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Newbie questions

Author: igor
Date: 2005-06-07 05:54

Hi, I just received my clarinet and I don't have a teacher (yet). I got some books and instructional DVD/CD etc. plus I am using online resources. Please someone answer a few questions.

1. Terminology. What exactly is a squeak? Any accidentally overblown note, not just a reall high tone? So, if one deliberately oveblows a 12th is it "overblowing" vs. an "uncontrollable" squeak? Let's say I am trying to blow the chalumeau low E but what comes out is the clarion B that's a 12th higher. Is it a "squeak"?

2. What exactly is biting? How much pressure is too much pressure?
Is biting different from pinching?

3. I've only been playing for 5 days and I can't play higher than the clarion A5 reliably (big surprise). I would try blowing B5 or C6 and there would be no sound unless I put more mouthpice into the mouth.

4. Conversely, I can reliably play all tones in the chalumeau register if I don't have too much reed in the mouth. As I slowly increase the amount of reed/mp in my mouth the reeds starts to vibrate more freely, and the tone seem to change favorably (don't know how to describe it) but sqeaks become more often.

5. I also noticed that if I have more reed in the mouth but increase the airflow I can play the chalumeau range without "sqeaks" AND it seems that I can also play higher notes of the clarion register, such as B5 and C6. I practiced playing, say, C4 followed by G5, then D4/A5, E4/B5, and finally F4/C6 by opening the register key and making sure my embouchoure doesn't change. Am I making any sense?

BTW, the reeds I am using are Vandoren strength 2 and 2 1/2. My mouthpices are Hite Premiere and B45. Is there anything wrong with this combination?

Thanks.

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