 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: llamaboy12
Date: 2009-12-08 15:56
hello, i have finger problems. it seems that every time a passage gets louder or faster my fingers loose control of my clarinet. they start flapping about on the keys like a fish on land. i have been working on this problem by playing music slower and focusing on closer and more alligned fingers, and i have even wrapped taped around my curved finger for a practice session, but i still am having issues. may i have suggestions on how to get my crazy fingers straight?
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2009-12-08 16:01
Well, forgetting about how they look, how does it sound? Are the notes even and correct? If so, then I offer the suggestion of "forget about them flapping around". If and only if what's coming out of the clarinet is correct.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2009-12-08 16:48
Suggestion:
You seem to be equating the all stress as the same. Perhaps if you approach the problem backwards........ play softly but find an easy pattern to play as fast as your fingers can go. Once you've gotten a controlled finger pattern going, just take the way that feels and apply that to "other" situations.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: kdk
Date: 2009-12-08 16:54
It's interesting that your fingers get out of control (actually, you say the clarinet gets out of control, which is a little hard to visualize if you aren't dropping it) when you're just playing loud - or is it loud *and* fast?
I've found in my own playing that what makes the most difference isn't how far my fingers seem to move, but in what direction. When I feel as if I am lifting my fingers straight up and down (which in itself limits the range of motion somewhat), the response is crisper, legato is smoother. If my finger motion feels more arced - rotating noticeably in addition to lifting up - then I have difficulties with not closing holes all at once (tending to land on them from front to back) and sometimes actually losing their location so I can only hope I hit the right spot (especially my left thumb).
Concentrating on a sense of lifting and avoiding any feeling of rotation or circular movement has the net effect of helping maintain control and orientation to the holes and keys and tends to keep my fingers more "aligned" without having to think so much about alignment or actual distance. I can concentrate on the feel of the motion rather than trying to imagine the visual measurement of it.
However you approach finger control, the only way I know to develop it is to practice slowly and increase speed gradually instead of suddenly. Use a metronome and push the tempo up one marking each time you play a passage successfully. Don't speed up beyond what you can control. It can be a tedious process that doesn't yield major results the first time. One of those things that takes some comittment.
Karl
Karl
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-12-08 21:22
Sounds like maybe you're trying to move each finger individually with each note. You can do that at slower tempos, but it's much harder to do when you get faster. That's probably why you feel you are losing control at higher speeds. I don't think trying to keep your fingers low to the holes/keys will fix this problem--it will just complicate things, IMHO.
A better way is not to think about individual finger motions, but to concentrate on sealing and unsealing the holes at the right times. As you get faster, it should feel more like you're moving multiple fingers at the same time or your whole hand together, but synchronized in such a way so that the holes are covered or uncovered at the right times.
When I play rapid passages, I often tend to think of my whole hand as a unit, with certain fingers positioned in different locations relative to each other as I move my whole hand in one continuous motion (so that certain holes are uncovered or covered before others). Sometimes it also helps to think about "shifting weight" from to and from certain fingers to do this.
But the key is to concentrate on sealing or unsealing the holes at the right time by coordinating the fingers (which may all be moving at once) rather than on making an individual finger move with each note. If you do that, your fingers will feel more under control and your playing will get smoother.
Piano playing went through a similar "evolution" in the 19th century, from the old school of thought which emphasized independence of individual fingers to the more modern notion of the hand being an extension of the arm. Although having to hold the clarinet up with your right thumb (and a similar situation with the left thumb on the thumb hole) means you don't have the range of arm motion a pianist has, it's still possible to use your arm and wrist to direct the opening and closing of your hand on the clarinet or to use wrist rotation to "roll" your fingers across the holes. I find this way of playing to be much more natural than moving just the fingers.
Post Edited (2009-12-08 22:22)
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2009-12-08 21:43
Can you videotape a closeup of your fingers while playing? If you could see yourself from the outside without the distraction of thinking about how to play, perhaps you could see what the problem is. If an experienced player were to watch the video as well, they may identify what's going on right away.
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Author: llamaboy12
Date: 2009-12-09 18:39
Thank you for all of your helpful comments. It helps to think about your hand as a unit and shifting "weight" from one side to the other, it also helped to think of bringing the fingers in an "up and down" motion. And i agree that the tedious way of starting slow (and perfect) and speeding up is probably the best. But maybe i stated my problem wrong: my two biggest problems are bringing my fingers too far off of the keys, and my fingers locking straight (as opposed to staying curved). I suppose as a passage gets louder or faster i tend to add more pressure, which intern locks my fingers and leads to other problems...
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-12-09 20:25
llamaboy12 wrote:
> my two biggest
> problems are bringing my fingers too far off of the keys, and
> my fingers locking straight (as opposed to staying curved).
I would stop worrying about keeping your fingers close to the keys. You can actually create extra, unnecessary finger tension that way. I know a lot of teachers tell you to keep your fingers close to avoid wasted movement, but unless you have to put the finger right back down again immediately, keeping it close doesn't necessarily do anything beneficial. You can actually waste more energy (and generate excessive tension) trying to stop your fingers from flying away from the instrument than you would just letting them go and not worrying about it.
One metaphor that someone once told me that I have found really useful for reducing finger tension is to think of your fingers as being soft and velvety, and at the same time, light (as in not heavy)--imagine your hands a being sort of like big furry tarantulas, lightly crawling on the instrument. This will help you keep your fingers curved, too.
Slow practice also helps a lot, because if you practice slowly with low tension, and try to make everything feel the same as you speed up, it will help you avoid locking up your fingers. (Of course, sometimes you need finger tension to do certain things, so don't think you should *always* have relaxed fingers.)
You should also take a look at Tony Pay's remarks in the following thread, which deal with using "slow fingers" to play fast passages with less finger tension, which is part of what I was trying to get at in my previous post, but Tony does a much better job of explaining it than I did here.
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=282205&t=281877
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