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Re: Shrill High-notes

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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