The Clarinet BBoard

Re: How do I learn to play scales evenly?

Author: bethmhil  Date:   2011-10-02 05:10 Wow, you sound just like me when I go on upset-clarinetist-cramming-and-getting-angry practice sessions. I once considered the life of being a strictly performing clarinetist, and I think I would pull my hair out if I chose that path. Kudos to you for having that kind of drive. One step in solving your predicament is one important concept: Feeling the connections between notes... The most important part of scales (and really, any type of Baermann study or etude) is not and should not ever be speed. That will come with (much) time. Being able to feel every connection between every note is what makes learning scales so fundamental and vital. Feeling the connections between notes requires quite a slow tempo, you can imagine... and, it also requires intense concentration. But this way, your muscles and brain will "feel" the notes and connections much more clearly. I learned the Baermann scales in 3rds this last summer, and worked them up to eighth-note = 120 (quarter = 60... so slow, I know). Now, when I encounter any technical passage in band or orchestra music that is some scale ascending or descending in 3rds, it's tremendously easy to work through. Remember, we learn scales and fundamentals for this reason: not so that we can just play scales all the time, because that's terribly boring. We learn them because they will help us play everything else better! Now, the next step requires much more than just "woodshedding"... One thing I want to bring to your attention is that you said that you have practiced scales with many different rhythms/articulations/ways of accenting different notes of the scale. This works... to an extent. There will come a time when your fingers and your brain know what to do, but you still aren't getting the evenness that you desire... the unbelievably frustrating state I have been in for well over a year, and will still be in for a very long time. This is only me philosophizing... Say you're playing a scale in 16ths, and either articulating every downbeat, or finding some way to emphasize downbeats. It would make sense that energy is only going into the first two notes, and then the energy fades in the 2nd two notes because there could be some natural decrescendo or just a feeling of relaxing, which leads to a decrease or change in the flow of energy through the line. This could lead to possible issues between connections of notes, and thus leading to unevenness. Playing with all the different accents and downbeats, etc. is, to me, a very "vertical" way of playing. In most cases, playing music "vertically" is very rarely a positive way of playing. There is one natural remedy: feeling and playing the scale as one melodic line. Set a metronome at maybe quarter = 40ish, and play 16 notes per beat. It's difficult to keep track of where the beat should fall, but that is one thing that pushes energy through the entire line. Playing the scale as a long line is much more "horizontal", and it will push energy through the whole line, and thus every connection. Think of it this way... when a conductor is conducting in a fast 4, he may decide to conduct in 2 instead because thinking of the melodic line in 2 pushes much more energy through the line. It works the same way for anything, even scales! As my teacher once said, "Any idiot can learn to play scales fast." Speed & evenness will come with time, I promise. BMH Illinois State University, BME and BM Performance Post Edited (2011-10-06 01:44)

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