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Re: Technique

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-10-04 02:50

Returning to Sara's original post that expresses the desire to "spend some more time on pure techniqe," it may be interesting to note that there are books that isolate finger technique even more than the Klose, Langenus, Baermann "basic stuides" works we have discussed with reference to the recommendations of Spring and Morales.

One of these approaches technique quite apart from its musical connection to scales, arpeggios, intervals or the tonal system: Jost Michaels' "Methodische Schule der klarinettinstischen Grifftechnik: Systematic Approach to Clarinet Finger Technique" (avaliable from Van Cott.) In some ways this is a vast extension of the "Practical Exercises" on pages 44-48 of the Klose method or the similar exercises in the second volume of the Baerman Method in which technique is presented as finger movements in many possible combinations from one fingering postion to another. Just do the math and see how many permutations and combinations you can find, and Michaels probably has a good many of them in his book (with the exception of very wide intervals, which for some reason he avoids).

Practicing this sort of thing requires extreme motivation and concentration (as Baermann says, it is tedious and "dry") but there is no doubt that it will increase security, consistency, and confidence in performing passages that could scarcely be sight-read--especially those across the throat to clarion registers and the clarion to altissimo reqisters. Technique gained in this way will apply to anything that can be written using the chromatic tone set, whether it is arranged by serial atonal formulas, based on exotic scales, or a scattering of random. aleatory notes.

Michaels' book is not for the faint of heart but for those willing to leave their comfort zone of just scales, arpeggios, and scales in intervals, it is a worthy challenge.

By the way, going back to the Baermann again, I recently attended a master class by Jose Franch Ballester (he was in town to play "Perriot Lunaire") and he said he is spending more and more time practicing scales in intervals and just intervals themselves at various speeds to achieve equality of finger motion, perfect legato, and smoothness of tone. He emphasized that the motion of the fingers moving from one set of holes and keys on the instrument to another was absolutely fundamental in determining the quality of tone (somethng we may be inclined to forget). I asked him if the Baermann was a good place to start with this, and he said "absolutely." I got the impression that he would also endorse the methods Morales recommends and uses to build technique that have been mentioned in this thread.

Post Edited (2018-08-10 07:04)

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sarawashere

2015-09-30 18:20