 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mirko996
Date: 2016-07-11 20:36
Hi everyone, I have to ask my trouble.
I tried to play the altissimo register pianissimo using the crescendo, i tried different kind of exercise and i tried different mounthpiece, reeds, clarinet type, i tried everythink but do you think is it possible do a dynamics or play pianissimo without squeaks? I mean to start to D6 and reach F#6 (not G6 because i think it's less important, for now) using standard fingering and not to use strange or inusual fingering, the basic.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-07-12 02:19
Firstly, I'd say there are no "unusual fingerings." The first one listed in the chart is not necessarily "the right one" for a given situation. The fingering you use depends a lot on what note you are coming from and/or what note you are leading into.
That aside, getting more comfortable with the mechanism of what is happening as you move into higher octaves is most important. I would say that you should try over blowing from (for example) the "C," ledger line below the staff to the "G" sitting on top of the staff WITHOUT THE OCTAVE KEY. This pair is one of the easier ones as well as those moving higher to throat "F"/high "C." Doing this is a matter of puffing just a little more air to move to the next register. Once you can do this with some ease, apply the same "feel" to the altissimo notes (perhaps even try fifth line "F" to "D," top of staff "G" to "E," etc. It will be the same feel. I think your notes in the altissimo will become more stable this way.
Making the dynamic adjustment then become regulating the embouchure to accommodate less air but with the focus to achieve the appropriate register.
.....................Paul Aviles
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Author: Mirko996
Date: 2016-07-12 04:58
So (to be simple):
I start to C4 and with throat I try to reach G5 without octave key. After I did that I play G5 using the same fingering and I try to do E6?
Is it true or I'm confusing?
In velocity, when i do altissimo must I press octave key?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-07-12 07:18
When playing normally (not practice techniques) you utilize the octave key (and the usual fingerings).
Ok, I meant that you should practice moving from the lower "C" to the "G" above the staff slowly, and over and over again until this becomes easy. Then try the "D" to the "A" ..... slowly; over and over again. ETC.
The point is to develop a clear sense of accomplishing this movement and knowing exactly how it feels when this can be done naturally and cleanly.
Then you can apply that to the next octave. Same idea.
I'm NOT a tongue position guy. I advocate using your abdominal muscles alone to push more air for the upper neighbor. This difference in air speed as actually what happens when you concentrate the air more moving your tongue higher. I just prefer not to do it this way but that is your choice of course.
As for the throat. We mistakenly refer to the actions of the lower part of the tongue as the throat (the tongue is a LOT bigger than most of us give it credit). There are no muscles in your throat (save for the voice box), but that's not what most clarinetists refer to when they say throat.
Just thought you should know.
.....................Paul Aviles
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Author: Mirko996
Date: 2016-07-12 13:17
Thanks to help me, i have to use the abdminal then...
I should know that, but, unfortualy I had a teachers who didn't help me very well...
I love clarinet, and I cannot stop to play it! But sometime make me fell very very very bad for these things, the altissimo notes i'm able to do but I do this mistake... For now i'll use the exercise you told me, when I work and I earn some money I'll go to a competent teacher who help me, because I don't want to waste years of exercise and love because i'm not able to manovrate the altissimo register...
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Author: cearnsh
Date: 2016-07-12 15:49
I wouldn't say 'I have to use the abdominal then...'. That's one possible approach, but it's certainly not the only way to control the altissimo.
The oral cavity acts as a resonator on the other side of the reed from the clarinet. It may not be directly involved in the production of sound but it does influence the way the reed vibrates, and so the position and shape of the tongue can have a significant effect on how clearly altissimo notes will speak and how controllable they will be.
The 'no register/speaker key' exercise is indeed very useful in this regard. An alternative starting approach is to play high C (C6) as normal using the speaker key. You should then be able to release the speaker key while maintaining C6, and then play a descending legato scale through the clarinet register. At some point you'll probably drop back to the chalumeau, but with practice and experimentation with air pressure and/or tongue position you should be able to get all the way down to mid-stave B. Once you can do that easily, controlling the harmonics to jump into the clarinet register without the speaker key will be much easier. The same principles translate into the altissimo as well.
With regard to the high altissimo, attempting to control it simply with pressure is unlikely to succeed. Joseph Marchi's book "Etude des Harmoniques et des Suraigu" (unfortunately only available in French AFAIK) discusses that a reduction in pressure is needed in order to access the higher range. So something other than abdominal pressure alone is needed to control these notes. A combination of correct pressure and oral cavity shape is likely to be what works here.
Chris
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-07-12 17:22
cearnsh wrote:
> A combination of correct pressure and oral
> cavity shape is likely to be what works here.
>
To say nothing of a responsive reed.
As we climb progressively higher in the clarinet range, we need progressively more responsive, better balanced reeds to maximize the result. Almost any reed that vibrates will do in the chalumeau. By the time you reach D6 and especially E6 and higher, the reed has become a much more critical part of the system.
So, I'd expand Chris's suggestion to say "A combination of correct pressure, oral cavity shape and responsive equipment is likely to be what works here."
Karl
Post Edited (2016-07-12 21:26)
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Author: JHowell
Date: 2016-07-12 18:08
I dunno, I'm kind of a tongue position guy. Controlling oral cavity size and shape makes controlling dynamics, pitch, and timbre so much easier in every register, I don't know why you wouldn't. Smaller oral cavity makes pianissimo altissimo possible without biting.
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