 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2000-11-10 22:28
Are there any good beginner exercises/tips to help develop a smooth break crossing? Right now I'm practicing Lesson 12 (Register Change) in Rubank's Elementary Method. I know about leaving the right hand down.
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Author: R. Simpson
Date: 2000-11-11 00:29
You should try using a large amount of air when crossing the break. Also try to keep your throat relaxed.
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Author: Ken Rasmussen
Date: 2000-11-11 03:48
I'm starting to cross the break less than formerly by using the side keys more. Often times the side key fingerings can solve the problem. You naturally want to be expert at crossing the break when it is important, but in fast passages the side keys sometimes give more security, hence better music. I think crossing the break smoothly is very important. You can develop smoothness by taking as much time as you need and making it sound as even as possible. You can speed up gradually, still preserving smoothness. My throat tones firmed when I switched to a Moenig barrel, which created more resistance to push against. That helped my break crossing because it de-emphasized the resistance difference, which is really more of a problem than getting the fingers where they need to be.
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2000-11-11 08:13
Resistance, mouthpiece, reeds, breath support have some bearing on how well you cross the break, but the major factor is the proper secquincing and closure of the tone holes with the fingers. The first Rose etude using the slurs from open G to closed D or even long B are good for this. A precise movement is needed to be able to aquire an even smoothness in the register change. Yes breath support willl help. BUt the fingers are the important factor, more than all of the other onec combined.
What usually happens is that the farther the player gets up in the throat tones the more their fingers wander off into the meadows. Then they have to all wake up and rush back to their spots on the respective keys. This of course dosent always work. But keeping the fingers close to the keys is a must and work the register jumps. cromatic scale exercises are also good, works for good tone production and breath support in all octaves too.
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Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2000-11-11 18:23
Several basic rules:
1 - You have to BLOW. Many young players, who haven't learned to support properly, tend to back off when approaching the break for fear of squeaks. This is the opposite of what you should do.
2 - Make sure that your left index finger is working smoothly in going from the E-hole to the A-key. Many younger players try to operate the A-key with their fingertip, which leaves a small gap in time while the fingertip transfers from the E-hole to the A-key. Instead, your fingertip should be used only for the E-hole and side of your index finger should be used on the A key. You pivot between the two with a quick wrist motion.
Exercise: Play first-line E and second-space A back and forth SLURRED. Keep doing it until it gets smooth. After that, practice going from A to the B above it in the same way. (right hand down, of course!)
3 - Make sure that your left thumb operates smoothly between the F-hole and the register key. Many younger players use too much of their thumb to operate the register key. This means that they are covering the F-hole with a part of their thumb (too far back from the tip) that doesn't easily seal the opening.
Use the least amount of thumb that you possibly can to operate the register key. It only takes a tiny bit. Make sure that the part of the thumb which covers the F-hole is as close to the end of your thumb as the thumbnail itself.
Exercise - Play back and forth from B-flat (3rd space) to E (1st line) and to F (1st space) SLURRED. Do it slow.
4 - Make sure that your left hand is relaxed and in a good position. Your left thumb should approach the F-hole from the side and not from below. If your thumb is vertical when you play, your hand is folded against the horn and too tense. This causes difficulties when young hands try to pivot for the A-key, or try to reach for those pinkie levers.
EXERCISE - Blow a low G and work all of your left-hand pinkie levers. (low E, F, F#) Make sure that nothing squeaks as you reach for them. The F# lever is usually the one that causes the problem.
5 - Make sure that you don't put your fingers too far across the holes. No part of any hole should be covered by a portion of your finger further back than the beginning of the fingernail. If you have this problem, you will find that your hands are tense and the fingers have sort of a concave or ski-slope curve as they approach the holes. Your hands should be relaxed and have a convex, rounded curve as they approach the holes.
These things may be elementary for you if you're studying privately, but they are pretty common problems among band students. Good luck and keep playing!
Allen Cole
allencole@richmond.com
http://allencole.tripod.com
http://www.jamschool.net
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Author: Steve Hartman
Date: 2000-11-12 11:50
Study No. 6 (Register Key Study) in Kalmen Opperman's "Modern Daily Studies, Book I" published by M. Baron
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Author: Bill
Date: 2000-11-12 12:32
Author: Steve Hartman wrote:
Study No. 6 (Register Key Study) in Kalmen Opperman's "Modern Daily Studies, Book I" published by M. Baron
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Is this book overall good for a beginner?
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Author: Steve Hartman
Date: 2000-11-12 13:14
Bill wrote: Is this book overall good for a beginner?
Some of the exercises are too advanced, but the first 6, if practiced slowly and in small "doses" could be very useful.
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Author: Gavin
Date: 2000-11-13 06:21
Please, there is no such thing as THE BREAK on the clarinet. If you forget about this notion of a break, playing between registers will be a lot easier. Its psychological in many respects. My playing improved vastly when my teacher told me to forget about a break and to treat all notes as equals. Oh, and don't forget your breath support.
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Author: Jeff Gegner
Date: 2000-11-13 13:31
I am in the same boat. Made a real breakthrough last night. I went up 1/2 strength in reeds, from a Vandoren 2 1/2 to a 3. Made the break much easier, it also improved the sound on my horn/mouthpiece setup. The added stiffness was just what I needed to help smooth out the transistion. I am playing a 5RV lyre mouthpiece and I think the 2 1/2 was too soft for it. You might want to try a little stiffer reed and see if helps.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-11-13 22:29
Jeff Gegner wrote:
>
> I am in the same boat. Made a real breakthrough last
> night. I went up 1/2 strength in reeds, from a Vandoren 2 1/2
> to a 3. Made the break much easier, it also improved the sound
> on my horn/mouthpiece setup. The added stiffness was just what
> I needed to help smooth out the transistion. I am playing a
> 5RV lyre mouthpiece and I think the 2 1/2 was too soft for it.
> You might want to try a little stiffer reed and see if
> helps.
For the 5RV mouthpiece, Vandoren recommends a Vandoren 3 to 4 reed (or equivalent). So the 2 1/2 probably was too soft for that mouthpiece. By comparison, they recommend the equivalent of a Vandoren 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 for the B45 mouthpiece.
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Author: Jeff Gegner
Date: 2000-11-13 23:20
Well, there right. You can use a 2 1/2 on the 5RV but it really sounds bad. The extra resistance in the reed helped me make the change from the A to the B. I'm still real new to this reed stuff, used to play trumpet. I finally have reached a full 4 octaves on the horn. I am really surprised I have learned so much so fast( only been playing 1 month). Oh well I figure by the time I die I might know most of the fingerings.
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Author: Anthony Taylor
Date: 2000-11-15 17:49
A few more tips to add:
The idea of blowing more to play between registers is about two things: amount of air, and constancy of air. Continuous air is the most important, that you are moving a good amount of air and don't let the air get shy as you approach a transition of register. With students, I usually use the analogy of playing "Red Rover". I explain that the person who loses "Red Rover" is the one who tenses up just before impact. So with the air, there is a certain confident, "through" feeling in the air that will make it work best.
Also, experiment with your lower lip placement. Most students don't take enough reed. If you take enough, the difference in resistance between the first and second registers becomes almost nonexistent on many mouthpieces. So take more reed, more than you think. If you get lots of squeaks, it is too much, but if only a few squeaks, try that for a while.
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