 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2011-08-10 11:43
Apart from obviously being a good masterclass, your blog post itself was fantastically done, thank you very much for sharing!
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Author: luca1
Date: 2011-08-10 13:54
Thank you for your labours!! Great stuff you got there!
His Masterclasses etc on PlaywithaPro are also top notch. (as are the ones by Neidich). If you can't afford the time/flight etc to take lessons directly from these guys, then these videos are a great alternative.
http://www.playwithapro.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-08-11 19:39
I've been going through some notes I made at master classes over the years, to make them finished enough to post here.
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These are from a Gilad master class at Mannes on 4/24/04.
"I match my teaching to the player's particular strengths, weaknesses and personality. What I say doesn't apply across the board and may not be appropriate for someone else."
The three central things to be aware of are AIR:
A - Articulation
I - Intonation
R - Rhythm - grows from the heartbeat - steady + alive
Don't breathe by raising the mouthpiece or dropping the jaw. This dislocates the embouchure. Lock it into the lower lip (which also sets the tongue position).
Therefore, obey gravity. The mouthpiece stays down. Breathe to the left and right of the reed.
"Spit" the articulation. It comes from 3 points:
1. air - fast, laser-like stream
2. point it at the lips
3. with the point of the tongue
Make an embouchure with the tip of a pencil pointing into your mouth, instead of the mouthpiece. Block the lip opening with a pencil tip and blow with full support. Then pull the pencil out and spit the airstream. Don't let the embouchure collapse or buzz, brass-style.
A great musician must be a great athlete, with all muscles strengthened.
+ a philosopher
+ have a sense of humor (Gilad won't accept you at USC if he can't joke with you)
Tune for every dynamic
- play with a tuner at all dynamics, to learn the tendencies of the instrument
- play low E-B-E, then F-C-F, etc.
- Keep it open at the back of your head, and keep the sound out in front of you.
- Step backward, leaving the sound out in front. Nobody but Heifetz could do it without moving.
To learn Midsummer Night's Dream, play the Midsummer Nightmare. Initially play short 8ths and long 16ths so you don't get your tongue congested.
- the tongue touches the reed only to stop the vibration, but not to press it into the hard rubber
- always more less tongue and more air - more A.I.R.
- only later do you get the 16ths short
Martinů Sonata
Advice to an advanced player:
-This is not a stroll in the park. It's Czech and must more "ethnic."
-Tell me something different. Make something of it.
-A violinist articulates with the bow. With the clarinet, it's all internal.
-First know what you want to do. HOW to do it is only mechanical.
-Never run on autopilot. Head and heart first.
-Take the mouthpiece and barrel off, make your fingers on the barrel and spit the notes, or put a pencil in your mouth.
-Warm up the sound by moving the lower lip ½ mm. more over the teeth.
-Do your long tones in front of a mirror, rolling the lower lip in and out, to learn to make different sounds. Listen for focus and warmth.
-In the passage with descending mordents, it has to be a dance and be happy - foot-stamping. Then a slow, graceful turn in the center of a circle of dancers.
Copland Concerto
-You need to balance the tweeter, midrange and woofer. Otherwise intonation gets vague.
-Work without the music. You have to hear it and sing it before you start playing
- First 2 notes - when you move from the F# to the E, don't stop. It must keep spinning.
-Learn the big upward slurs by glissing. Find the tongue and palate positions for the high notes. Once you learn this, you can know what to do and where you're going when you slur up.
The last note of a phrase is always the pickup to the next note and phrase.
A decrescendo never goes down. It's banana-shaped. Make it go up. Take the decrescendo sign, with two lines approaching one another, and tilt the right-hand end (where the two lines meet) up so that the entire shape is ascending.
For the high F#, use one of the top two side keys.
The cadenza must not be too fiery. Make it slower and perfect. Take time to make the jazz licks. No hammering, low tonguing.
On the low G, begin it with just the tip of the tongue.
It's like any technical exercise. You must always be perfect. Work up the speed gradually. The moment it gets uneven, STOP and work slower. Anything faster is just faking. Anything faster and you're practicing how to make mistakes.
Sutermeister
The opening phrase recurs 14 times. It has to be comfortable and perfect each time.
Get comfortable on the A clarinet.
This particular player was tense and breathed shallow and high in the chest. Gilad's advice for this particular player:
Avoid doing everything from the teeth out. Here, you're tucking your chin with the throat and back of the neck tight.
Never move your shoulders to breath.
Use the Breath Developer in front of a mirror. Cover 2 holes with your fingers.
The body moves down to breathe. Expand the sides of your abdomen and your lower back. Practice breathe - hold - release.
Hold the instrument nearly vertical.
Visualize the sound as being created at the first point of resonance, at the waist.
The airstream then moves up to the roof of the mouth, guided by a high uvula and the fairly high back of the tongue, and then forward to the embouchure, which is the second point of resonance, and then down through the clarinet.
Feel the airstream hitting the roof of your mouth and shooting out. The air moves as through a hose and to the embouchure. The hose/embouchure is firm all around the outside and relaxed on the inside.
Exercise to create the total body feeling:
- stand with your back near a wall
- bend over at the waist, arms down
- lengthen the spine
- let the head fall
- straighten up and bend backward, arms back to touch the wall
- straighten up to vertical, arms moving easily to playing position.
Bernstein Sonata
This player took only the tip of the mouthpiece in her mouth and made an uncentered, blaring sound, far too recessed. Gilad's advice:
Make an embouchure around a plastic coffee stirrer and blow hard.
Never sing with one vowel. Use a million vowels. Now play the clarinet that way.
50% of your practice can be without the clarinet
Walk around with the coffee stirrer, fingering scales, fingering one note at a time on the stirrer, arms relaxed, blowing as hard as you can.
"Lush" fingers
This is **not** to strengthen your fingers, but to get slow, controlled finger movements that are not affected by hard blowing.
If you need to bite, bite sideways, bringing the corners of your mouth in.
The inside of the mouth is like a canal – the cheeks narrow to the mouth.
The cheekbones and the chin make an inverted "outer" triangle.
The center of the roof of the mouth and the insides of the cheeks make in inner upright triangle. This holds the jaw and keeps you from biting.
The triangles mirror each other and merge to form a Star of David.
Gilad loves Richard Hawkins mouthpieces.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2011-08-11 20:46
Thanks both to Ken and Curious for your time in making your notes available!
I'm sorry to diverge, but does anyone else have experience with Play with a Pro? Luca1 clearly believes they are worth the money.
$30 for a 50min masterclass video, or $20 for 30ish min masterclasses.
Neidich has 6 classes available, and it looks like 6 more on the way.
From the short previews it appears that these are clearly masterclasses that are geared towards this format (teaching the performer and the observer equally), as opposed to the ones many of us watched from Northwestern which are recordings of masterclasses.
Thoughts?
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2011-08-12 19:52
Play with a pro is fantastic. The people running the website and company are also fantastic. I played for David Cambell, which is to be uploaded soon. A great idea combined with great people and artists as well as willing participants = a great product!
I'd say it's well worth the money. I know those who participated in these masterclasses paid much more for the opportunity (either in tuition at schools or summer festivals\conventions).
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Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2011-08-14 01:16
I second the Play with a pro series. I bought all the clarinet videos that were on there. The Gilad are pretty good but my opinion the Lee Morgan videos are the best video teaching on clarinet out there. Tom Puwalski
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The Clarinet Pages
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