 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: trish24
Date: 2011-07-31 03:43
Hello,
I have come late to clarinet ( I am 67) and only been playing for 2 1/2 years. I would like to progress and I do exams because it motivates me for more disciplined and directed practice. I did Grade 4 exam last week and my scales were really bad which then affects the rest of the exam...same thing happened last year. I know the scales perfectly; know the key signatures and how all the scales are constructed and play them well at home but disastrously in the exam. I don't think it's performance anxiety. Is it just a matter of it takes time to learn your way around the instrument and this can't be hurried ? Does anyone have any advice about this?
Thank you
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Author: Joanna
Date: 2011-07-31 05:11
Hi!
Scales are tricky things to get a hold on. There are a couple of things you should consider:
1) Play all scales at a comfortable tempo, WITH A METRONOME. This assures the evenness of the scales.
2) Make sure that you think of blowing "though the horn". A consistent, steady air-flow is require to play even, steady scales.
3) Don't play too fast, only as fast as you can manage while assuring the evenness of the scale.
4) Check out the book by Baerman. It's a scale exercise book that really helps.
The important thing is to steadily learn every scale and not to rush. Scales take years to learn efficiently, but working on them a little bit everyday gets them better and better.
Happy clarineting!
Joanna
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2011-07-31 13:09
The J.B Albert Scale book is also good and not quite as challenging as the Baermann.
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2011-07-31 15:07
Hi Trish:
This is the part where I like to tell myself that not growing up a clarinet virtuso has helped me become a better teacher because I have lived through this.
> play them well at home but disastrously in the exam. I don't think it's performance anxiety.
Trish--and I say this with care for you to be the best musician you can: I disagree. I DO think it's performance anxiety.
=========
If I asked you to play me a C4 in "exams," nothing else, do you think you could do this successfully? I bet you could: for 2 reasons. The first: as clarineting goes, it's a pretty straight forward thing to do. Second: and this is KEY--you KNOW, GOING INTO THIS REQUEST, THAT EVEN IN "EXAMS" that this is a skill that your abilities far surpass.
You want to play scales flawlessly, you need to know, GOING INTO THIS REQUEST, THAT EVEN IN "EXAMS," that this is a skill that your abilities far surpass.
"Well that's great, but how do I do that?" you may reply.
I'm not going to reiterate sound advice already given to you by Joanna. In my opinion, I would have numbered her suggestions in the order of 1, 3, 4, and 2--but the point is she's covered the basics.
Short of my being there and watching your level of tension, your finger position when on and off keys, and your embouchure, I urge you to play these scales at a very slow pace that you can examine every nuance of your playing. Make not only the scales even but your finger pressure and embouchure pressure as well. Work religiously with the metronome and don't dare make it faster--not one beat, until you can do a scale at that speed, that "had I woken you up at 3AM and asked you to play it at that speed," you could (almost).
Also, practice chromatic scales too.
This is the boring foundations of everything in music. Play them up, down, and sideways--and as Joanna suggested, incorporate a study guide so you can practice variations in each scale.
> Is it just a matter of it takes time to learn your way around the instrument and this can't be hurried
Sure--I say sarcastically. Get prescriptions for beta blockers and benzodiazepines--both with their commensurate side effects and dangers..and they might only address performance axiety, not technique...
....or take it slow, and practice when you're not tired.
Best of luck!
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Author: William
Date: 2011-07-31 16:30
The "problem" with playing scales is that you must LEARN THE NOTES FIRST in one scale, usually C major (Bb concert) before you progress to the next one, usually A minor (G min concert). It helps organize things if you follow the circle of 5ths--the Barmann book does this. When you can play all of the scales FROM MEMORY, then it is time to start perfecting your techniqe with the use of a metronome. If you don't have the scales memorized and "under your fingers" having to match the relentless drone of a metronome with drive you crazy and make learning the notes of the scales much more difficult--if not impossible. However, it is "OK" to use a metro. after memorizing each scale, but never use one before you can play it flawlessly--even, if somewhat uneven. MEMORIZE the scale first so that you can wake up in the middle of the night and play it without error--then, the metronome can be invaluable for eveness and developing speed.
