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Tuning the clarinet

Author: lp_427
Date: 2015-06-23 09:45

Hola. This may be a rookie question, I know, but it's something I've been struggling with.

After playing bass clarinet for about a year or so, I decided to come back to clarinet, and it is then I realize that my skills are definitely not up to par anymore. One of the biggest issues would be of playing in tune; I of course understand the basics of tuning in the sense of the "push in or push out" stuff, which is fine when tuning to the B flat tuning note, but my bigger problem lies within the whole range of the instrument instead.

Say, my concert B flat could be perfectly in tune (tuned to 440 Hz), but when checking other notes, a uncomfortably large amount of them are sharp or flat, never one or the other only. Typically the high mid-range and throat tone notes would be severely sharp while the altissimo notes are almost always flat without fail (high C above the staff is the worst; it is very noticeable as well and overall sounds horrible; the D above serves no issue). Mind that I've tuned the concert B flat and know that regular human beings shouldn't be pulling in or out to every note.

I do typically use vowel voicings and slight throat and embouchure adjustments to help with tuning, but they've only helped me go so far.

I know there may not be much left anymore, but I'm open for any advice that anyone will be willing to share. I've been practicing tediously with high hopes of continuing music in college, but with problems like this I can see things won't be so going so far if they aren't fixed soon.

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