 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: snilsson
Date: 2013-10-11 09:50
From an early age we are bombarded by marketing messages taking advantage of our insecurities and telling us to buy new and shiny things. Let me start off by suggesting two alternative strategies for improving our clarinet playing.
1. Learn how to evaluate and test equipment.
If you know the basics of clarinet acoustics, you don't even need to test most clarinet gimmicks. You can tell beforehand that they are sure to disappoint, because they simply can't work.
Testing audio equipment is typically difficult because our hearing is highly subjective. But fortunately there are simple, cheap and effective procedures for testing clarinet intonation, resistance, response and tone quality at different dynamic levels. You should learn how to do this. It is really important; if you're instrument and setup let's you down in any one of these areas, you will have to work much harder to create music.
I'm familiar with just one book that covers this well: The Educator's Guide to the Clarinet by Tom Ridenour. I'd be happy to know of other good sources for this type of crucially important information.
2. Learn about stage performance.
Our experience of a musical performance is very much influenced by the visuals. That's one reason why clarinet gimmicks that doesn't affect the playing may still be worthwhile. But there are much better ways to achieve this.
It saddens me to see many classical musicians, who have often spent decades perfecting their playing, completely fail to interact with their audiences. Just an hour spent with a competent director would do more for their performances than ten more years of practicing the clarinet. It may be painful to acknowledge and work on your biggest weaknesses, but that's the one strategy that offers the biggest opportunities for improvement.
Any more suggestions? (Gimmicks forbidden.)
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2013-10-11 21:04
Re. #1, I would never make a big change or buy expensive equipment without having a sensitive human listener giving me feedback, and in as many types of venues as possible.
IMNSHO, evaluating setup changes while playing the instrument is usually a poor thing to do unless the change is striking, and even then it's not foolproof. Evaluating even high-quality recordings is a lot better, but not the end-all.
(My two cats, who both love the sound of the clarinet, are too uncritical to rely on to make fine discriminations. My fish don't seem to care one way or the other. Guess it's because they have water in their ears.)
B.
Post Edited (2013-10-11 21:12)
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