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Clarion and Altissimo on Bass Clarinet

Author: saxman52
Date: 2006-08-24 20:05

I've been playing bass clarinet in my school's Symphonic Band, although I am primarily a saxophonist, and I get very frustrated with the clarion and (to some extent) the altissimo registers. Anything about a clarion G is very difficult to articulate and responds poorly except when going chromatically. Last year I studied clarinet (and bass clarinet) with the local clarinet professor and bass clarinetist in the West Shore Symphony. She said that her bass clarinet embouchure was more like a saxophone embouchure and that that was what many bass clarinetists use but that some also use a modified clarinet embouchure. I've tried both, and neither really seems to make a difference (that I've noticed at least). My clarinet teacher moved at the beginning of the summer and I haven't found another teacher yet, but I really have no idea what to do to be able to play better in these registers. The bass clarinet I'm using is the school's Yamaha YCL221, which does not have a double register vent as far as I'm aware, which I'm told makes playing in the clarion and altissimo registers much more difficult. I'm also using a Selmer C* and Vandoren 3's. Any advice would be much appreciated.

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