 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: JasonOlney
Date: 2015-10-16 01:38
Howdy all,
I've been a lurker for a while and have just started offering shady opinions. I think I'm ready to post a question that's almost certainly already been addressed. 
I'm an advanced clarinetist but I've been out of school long enough for some weird bad habits to find their way back. My endurance, projection and pitch have all started to suffer despite my (admittedly somewhat infrequent) long tones. I think that the root lies in my approach to voicing. I think whatever I'm doing is causing everything else about playing to be much harder than is warranted.
I'm requesting advice and your favorite approaches to correcting voicing OR exercises that can improve my voicing. I've just started bugles again and am doing descending long tones but I can do more.
Thanks everyone!
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2015-10-16 01:53
Don't know if this is what you're looking for, but I find it beneficial to practice register jumping without using the register keys.
One exercise I like is to play a throat A, ten put all your fingers down and slur up to the long B in the clarion, but not using the register key. Then slur to A, then C, A, C#, etc. requires good air support and voicing
Another exercise is starting on low C, play a C. Then without using a register key, play the G a twelfth up. Then play the G a register up (with the register key), then play an E above that(not raising your forefinger like you normally would for altissimo). Then finger the altissimo E correctly, then play the A without putting the C# key down.
Do C,G,E,A. Then C#,G#,F,A#. Etc. eventually move up to playing all of the overtime series from the low fingering without ANY register key help.
But I find the first exercise I listed to be more beneficial in helping my air support. If you can slur from A to any clarion note, you'll DEFINITELY hit them properly when you use the register keys.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: JasonOlney
Date: 2015-10-16 02:20
I call that second exercise bugling because it's sort of like playing trumpet partials. I like the first one! I'll try that once I get back to my horn. Thanks!
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2015-10-16 02:32
Do what sfalexi suggests. I start on Low E and work up chromatically. Play low E, hit the register key quickly and release. Hold the B as long as possible (8 counts?). Then 'lip' back down (vocalize) to the low E. Try again on the Low E, go to B, then try to vocalize up to the next harmonic, G (top line...seems like lifting your left hand ring finger can help you up to it until you can just vocalize it)...go back down, B, then low E...etc, etc to the next harmonic.
Proceed up chromatically.
I've always found the Low G to D the hardest to hold.
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-10-17 01:02
Good advice all around. If you'd like to have a book of exercises designed to train you to voice consistently and evenly throughout all the registers of the clarinet, I suggest clarinet virtuoso Alessandro Carbonare's "Clarinet Tone: Art and Technique, 100 exercises to improve homogeneity." This takes you through the entire normal clarinet range from lowest E to highest C in a number of "vocalization" exercises that develop embouchure suppleness and tonal resonance.
Avaliable online from Amazon and other sources (Vandoren sheet music, etc). The original Italian title is "Clarinetto il suono: arte e tecnica--100 esercizi giornalieri per miglioranrne l'omogeneita." Published by Riverberi Sonori.
Post Edited (2015-10-17 06:38)
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Author: JasonOlney
Date: 2015-10-17 01:52
Seabreeze,
That book sounds amazing! I'll order it now.
I appreciate all of the advice. I figure that there are few things more important to spend a bit of time on other than tone and voicing.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2015-10-17 04:20
JasonOlney, when you first spoke of bugling I thought you were likely talking about a different exercise that actually does use the same overtone sequence as a bugle. It involves fingering a low E and blocking off the bell so that it is almost, but not quite airtight. An easy way to do this is to cross your legs while wearing long pants and use your calf. The lowest note you'll likely get is the 2nd partial, which also happens to be the first note of Taps.
Reveille is a fun second challenge and starts on the same note: http://www.music.army.mil/music/buglecalls/reveille.asp
edit: Actually it's the 3rd partial, which is the second note of the standard "bugle scale", not that it matters for the sake of the exercise. It's only interesting in terms of the overall structure of the harmonic series. Leonard Bernstein outlines the history of Western Music hilariously in terms of the overtone series in this fun short video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt2zubHcER4
Anders
Post Edited (2015-10-17 04:31)
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2015-10-19 15:41
Quote:
I start on Low E and work up chromatically. Play low E, hit the register key quickly and release.
Another effective manner to do this is to play C6 without the register key and descend, slurring, slowly, as low as you can go. If you support well it helps to really isolate the voicing -- and you can "feel" the impact of doing it properly. Most players can descend from C6-F#5 or E5, but then it crashes down to the low register.
That is one of my introductory exercises into voicing.
Playing all the partials available from a given fingering (as sfalexi describes) is also great.
Nellsonic's description is perfect when you want to isolate and explore "discrete" tongue positions in application.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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