and down your clarinet starting on a low E, going up to a 4 ledger line G and fly back down to the low E.
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