What my first clarinet teacher made me do was to assign a scale for each lesson, give me the starting note and then expecting me to write it out in triplets for the entire practical range of the clarinet--on manuscript paper, no computor "back then". I would then be expected to play that scale from memory at the next lesson--or the next, if need be. He made me follow the circle of 5ths--C maj & the three related minors, A nat., A har, and A melodic--then down to F maj, D minors, then up to Bb, etc, etc etc...... It took me over a year to satisfy him that I "knew my scales". Following that formula, the scale patterns in thirds and the arpeggios can quickly--because I first "knew" my scales. Of course, that was 55 yrs ago and it would probably take much longer for my old brain to accomplish such a task, but I could do it--and so can you. Hope this gives you some direction and boosts your confidence a little. (btw, I didn't really start using a metronome until I studied clarinet in college, but thanks to my great high school teacher, Benny Ehr, by then, it all came easy.
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2011-07-31 20:57
Amusing story of a Ralph MacLane pupil who was really a fine professional clarinetist but posing as a student. By introduction, Ralph asked him to play the scales as rapidly as possible which the faux student did at what he thought was lightning speed. Ralph's response was " oh no, this is what we strive for", as he played very much faster, beyond belief..
richard smith
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2011-08-01 00:12
William, I both respect and agree with the development of finger memory of scales as you indicate. Our student appears to report having done--I'm assuming without music in front of him, so I left it off my checklist.
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Author: trish24
Date: 2011-08-02 04:16
Thank you for your reply re scales in examination.
Looks like more slow, even practice is the way to go.
Trish
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Author: Maruja
Date: 2011-08-02 13:36
I have the same problem Trish! Yesterday in my lesson my teacher asked me to start on middle F and do a 5 note mini scale up and down. And I couldn't. Although I CAN play F successfully at 2 octaves. As another poster said, they have to be known upwards, downwards, sideways and every which way. I now am trying to pick any note and play the scale up and down in fives - for more flexibility and as you say, for getting to know the instrument much more intimately. But how you actually learn them
- is it through listening and recognising the sound of the note?
- is it kinesthetic - the movements of the fingers?
- is it 'seeing' the notes in the scale book?
- is it saying the names of the notes as you go up and down?
- is it a combination of the above?
- is it different things for different people?
I don't know - any thoughts anyone?
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2011-08-02 15:15
Hi Maruja:
> Yesterday in my lesson my teacher asked me to start on middle F and do a 5 note mini scale up and down. And I couldn't.
OK--I get that, but are you able to tell me the proximate cause for your failure?
Was it that you had finger issues (i.e. technique) working your way through
![[A4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/a4.gif) ![[Bb4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/bb4.gif) and ![[B4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/b4.gif)
but you otherwise remembered that the "F" major scale has 1 flat...or both..or is it something else?
The 5 notes up and down on this scale, at this range of the clarinet is tricky because of the throat tone key movement and change for tonal squeekage. It doesn't surprise me to hear that the other "F" major scales on the instrument would affect you less, given their more conventional fingerings on the tone holes.
Clearly, as William indicates prior, scales need to be, at first, read off the notes of a page until memorized "by the fingers."
But once that is done, and IMHO (others may disagree), no way I'm I listening, when playing scales fast, if the next note is a semi- or full tone away. (Altough all good clarinetists should always listen to themselves for things like pitch and tonal quality.)
It's all about the fact that through repetition, the fingers "know" where to go. Of all the things you mentioned, only "the movement of the fingers" is one I can relate to.
Stated differently, when someone says, play me an "E" major scale from bottom to top of the instrument, I'm not thinking--"okay, "E" major--that's 4 sharps"). Rather, I just cover all the tone holes and start ascending. The fingers "know" the next note's an "F sharp." And they know this because I've done the above recommended methods of developing scales--not because I was born, nor am I (ImHO) a gifted musician.
