Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-10-30 05:13
zhangray4 wrote:
> Karl, I do find that my reeds are stiff and not vibrating as
> they used to. I was concerned that I may have been applying too
> much pressure on the reeds. But when I use less pressure on the
> reeds, the notes go flat generally, but the sound becomes
> better, like it resonates better.
If the sound really is better, the drop in pitch is probably something to deal with as a separate issue. If you've been biting the pitch up, it would explain your sore lip and fatigue. But your teacher is in a better position than anyone here to say if the sound is better or more spread.
In your original post you wrote:
> I'm playing a
> Vandoren M30 (which is probably pitched at 440 or perhaps even
> lower) and on the barrel that came with my R13 (66 mm).
You write farther down about working hard to keep up at A=440, so maybe your barrel or the M30 *is* causing the pitch to be too low. It's time to do some detective work about the pitch without relating it necessarily to your embouchure. First off, has your teacher tried playing your M30? Is she flatter with it than with her own mouthpiece? If so, the M30 is at least part of the problem. If not, you've eliminated one cause.
If there's a store in your area that sells barrels (increasingly rare even in big cities) that you can try, you could go with a pocket tuner and test your pitch with a 65 mm barrel, whether or not you intend to buy anything on that visit. If the pitch improves, you probably should give the store first preference if you later manage to put together the money to buy it. Even better, if your teacher has a 65 mm barrel that you can test with a tuner (most of us have at least one barrel that's shorter and one longer than the one we normally use), it will be even easier.
> And as for reed strength, my increase in reed strength kind of
> occurred naturally. I was playing on Vandoren V12 #3.5 until I
> felt it was just too soft. So I moved up. I know the reed
> strength is kind of high though: is that a big problem I should
> be concerned about?
Not necessarily. If your reeds lately have felt stuffy and unresponsive, the profile of the reed you're using may not be ideal for your fairly open, long facing. You can experiment with other reeds, or you can learn (it's not a quick process and ruins a lot of reeds) what to do to re-shape (adjust) the profile. Your teacher can help you with this. The reed needs to vibrate freely without stuffiness but also without closing even under a little too much embouchure pressure.
> I always tuned flat, but I
> was always fine on my E11 France. The guy at the shop said it
> was normal since a student horn usually tunes sharp.
This was once true and probably still is for entry level clarinets - the kind that are used in rental programs for beginners. I've never played an E11, but it isn't an entry level clarinet. Do you still have it? How long is *its* barrel. Maybe it was 65 mm (one way Buffet could make it sharper for students).
> Not
> to mention my tuning B and C (B4 and C5) are usually sharp but
> some throat tones and altissimo notes can get flat if I don't
> work hard to bring it up.
>
This tendency of Series 13 mouthpieces is one of the main reasons I gave up using them a year or so after they first came out. For one thing, I think they have deeper baffles to make the tone "darker," which gives a larger internal volume and makes the pitch lower. B4 and C5 can be brought down, if needed, by pulling the bell out a little. If you're in love with a Series 13 mouthpiece that produces flat throat notes, they can be sharpened a little by a skilled technician. But there are so many other mouthpieces available that don't produce flat throat notes that I'd personally avoid changing my instrument to compensate for the mouthpiece's pitch idiosyncrasies. Now, if it were a vintage Chedeville...
Karl
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