 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kimber
Date: 2010-07-06 22:52
I have noticed an airy quality through my staff f/g/a notes. The rest of my notes have a much fuller quality to them. Is this a typical problem of a beginning clarinest? My teacher hadn't said anything, but we usually play in unison so I'm not sure if she would have appreciated the difference in those notes. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2010-07-06 23:06
The problem is most likely too hard of a reed or an unbalanced reed... or a combination of both. Does the airyness go away or decrease when you switch to a different reed?
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Author: kimber
Date: 2010-07-07 02:38
I notice it both with a softer and a harder reed...it does seem a little more obvious with the harder reed. My C6+ notes come out so much better with the harder reed (CGS 3), I'd prefer not to switch back to the 2.5. How would I check for reed imbalance?
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2010-07-07 02:42
Ok first your teacher should stop playing in unison with you and start listening to you so you can hear what you are doing. It's good to play together but maybe 10% of the time not 100%. If you really need to support your student I recommend that the teacher should try to play the harmony on the piano along with the student. Helps with them getting started to think more about playing in tune and rhythm feel is improved a bunch too. It's also a good idea if the student gets bored to go back to some old song they like and just play it with them for fun.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2010-07-07 12:55
As a beginner, think you may be more sensitive to the "differences" in the quality of the "throat notes." After a while one should start to learn ways to temper these notes so you have more resonance. For example I'll play open G with the second and third fingers of the right hand down. For "A," I will add only the first finger of the right hand.
You didn't mention middle line Bb. That one should really send you spinning for its airiness!!! For that it is pretty standard to add the third fingers of each hand and the pinky "C" key (either left or right, depending on the passage).
As for the "F," there's nothing fingerwise to do, just add a little more intensity to your airspeed to bring it out.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2010-07-07 13:11
Thank you Iceland Clarinet for the Gingras link. I've never seen these. There is lot of good material here!
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2010-07-07 13:21
I mean I think it's very sad to hear stories about professionals who go through a box of reeds and if it doesn't play out of the box they toss it when very often it's just a matter of balancing one side and it will play beautifully or at least be useful for practicing.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2010-07-07 13:49
Iceland clarinet wrote:
> I mean I think it's very sad to hear stories about
> professionals who go through a box of reeds and if it doesn't
> play out of the box they toss it when very often it's just a
> matter of balancing one side and it will play beautifully or at
> least be useful for practicing.
We've been through this before. Return on investment. Some people don't want to be bothered with fiddling with reeds since they're cheap - they'd rather play. If they're truly professional then they know how to balance a reed - probably better than you can. They just can't be bothered - it's faster to find one that just plays out of the box.
I don't try and save hard disks by running low-level formats, etc - I chuck 'em out at the first sign of any problem. Some people might be "sad" because some of those disks are probably just fine after a re-format - but I can't be bothered with them. My livelihood depends on the data, and I make more money by working than I would save by fiddling around with the things.
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Author: TianL
Date: 2010-07-07 16:17
if you have no clue about reeds, get Tom Ridnour's ATG system and watch the DVD that come with it. It will show you how to balance it. It is probably where your problems are.
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2010-07-07 17:53
Mark Charette wrote:
"Some people don't want to be bothered with fiddling with reeds since they're cheap - they'd rather play."
Excuse me but reeds are not cheap they are in fact pretty expensive. 250-350$ a year on reeds is something many people have to save up for.
And also we can buy box of 10 reeds,try them. Some play right out of the box and some need minor adjustment and others a major adjustment. We are lucky we don't have to spend like 2 hours +/- on making a one single reed and then adjust and break it in like oboe and bassoon players have to.
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