Practice slow enough such that proper finger position is maintained, that you're keeping the finger close to the tone holes even when not covering them, and that you're exerting only the necessary pressure with the fingers to make the note reliably sound. Those fingers must be even to the metronome. If they are not, slow down the metronome. Practice well rested. Put the clarinet down, or move on to other things before getting frustrated on some of your not so best days of practice.
And, in time, work through the classic clarinet guides (Klose, Bearmann, Rose, etc.). Those exercises are there with very good reason.
Let me leave you with some inspiration. It's a piece (Wee-Z) performed by a student of the late great Kal Opperman--composed by Opperman.
http://www.kalmenopperman.com/music__audio
Mr. Ebert, its performer, I seriously doubt, was site reading that. He probably played it 99 - 100% from finger memory (maybe the music was in front of him). I he likely mastered it over time through deligence, repetiion, discipline, and of course talent.
Maybe he's on the board and can comment.
All the best in clarineting.
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Author: Maruja
Date: 2011-08-02 18:02
Thanks, That Perfect Reed, for that full post. I think I found it tricky because it is over the break and the fingering is tricky. I don't have the same problem (or not to the same extent) with other scales - well G is another one obviously. But I am still at the stage that I need to say, yes, A Major, 3 sharps, C, F and G. But what I can't understand is, if you automatically get into mode as you finger the first note - how do you know if it's going to be Minor or Major?
BTW, how do you get those cool images of notes?
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2011-08-02 20:53
Hi Marjura.. my finger memory was referring to major keys.
As it regards generating images of things like notes on the bboard, please click the "Help Rules" and "Smileys/Notes links at the top of the Page. It will show you, through the use of usually square brackets, how you can do things like embed internet links, or notes on the scale.
"left open square bracket"
followed by typing "B4 "
followed by "right close sqaure bracket" generates a picture of B4
..also know as the note 3 lines up, smack dab in the middle of the staff, in treble clef
Kind regards...and cut yourself slack.. B4 to C5, back and forth, is harder than many other things on the clarinet.
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Author: Maruja
Date: 2011-08-03 09:34
Thanks for that full message. I shall have a go with the help file... Also for the encouragement re.that movement...
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2011-08-09 11:27
My teacher was very firm that the big problem with learning scales on the clarinet was that every octave was different (unlike other woodwind intervals which overblow the octave). Therefore her method was that you should start off by naming and fingering the scale slowly before putting the instrument in your mouth i.e. you say each note's name while fingering the note and then try playing it. If you are working on some kind of progressive schedule or rotation of learning scales you will need to this for some days or even a few weeks before each scale becomes secure. You will probably also need to go back to doing it with some of them every so often, especially those with more sharps or flats or particular fingering difficulties such as E and B major or minor.
I terms of starting on notes other than the tonic etc. this is, of course, a vital skill but I would say that it was somewhat more advanced that the stage that the OP is at at present.
Hopes this helps.
Vanessa.
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Author: Maruja
Date: 2011-08-09 17:05
Yes, I don't know if you have seen the Paul Harris scale books, but he very much follows this method.
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Author: peter12381
Date: 2011-08-16 03:18
Hi Trish24
I see that your ISP is in Sydney. If you actually live in Sydney, you might be interested in the clarinet weekend at the end of September, run by Mark and Jo Walton:
http://www.saxandwoodwind.com.au/index.php?main_page=page&id=72
I'm also a late clarinet starter (been playing for nearly two years), and am, perhaps foolishly, hoping to do a Trinity Grade 4 exam in November.
I have attended a couple of Mark and Jo's January workshops in Bellingen, and have found them terrific for adult learners, with plenty of great advice on offer.
Cheers
Peter Lockwood
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Author: trish24
Date: 2011-09-06 22:12
Hello, Peter,
Have taken a while to get back to you.
I am in touch with Mark and Jo and will be at Camp Creative in January.
I am still struggling with scales but am confident that it just takes time.
Someone has recently suggested to me that the chromatic (ascending descending on all start notes) is the key to the whole thing
Maybe it's to do with the ear recognising the tones and semitones as you go.
We'll see
Thanks again
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The Clarinet Pages
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![[C5]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/c5.gif)
....sorry