 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-01-25 07:43
One of those clarinet conundrums that's part lack-of-skill, part equipment choice:
I can set my instrument up (reed & mouthpiece) so I can get good response at pp, or ff, but not both. What are your opinions on the best way to tackle this: set-up for ff and learn to play pp, or set up for pp and learn to play ff? Or neither? Or is the answer to choose the equipment based on the hall? It doesn't help that I feel uncomfortable playing ff in my practice room.
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Author: crnichols
Date: 2006-01-25 09:11
There's a few things that could help. First off, I would choose a setup that plays very well at a comfortable medium loud volume, maybe mf plus a little. And practice cresc. and dim. from there, focussing on not losing the core of your sound or allowing the intonation to suffer, ie don't bite or get too loose, maintain your embouchure, use the airstream to make the dynamic contrast not your lip.
Regarding playing ff in the practice room. It would benefit you to practice in different sized rooms, if you only practice in big live halls, your legato may suffer, if you only practice in small closed rooms, it is likely that you will grow to be very comfortable playing at a medium volume, but never loud. There are always different reed strengths that I use for different types of repertoire. Sometimes I want a lighter reed with more flexibility, for say Mendelssohn, Beethoven or Mozart, and sometimes I want a reed with a great deal of strength, so I can produce serious power, perhaps for Wagner or Strauss, but never so strong that I can only play loudly, there always must be flexibility. This will require some experimentation, that's what practicing is all about.
Christopher Nichols
1st Infantry Division Band
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-01-25 11:47
Funny, over the years and through ALL the equipment changes (just the other evening for instance) I have never used anything other than a nr. 4 Vandoren reed.
My first thought for Bassie is that the emborchure may not be quite right. What I mean is that you should be thinking of firmness all AROUND the mouthpiece and yet you must at all cost avoid pinching or, God forbid, biting.
Try a long tone exercise. Finger a low E, set embrochure (very lightly), start to blow, increase embrochure support until a note begins at the softest possible level that you can make. Once the note has started, cresc. SLOWLY eight counts (approx 60 beats per minute) up to a fortississimo or as loud as you can play without bursting a blood vessel. Then dim. another 8 counst all the way to NOTHING (fade out). ALL in one breath.
Do this twice on low E, then F, then F#, then G. Repeat once a day at the very beginning of your practice for the rest of your life :-)
I practice very loud all the time. It drowns out the sound of my neighbors screaming at me to turn down the stereo.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: jezzo
Date: 2006-01-26 01:31
I had the same problems. i found out that playing pp is the hardest
:)
i also use nr. 4 Vandoren reeds and work fine. There are also some tricks you can play pp one note but jumping is difficult. Must remember that the blow makes the sound.
My hot clarinet blog
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-01-26 06:58
Thanks, people.
Christopher - Practice room might be relevant here: I practice in a small stuffy bedroom - not too 'live' like a bathroom, but small - and since Xmas we've changed rehearsal halls to an absolute barn of a place. So maybe I'm starting to notice deficiencies in my technique more. It seems hard to bring what I've practiced to rehearsals right now.
Paul - I like the long-tone idea (having had a go last night) - the pp-ff-pp thing makes the exercize make sense. So if you leak when you reach ff, you're doing it wrong? :-D Excellent way to warm up.
I'm pretty sure I have 'biting' (largely) under control - what do you mean by 'pinching', exactly?
jezzo - Vandoren 4 would cripple me on any of my mouthpieces, though I knew a guy who played one on a 5RVL. He normally played 3.5 but kept a 4 for special occasions. It lasted all the years I knew him with no sign of wearing out, like a kind of floorboard. Way too hard for me, though I went through a phase a few years back of playing Rico Royal 4, which gave me a dynamic range somewhere between f and fff. Current fave reed is GCS Evo in a 3 (or thereabouts).
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-01-26 15:15
Bassie -
If your setup lets you play soft with comfort, you can increase the volume with an exercise I've recommended several times.
Wedge a cotton swab or handkerchief up the bell.
Finger third-line B (everything down, register key open) and work to play a fourth-space Eb that's only slightly stuffy. This requires a looser embouchure and higher breath pressure than you're used to.
Change your mouth cavity to play overtones, up to altissimo Eb. Practice bugle calls until you're confident with them.
Then take the swab out of the bell. You'll find that, at least for a while, you can play about twice as loud as before.
It's not easy to learn to do this whenever you want, but to get to the next level, you'll need to play at all dynamics.
Good luck. Let us know how you progress.
Ken Shaw
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Author: jezzo
Date: 2006-01-27 14:34
Bassie - I think you are right about the room, but Clarinet tuning is different when is cold or hot.
Yesterday when i practiseb with a band the tunning was terrible because it was too cold. We played long tones but didn't help.
I practised long tones a lot ( not a lot anymore ). The sound is getting better when you practise them. So just do it pp ff pp ff.....
Playing pp is hard and I had problems too, but when playing mind the sound.
It is better to have a good sound and not be pp
My hot clarinet blog
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-01-27 18:43
Bassie,
By pinching I just mean any unwarranted squeezing of the mouthpiece/reed. The embochure is a supported "space" into which you happen to have inserted a mouthpiece.
............Paul Aviles
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-27 18:53
what sounds ppp for me might sound fff in my family's ears.
For me, staccato fff is harder than legato ppp. (and vice versa I admit). IOW, don't forget the tongue...
--
Ben
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