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Re: The Dark Tone

Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-10-06 19:46

There are many reasons for you getting a bright tone and one has to work at changing it, it's not always simple. It's not as simple as just changing one thing, so my opinion is this. The plastic clarinet doesn't help getting a darker tone but that's probably the smallest reason, unless that particular instrument is very bright, I'm not familiar with it. I used to have several students years ago that liked the B45 and none of them got a bright sound. As a matter of fact I used to like it for my intermediate students because it seemed to "darken" their sound. I don't think your ligature is a problem either. With that said I think the first thing you need to change is your reed. Soft reeds tend to sound brighter than hard reeds, as long as you don't use a reed that's too hard, that would be counter productive and could be bright and course. It also depends on the brand of reed you're using. Then you have to be doing things properly like having a good embouchure, breathing properly, keeping your throat opened, not choking etc. Check my website for the articles on clarinet playing to see what I consider to be the proper ways to play the clarinet. Then you have to work at getting a darker sound over time and you may have to change mouthpiece at some point because not everyone gets the same result with the same mouthpiece. ESP
http://eddiesclarinet.com

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Date

The Dark Tone

Rapidcif

2009-10-06 19:15

Re: The Dark Tone

Ed Palanker

2009-10-06 19:46