 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jon Shurlock
Date: 2012-02-02 14:15
My teacher has a technique that she calls 'wonky practice'. When trying to get a difficult passage under the fingers she recommends playing everything in regular triplets, and then playing everything in regular triplets again but this time starting the phrase on the offbeat
Does anyone else do this, and if so could you explain why it works?
It definitely works for me as it helps me memorise passages and render them more fluid, but I was just wondering why
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Author: RachelB4
Date: 2012-02-02 14:48
I often do that as well. Like playing the phrase in groups and stopping on different notes. It gives me a smoother feel when I play it together.
I think playing it different ways helps the notes to be released from their tightness and rigidness. Maybe it's both a mental and physical thing. Getting it in your fingers to play it with a different point, as well as giving your head a different view as to how to phrase it.
It seems to gives the phrase more freedom once you play it the right way again.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2012-02-02 15:55
All ways that you can break up a difficult passage help you get the finger cycles you need. One way is to pace a fermata on the first note of every beat, allowing you to hesitate and look for your next move. When that's working, place the fermata over the 2nd note, etc.
Play the passage in a dotted rhythm....
Bob Phillips
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2012-02-02 19:49
my teacher has me play long-short-long-short and then short-long-short-long and then triplets and then as written.
its helps because when you play the long note it gives you time to think about the short note. if you then switch it, the long notes now become the short notes. that way all notes are covered while allowing a bit of time to think. when you have it under your fingers then you can play it as writen more smoothly.
does that make sense?
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2012-02-02 23:30
Hi Jon,
Yes -- I have student work on passages as you describe. I call it metric displacement, and it can help considerably.
I prefer students using the rhythmic variation that Janlynn is describing first. I would explain why it work differently than Janlynn, but the idea is the same. I also teach the students to be very precise with the rhythm (dotted eighth-sixteenth, sixteenth dotted-eighth) and I have them do "higher levels" of the same (eighth two sixteenth, two sixteenth eighth and eighth triplet sixteenths, triplet sixteenths eighth) as necessary.
I teach a similar technique to what Bob describes, but in which you elongate the note immediately before a problem spot in a passage that is already mostly learned. You can read about that here: http://www.joearmstrong.info/GILLET21rtf.htm
It is worth the time and effort!
James
Gnothi Seauton
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