 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: natalie1011
Date: 2017-09-30 04:45
I normally play alto, tenor, or baritone saxophone. I recently decided to learn clarinet, and I'm finding it hard to find a good position for me to use on the mouthpiece. I think my hardness on my alto saxophone reed is 2.5, and I have both 2.5 and 3.0 hardness reeds for my clarinet. I have been toying around with it for about a half hour and found that one reason for the squeaks was the fact I wasn't completely covering the holes, but now I'm finding it depends on how I have my mouth positioned on the mouthpiece.
I'm not having any trouble playing higher notes on the clarinet (after looking up a fingering chart), but the trouble comes from attempting lower notes.
Is there any saxophone and clarinet players out there?
Also, if it helps any, I first played flute for 3 years, then I taught myself alto saxophone, then I played baritone saxophone for 2 years, now I am currently playing alto saxophone (it has been 1 year) and I'm trying to teach myself Bb clarinet.
Thank you!
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-09-30 06:10
Hi Natalie - It is often so much easier to go from clarinet to the saxes. The embouchure is a major concern for me. Can I suggest for you to take a few lessons from either a good doubler or a clarinetist.
If money is short try playing long tones, starting with low E, the lowest note on the horn with a double lip embouchure. Meaning that the upper lip covers your teeth and your lower lip also covers your teeth as well. Then play the low E for about 30 seconds softly, than F, F#, G, and do a chromatic scale, one octave, for about 3 weeks. After that play the same notes, but start at p < F > P on each note. Still using the double lip embouchure.
See what happens, You should get tired, your embouchure. It's so different compared to the sax and the flute. I was pretty lucky to start off with the clarinet in the 4th grade and then in the 5th grade I picked up the alto sax , then the tenor. It was a natural switch at such a young age. I can play both equally, but I do play with a double lip embouchure on the clarinet, but not on the saxes of course. The sax embouchure is very free, light feeling, and open. Yet I've seen bad sax embouchure's with severe bite marks digging into the patches, same with bad clarinet playing. The double lip will be very painful on your lips, upper and lower lips if not done correctly, so you will know if you are doing something wrong. Kind of cool!
If you can't play the low E yet try an open G and work your way down. There is a chance that you may have a pad or pads that are bad on the clarinet. So for now lets try an open G. We kind of have to start somewhere. Then add your left thumb, F. I think you get the idea. Your left index finger is F#.
The reed strength you are using is probably OK. But I would like to know what mouthpiece you are using. Also do not forget about the clarinet leaking. If a pad or pads are leaking you WILL squeak. It only takes 1 bad pad in the upper register to screw up the hole clarinet. So make sure the horn is in top playing condition and the mouthpiece is too. Hope this helps.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2017-09-30 06:21)
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-09-30 07:33
Bob gives some good information.
One of the biggest differences between clarinet and sax for many players is the angle the mouthpiece makes to your chin. Some alto players bring the mouthpiece downward more than others, and some clarinetists play with the mouthpiece going more straight forward. But in general, the alto mouthpiece goes out straighter and a clarinet mouthpiece makes a smaller angle with (closer to) the front of the chin. As a result, you tend to have more of the top of the beak of an alto mouthpiece in your mouth. If you try consciously or unconsciously to feel your top teeth equally far down a clarinet mouthpiece's beak you may just have too much reed in your mouth.
Especially if you're having trouble controlling the lower (chalumeau) register, try keeping the mouthpiece no more than 45 degrees (halfway down from a right angle) to your chin - or even closer to your chin if you can do it comfortably - and a little less reed in your mouth. You may feel a lot less beak behind your upper teeth when you do this. Check the result by playing. Ideally, the chalumeau notes should be clear, not tubby, and not feel on the verge of squeaking.
As Bob suggests, if the trouble starts at some fairly specific point as you go down a scale from open G4, then there may be a leaky pad somewhere in that area. Small leaks can be more disabling in the low register than a twelfth higher, depending on where they are.
Karl
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2017-09-30 08:34
Natalie, Make sure your clarinet and mouthpiece are in working order. If you don't have a teacher, ask another student who is good to try your horn and mouthpiece.
- Matthew Simington
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Author: natalie1011
Date: 2017-10-01 02:47
My mouthpiece came with the clarinet - and the clarinet brand is a Bundy.
Also, thanks for all the information!
Update after reading the information, and about a half an hour later after originally posting this, I have done the double lip embouchure and I was able to reach a low E chromatically starting from a C, but I still can't seem to start from the low E. I also tried a single lip embouchure (just the bottom lip over my teeth) and I have the same results (starting from a C and chromatically moving down to an E).
-Natalie
Post Edited (2017-10-01 03:14)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2017-10-01 03:15
I took up clarinet after I'd already been playing sax.
What I will stress is find yourself a clarinet specialist teacher as opposed to a teacher whose main instrument is sax and they play a bit of clarinet as chances are they'll pass on bad habits to you.
With saxes, you're blowing the instrument down to pitch and maintaining a fairly relaxed embouchure over the basic range. But with clarinet, a lot of primarily sax players fall into the trap of playing clarinet like a sax and it's not at all the same. With clarinets, you blow the instrument up to pitch and use a much firmer (but not biting) embouchure which you need in order to keep the instrument in tune as they will want to go flat as you go higher.
And don't also fall into the common trap of having your barrel shortened to make it play in tune as this will only ruin the overall intonation of the instrument as opposed to making it play sharper evenly over its entire range.
Just as sax-to-clarinet players can have problems with being flat on clarinet, clarinet-to-sax players, especially those that pick up a soprano sax will play them like a clarinet and the tuning will go skyward as they go up if they use a clarinet embouchure.
While both sax and clarinet are classed as single reed instruments because of the mouthpiece, they're not at all related nor behave in the same way, so treat them both as the different instruments that they are.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-10-01 03:40
natalie1011 wrote:
> I was able to reach a low E chromatically
> starting from a C, but I still can't seem to start from the low
> E.
The two most likely reasons are that there is a leaky pad somewhere or that you aren't covering all the holes completely when you try to start on E (which is effectively the same as a leaky pad). You are adjusting from pressing keys on a sax to directly covering the tone holes. Someone else just a few days ago was telling me what a problem that was for him initially when he started to play clarinet after starting on alto sax.
Can you get down to E, stop blowing being careful not to move any fingers, and then re-start the E? If not, most likely something on the clarinet is leaking.
Karl
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Author: natalie1011
Date: 2017-10-01 06:56
Karl,
I tried doing that right after editing my last post, and the answer is that after achieving the low E, I stopped playing, didn't move my fingers nor mouth (just breathing through my nose) and I couldn't hit it again.
I'll get back to this tomorrow, because it's 10:55 PM, and I'll edit this post after examining my clarinet whenever I get the chance.
Edited: I examined my clarinet, but couldn't find any leaky pads... Should I bring it in to my band director and see what he can do? After all, it's a school instrument.
Thank you for the help,
Natalie
Post Edited (2017-10-02 03:03)
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Author: natalie1011
Date: 2017-10-02 03:29
Another update: I was toying around with it and I found that if I start at a B then press the last key to close all the holes and remove the top thumb key, I am able to reach the low E. I'm still working on adjusting my embouchure to playing a clarinet, but this has resulted in a clearer sound than working my way down from a low C.
-Natalie
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