 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ryan K
Date: 2010-01-16 03:22
Hello Fellow BBoarders
As of late, I've been having some serious problems making my altissimo register, and the transition between clarion and altissimo have a good tone. I'm working the Weber 2, fist movement. The first page has a few sections marked Dolce, which transition between these two registers. I am very pleased with the tone of my lower registers. What could cause the shrillness of these upper registers? I'd appreciate bouncing ideas off of me, and seeing what sticks.
Ryan Karr
Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-01-16 13:06
Assuming you are using the right mouthpiece and reed for you, which could be the case, it could be that you are closing off your throat, that is blocking the air by "choking" a bit without realizing it or you could be raising your tongue too high, especially in the front. I know many people say to have your tongue in a "ee" position, but that can, and often is, over done resulting in forcing the air through too small an air passage. The result in both a closed throat and or the tongue blocking the air passage in the front or the back can result it a forced, thin, or bright sound. I have something about that in more detail on my website in the clarinet article page, check it out. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Ryan K
Date: 2010-01-16 15:46
Thank you both of you. I'm going to assume its not the mouthpiece/reed, Ed, so I'll try both of those suggestions and report back.
Will be edited.
Ryan Karr
Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2010-01-16 16:43
For me, I find myself getting a bit worked up over the pitch of the low notes (which can be flat if you're not careful) and don't transition fast enough in thought (particularly the very openning).
My final solution to this piece is to play the low register softer than I would like but it helps make the whole seem less manic.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-01-16 20:13
Ryan -
When dinosaurs roamed the earth, back in 1958, the great teacher Keith Stein taught me an exercise for controlling altissimo brightness that I've used ever since. You play a fingering in three registers -- for example, chalumeau A, clarion E and altissimo C#, making the smallest possible finger movements and carrying the warmth and roundness of the low register up into the higher notes. Repeat with Bb-F-D, and so on.
For a full description, read http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=4212&t=4103.
It also helps to learn to voice the different registers, so that you can play easily in the altissimo without squeezing, biting or doing contortions. There's a great explanation from Charles Neidich in http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=20&i=757&t=757, about halfway through in the section "TECHNICAL DIGRESSION: The clarinet overtone series and voicing."
An effective way to learn register voicing is the swab-up-the-bell "bugle call" exercise I've described several times. See http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=44343&t=44230.
Good luck. The clarinet can make a million sounds, but most people use only one or two.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-01-16 20:39
Ken, that exercise is often referred to as a 12th. Playing a low note beginning from low E to a 12th above, by depressing the register key without changing the position of the throat, tongue or embouchure, at least as little as possible, in order to play the upper 12th with a fuller, warmer tone. Because too many people move their tongue to high in front or close their throat too much when playing in this upper register this exercise helps solve that problem. I would have a student do it from every note beginning on the low E to the throat tone F. Stein elaborated on the 12th buy finishing it by going down a 3rd to end. I've always taught it to begin pp crescendoing to a forte, going to the upper 12th without "popping" the higher not and making a dim. back to a pp. This not only gives the player the experience of learning to voice the upper 12th in a fuller, warmer tone but gives the benefit of practicing a very soft entrance, getting louder and softer without effecting intonation and fading out to nothing on the upper 12th. I've always found this to be very useful in my teaching experience. ESP
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Author: clarii
Date: 2010-04-26 01:27
someone mentioned keith stein of michigan st. in the 50s. i had a little booklet of his on working on reads and other things. where could i find it again. clarii
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Author: mrn
Date: 2010-04-26 03:14
You should try experimenting with different fingerings for the D. (I'm assuming that's the note that's giving you the most problems, since it shows up the most in that section.) Different fingerings will give you different tone qualities as well as different levels of responsiveness.
For D's of any significant length (like on 8th notes or longer), I tend to use this open thumb-hole fingering, which is not as bright and also transitions better over the altissimo break:
R (No thumb) x x x | x o x (Ab/Eb key)
There's also a C# fingering that goes with it:
R (No thumb) x x x | x x x (Ab/Eb key)
For 16th notes the above fingerings probably won't help you (because open thumb fingerings can be kind of difficult to finger quickly), but you can experiment with some other fingerings, like these D fingerings:
RT (G# key) o x x | x x o
RT (G# key) x x x | x x o (Ab/Eb key)
Also, it may not be "shrillness" that is the problem so much as it is a difference in resistance/responsiveness that can cause the D to "pop out" (as in the first passage marked "dolce"). In other words, it may not be the note itself that is the problem, but rather, the transition between the previous note and that note. In that case, one thing you can try to do is to apply downward pressure from your upper lip (thus relieving the pressure on your bottom lip--this tends to make it more possible for you to negotiate the transition across the registers more smoothly). Another thing you can do to avoid the "bump" across registers is simply to stay in the same register (assuming you can do this without making an unacceptable sacrifice of tone quality and intonation). For instance, you could play some of the rapid D's with this fingering:
RT (G# key) o o o (Eb/Bb side key) | o o o
and rapid C#'s with this fingering:
RT o o o (bottom 2 side keys) | o o o
and by so doing, avoid changing registers. This might be a viable solution for the 16th note D in the second bar of the first "dolce," depending on what it sounds like when you play it on your instrument. Another version of the same D (one I haven't tried myself yet, but I found it in a book and it looks promising) is this one:
RT (G# key) o x o (bottom 2 side keys) | o o o
It's supposed to be a little bit darker and lower in pitch than the other G# key D fingering, so it might work better--who knows? I would definitely experiment with different fingerings for this section, though, as (at least in my experience) at least 50% of problems in the altissimo register can be solved (or at least mitigated) by making a judicious choice of fingerings.
As I said, though, I would play most of the D's and C#'s in this section with those open-thumb fingerings I mentioned at the top of this post. They not only have a darker sound, but they allows for smoother transitions to/from the clarion register. The open-thumb D fingering, especially, is a real "workhorse" in my playing.
Post Edited (2010-04-26 03:26)
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Author: avumback
Date: 2010-04-26 18:11
Thanks Ken. I bought Steins book "The Art of Clarinet Playing" for $3.50 in 1973. Its a great reference book.
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