 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: skittleys
Date: 2010-10-02 06:02
I've always had trouble hitting any higher than the G 1 octave above the staff, and several notes below that are often stifled, squeaked, etc. I'm wondering what the potential reasons are for this. I'm especially wondering whether the fact that I'm playing a plastic instrument (B12) has anything to do with it, or the mouthpiece, or my embouchure, or what! (But I really doubt it's due to simply not practising enough). Obviously no one can "diagnose" this online but any thoughts are appreciated!
EDIT: thanks for all the replies! I've posted up some info later in this thread about my mouthpiece etc. However, there's 1 thing that hasn't been addressed by anyone that I'd really like to know: would a wood clarinet likely produce better results?
Post Edited (2010-10-03 04:26)
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-10-02 07:51
What kind of MP are you playing? Often that alone can be your problem. Also some mouthpieces play better on different types of reeds. I've always favored the think blank reeds. I think Rico reeds are a bit thin, based more for the beginners. I'm playing on the Vandoren thick blanks, but thousands of people play the regular cut reeds.
There are a lot of very good mouthpieces on the market right now well under $100. If I were you check out the Vandoren M13 or the M30 mouthpieces.
Regarding your above post about muscle strain after 10 minutes, perhaps try a regular Vandoren reed until you build up your muscles.
I don't use any form of Rico products, including the Grand Concert reeds, which were actually designed by me, and I advise others not too as well. I've talked about this before so you may wish to do a search.
Since you are just starting to practice a bit, don't jump into anything yet. Get your muscles in order and see if the high notes start to become a lot easier. Maybe after a few months, once you are playing well again try experimenting with different mouthpieces and reeds.
Even the best players have trouble with the high notes such as the Copland Concerto, the Spor Concertos, Weber, and around another 100 pieces!
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2010-10-02 19:31
I don't know how long have you been playing the clarinet and how developed your embochure is. If you have trouble with high notes, you should try mouthpieces with medium or medium short facings combined with softer reeds. For eg. Vandoren 5rvLyre with VD3 or B46 3 1/2. They are cheep enough to give a try for them.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-10-02 19:45
It's probably the mouthpiece, the reed, the clarinet or you. Take your choice. There are so many reasons for this happening that you really need to take a few lessons with someone that knows to see if it's you or your equipment. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: clariniano
Date: 2010-10-02 22:45
Hi Caitlin, I see you are in Toronto too--I teach in Toronto (in one of the suburbs), and have taught at least two possibly three members of this board, two who are studying music in university (both got accepted with major scholarships) and the third is now with one of my colleagues, and he's doing RCM Grade 9 Clarinet and he's not even 14 years old. (mind you, he started at 9 and has been taking lessons for several years since he was 10.
So yes, I can help you with your challenges. Email me offline at clariniano@hotmail.com.
Meri
Please check out my website at: http://donmillsmusicstudio.weebly.com and my blog at: http://clariniano.wordpress.com
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Author: skittleys
Date: 2010-10-02 23:04
My current mouthpiece: B45
Reeds: well, I'm playing around with that a bit. Right now I am getting the best results for hitting high notes with a Rico Royal 2.5, but I hate the tone with them.
How long I've been playing: well, right now that's kind of hard to answer...I started in 1997 but I had a long hiatus from 2005 to recently. However, I've always had this problem, even when I was playing every day in 2003. Regarding my embouchure, it's probably not great now, but it was back then.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2010-10-03 00:25
Very well could be the mouthpiece. I once had trouble with a Gigliotti P mouthpiece with chirping on the clarion A and Bb. Sent it to Dave Spiegelthal, and it came back chirpfree and playing better. Something about the rails being a little uneven or something. Cost me less than a new mouthpiece and fixed the problem.
But like said above, it could be embouchure, mouthpiece, reeds, or clarinet. I would leave clarinet and reeds as last chances to fix it since I personally feel that the clarinet's job is less important than the other three, and I'd leave reeds till last cause you said you've had this problem for a very long time, and I'm willing to bet you've gone through a few reeds over the past 7 years.
I'm willing to bet that it could be solved by working on your embouchure AND mouthpiece. If you like the B45, maybe send it to a mouthpiece refacer to get touched up. They'll make sure it's in good repair. Then find a teacher. Trust me, lessons are worth it. They definitely, DEFINITELY help.
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2010-10-03 01:00
You can quickly and easily eliminate the clarinet as the problem as you take it out of the case and put it together.
I have found several older horns that have developed similar problems suddenly. With them, it went back to careless assembly. The players were pushing on the side trill keys when assembling the upper and lower joints. Eventually they became worn enough that they got pushed off their seats and no longer sealed. Swedging their pivot tubes solved the problem.
To eliminate the instrument as the problem, when it is misbehaving, make sure your fingers are correctly seated and then have someone else press down on each pad (one at a time) and see if you get any improvement. If you do, the pad that gives it to you is not seating properly. In addition, one joint at a time, put all fingers down, tightly plug the lower end and use your mouth to apply vacuum and them pressure to the joint. If you can't maintain a vacuum or slight positive pressure in the joint, you have a leak somewhere on it.
Likely, the problem is one discussed in the above posts. But, since it can be done quickly and easily, you might as well eliminate the clarinet.
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Author: yearsofwisdom
Date: 2010-10-03 02:31
@Bob, is the reason due to the pesticides issue??!? If so i will stay clear away from them. Are the vandorens safe on the other hand? or any type of vandoren reed? and how bout the gonzalez reeds? i usually play v12 size 4s, what size Gonzalez and which type of gonzalez should i get?
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-10-03 06:42
yearsofwisdom- yes on the pesticide question. Once the lawsuit is over I plan on checking out Vandoren and also the plastic reeds floating around. Often plastic compounds can be quite toxic, even after they have been cured using ovens.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-10-03 06:55
2 1/2 Rico reeds are pretty light. Try to build up to a 3 then a 3 1/2. The Vandoren B45 is not my favorite mouthpiece but it is still very good. With some practice time you should be able to play a 3 1/2 Vandoren reed. If you would rather stay with Rico, switch over to the Mitchell Lurie reeds. They are a very good student and advanced student reed. Or they were when I was at Rico. They were consistant because the reeds were cut twice and I also used 2 large diamonds to cut the reeds. I'm not sure if this practice is still being used since Mitchell sadly passed away a few years ago.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-10-03 21:56
No idea, I can say that a lot of the cane in France comes from the VAR section of Southern France. This cane most likely is just fine. They, however import cane from their cane fields in Argentina. Depending on the import laws of France they may fumigate. I really have no idea at this time.
Rico does get a lot of came here in the US, mostly in southern California. For whatever reason they spray this cane too. There is no logical reason to do this. In fact some of the cane is sprayed 2 or 3 times, in the fields and at the Rico plant.
I'm not against fumigation in gas form, because it dissipates. It's the additives that Rico uses thats oil based and mixed with the gas, which remains on reeds for many years. I've tested reeds that were 5 years old and had pesticides on them.
I don't really want to get into this any deeper, because I already wrote a lot about this subject. You can do search on the site.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2010-10-03 22:00)
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