 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Shalom76
Date: 2008-06-24 02:53
Hello, I'm new here. I've been taking clarinet lessons for about 8 mths. One problem that I have is that I don't release enough air while playing. I can get a new breath, but it's along with air I already have in my lungs. Which in turn still makes me not able to get through the piece I'm playing. I have to stop and release the excess air then take another breath. Has anyone had a problem with this? Or does anyone have any suggestions for me? I will be sure to ask my teacher this next lesson.
Thank you,
Shalom
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-24 03:22
I have the same problem.
Interested in the replies.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: Gandalfe
Date: 2008-06-24 03:26
What does your instructor say?
Jim and Suzy
Pacifica Big Band
Seattle, Washington
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-24 03:34
Work on two things. First only take as much air as you need for the passage you’re playing. You don’t have to fill up completely every time you take a breath. Number two. Learn to release the excess air quickly before inhaling again so you don’t get fresh and stale air together. That’s not to say that you have to eliminate every ounce of air before breathing in, just release any excess. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
(Listen to a little Mozart, live recording)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2008-06-24 03:39
In many instances I am releasing air immediately before taking new air in. Only in the longest, loudest passages can you realistically play out all the air that you take in. Just think what an oboist goes through ALL the time. Ray Still (former principal oboe with Chicago) used to tell students to imagine that they are slowly sipping IN air as they play since there is so little outward moving air for all the effort. The clarinet is not nearly so bad but as I said, expelling the rest of the tank before the refill is the typical scenario.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: Alfred
Date: 2008-06-24 04:54
I posted a similar thread about a week ago, and I was told that I was probably pushing air with my throat rather than with my diaphragm. Perhaps that's your problem as well?
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-06-24 05:04
Sometimes this happens to me when I circular breath. I would need to blow some air from the sides of the mouth while playing to remove that extra air. It got better the more I practiced it so I guess the same when playing without circular breathing. I used to need to do it almost every minute or less, but now only ever few minutes. I think being very relaxed in general and also "free" with the air helps.
Totally unrelated, is your name common in USA (where you seem to be from)? It's a common local name here.
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Author: Shalom76
Date: 2008-06-24 12:48
Thank you so much for all of the suggestions. I'll get practicing on it.
Clarinbass - No, I've not personally met anyone with my name, but I have heard of it. In most of those cases it's been used as a boy's name though.
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Author: vjoet
Date: 2008-06-24 13:59
Hi,
In the dissertation, *Stanley Hasty: His Life and Teaching* by Elizabeth Marie Gunlogson, Mr Hasty makes a distinction (page 113) between a full breath and a partial breath. In a full breath (generally at a rest) you exhale all the remaining air before taking in more. In a half breath, you don't exhale first.
I think the distinction is good and helpful.
Vann Joe
(amateur)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-24 16:09
Hasty is right which is the reason not to take more air in then necessary to play the phrase. ESP (see my post above)
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Author: S. Friedland
Date: 2008-06-28 21:48
Perhaps important, perhaps already said, but marking each and every breath one takes is quite necessary to avoid any problems. In any event it is an invaluable assist in avoidance of what I call "that Schumann Feeling" reasult from fequent performances (on may part) of the Fairy Tales ( Opus132 , can't remember, but it is originally for oboe) The second movement is quite slow and lyrical and literally there are no breaths. I suffered always until I worked very slowly on the breathing. It was very helpful. One learns much from rehearsing in this manner. (You actually imagine a performance and play the whole movement through.)
Sherman Friedland
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Author: D
Date: 2008-06-28 22:08
A useful place for advice on this is the oboe bboard. Oboe has teeny weeny little hole for the air to go through so the problem is much worse. one of the main solutions mentioned there is to breath out as well as in, even if you can't do it in the same spot. I'd suggest a search on there for some words of wisdom.
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-06-30 16:41
I know what you are referring to, because I used to have this problem myself when I was a beginner/intermediate player. I can't say that I did anything in particular to fix it--it just sort of went away as I continued to learn the instrument.
Now that I know a little bit more about physics, I have a theory that this phenomenon may have something to do with reed strength. The soft reeds typically used by beginners take less air to play and actually tend to limit the amount of air you can put through the instrument through the throttling action of the reed. It could be that your embouchure might not be developed enough to use stiffer reeds (ask your teacher), but your lung capacity and diaphramatic strength might be more developed than your embouchure. (I'm pretty sture this was the case with me.) In that case, the instrument may feel "stuffy" and limit your ability to expel all the CO2 from your lungs that you feel you need to. As your embouchure gets stronger, through, you can start using stronger reeds and the problem might start to go away.
Again, this is just a theory--I haven't done any kind of study on this and I have no idea whether this would even apply to you--but it might explain some things, especially if you find that varying reed strength or reed brand helps. Bottom line answer, though, is to ask your teacher what he/she thinks.
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Author: S. Friedland
Date: 2008-07-02 13:18
Hyperventilation is what this unfortunate feeling is, or simplistically, too much breath in. The answer is, a simple technic: take your breath and let it half out. This and practicing passages and even whole works and marking breaths will save difficulties in this important area of playing. Even more simple: never take a breath after a short note, only after a long one. (Example: "Oh, say can you--breath---see", is incorrect). After the word "see" is proper.)
Sherman Friedland
Post Edited (2008-07-02 13:20)
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2008-07-03 05:41
AFAIK it is the level of CO2 in the blood that triggers the need to take a breath. I suspect that we eventually train our bodies to be less 'reactive' to the CO2 level, so instead of taking in say 12 breaths per minute, we remain comfortable with 3 or 4 slightly larger breaths.
As suggested, we probably train ourselves to take in less air when it is not necessary to take in more. And if we relax while we play, our bodies probably need less oxygen.
All of this, I guess, helps us to not experience that compulsion to take a breath when we still have air.
Beginners on flute have the opposite problem - too much oxygen making the player giddy. But their brains seem to adapt, even before they have learnt to play with less air being used.
Alfred wrote "I posted a similar thread about a week ago, and I was told that I was probably pushing air with my throat rather than with my diaphragm. Perhaps that's your problem as well?"
Hmm. I don't think a throat can push air out. It is the abdominal and intercostal (between-rib) muscles that push air out.
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Author: bogzi
Date: 2008-07-03 07:33
I have this same problem I think that I am going to try to use a stronger reed.
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-07-03 15:06
bogzi wrote:
> I have this same problem I think that I am going to try to use
> a stronger reed.
I would be interested to know if that works for you (since I've never had the opportunity to test out this theory). If you decide to try it, please let us know what happens.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2008-07-03 15:30
I will also add that any released air without ample diamphramic support will add to the feeling of overt release of air and therefore the feeling of hypervetntilation.
Take a breathe over a longer period of time and allow the diamphram to fill slowly..then practice this excercise quicker after a short period of time. ( I mean within minutes of practice.) This can be done without clarinet as the great Zen masters of past have done.
David Dow
Post Edited (2008-07-03 16:33)
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Author: bogzi
Date: 2008-07-05 09:04
It actually did help me a bit. With the stronger reed I guess that I had to use more air (or focus the air I already had).
:-)
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