 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SVClarinet09
Date: 2006-10-10 02:42
ive done research on this art. from what i read you have to loosen your lips and drop your jaw. is that right? what else can i do? i was told soft reeds really help with note bending. a main bend im focusing on is a bend from a B to D to F# in C Jam Blues(Ellington) We're playing all Ellington Music for Jazz Band.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2006-10-10 03:58
I've found forward/backward jaw movement much more effective in pitch bending than raising/dropping the jaw. Go from a severe overbite with a sort of "shh" motion to a severe underbite. It's more of a matter of the angle of your mouth on the horn than pressure on the reed if you want a really deep bend. It helps quite a bit to brace the clarinet on something (e.g. your knee) at first.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-10-10 08:14
You can do it with the shape of the inside of your mouth too... hard to describe, tho.
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Author: hinotehud ★2017
Date: 2006-10-10 13:22
I believe it is all with the inside of your mouth with tongue and throat shape. I agree it is hard to describe. I've been bending tones for 45 years and I still can't tell exactly what I am doing. At first, I thought I was doing it with my jaw. I felt around my jaw with a free hand and realized it was not moving. I know I'm doing something with raising the back part of my tongue and dropping the front part. If I voclaize what I'm doing, it is similar to "tee-awh".
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Author: marzi
Date: 2006-10-11 00:44
funny, thats what my youngest is having to learn with learning trumpet, doing vowel sounds and raising and lowering the back of the tongue to raise and lower the sounds he's not quite getting yet...
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Author: Mags1957
Date: 2006-10-11 09:03
Try bending a note on the mouthpiece alone. With a little work, you should be able to get at least a 5th (try for an octave). This is important for flexibility in "normal" playing as well, and a good exercise. Once you are good on the mouthpiece alone, add the barrel, then add the whole horn. You should be able to do a great bend without using your fingers. For the famous Rhapsody in Blue solo, I take my fingers off the horn when I reach D5, and let the chops take it to the C6.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-10-11 17:05
You use your throat muscles, air flow and tongue position to bend notes - lip bending (by slackening your bottom jaw and lip) will only make the tone quality deteriorate to a spread out hollow buzz.
And this can be done on a mouthpiece with a close facing, contrary to what some people may think. You don't need a tip opening wide enough to drive a double-decker bus through to do pitch bends.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Clarinetgirl06
Date: 2006-10-11 21:04
OK, so some people are finding this hard to describe and I don't blame them. However, I once saw on here on BBoard...
If you can whistle, it's just like sliding down a scale while whistling.
I can bend my pitch about an augmented 6th, and when I whistle and slide the pitch down it feels in the back of my throat around the same as when I'm bending my pitch (except add a little more oh/aww in the back of your throat/tongue) For me to grasp pitch bending, I heard someone else do it, and then tried it and got about a 1/2 step, and then kept trying and trying and then suddenly one day it just *clicked*. It's kind of weird how that happens.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-10-11 22:10
"If you can whistle, it's just like sliding down a scale while whistling."
Nice one, Carrie!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: rgames
Date: 2006-10-11 22:14
Per the other posts - what you need to do is "open up" the back of your mouth. The whistling example is good but feels slightly different to me, but it's pretty close.
The best way I've been able to describe it is like this: it's like the response you have when you put very hot food in your mouth. You'll "expand" the rear of your oral cavity. That's the feeling you're looking for. Now do the same with your clarinet (sans food, of course).
rgames
____________________________
Richard G. Ames
Composer - Arranger - Producer
www.rgamesmusic.com
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Author: Detru Cofidin
Date: 2006-10-11 23:40
The whistleing example is the best description. The best way I can describe it is by trying to play a high note as you would play a lower note. For example, to play the lowest notes on the clarinet, your throat should be open and your tongue should be flat from side-to-side and it should hang down a bit, but when you play higher notes the air chamber should be more "direct", the tongue should raise and even curl a bit from side-to-side, with the throat remaining open but directing the air more directly.
A good way to learn how to control this is to take a note, like say, middle C and "try to squeak", and try and find all the different harmonics above that note without moving your lips or moving the jaw or biting or anything, because the SECRET to doing this has absolutely nothing to do with what you do with the jaw or lips, its the "air chamber". When you practice doing this and learn to feel what is happening inside, start on a high C or something and work your way down. DON'T try going up from a note right away, JUST GO DOWN. Once you've mastered this, start going down and then back up. Eventually you'll be able to go down about an entire octave without moving any fingers. But it takes practice, not a simple recipe found on here. The good things you gotta work for.
Nicholas Arend
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Author: Sean.Perrin
Date: 2006-10-12 02:55
I can drop the pitch of most notes by at least a 5th... but raising them is a different story. As for as huge bends on any note... not yet... working on it though.
It is very annoying to hear people practicing this... and I don't like doing it when all the practice studios are full of people as it sounds dreadful outside!
Founder and host of the Clarineat Podcast: http://www.clarineat.com
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