Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-10-27 18:20
I wouldn't even consider countering anything Ed P suggests - he's far more competent as a bass player than I am. But because I'm not as competent and certainly not as confident when I play bass, I may have experienced the kind of problem you're having more recently than Ed has.
Even on a soprano clarinet, one way to get, or to force, the kind of multiphonic sound you describe is by taking just a little too much reed in your mouth. Of course, too little reed will constrict the sound, but too much, right in the borderline area between full sound and full-out squawk, can cause that kind of instability. Just a possibility.
I tend to have problems with actual squeaks (maybe not quite your problem but maybe from a similar cause) on attacking the lowest notes on a bass - E to maybe F# or G. I can minimize it by playing double lip, which is how I play soprano clarinet. But I can't keep that up on bass - I probably don't practice it enough and it's just easier to revert to single lip on bass. But a more secure solution for me is to start the air, holding the reed still with my tongue, before I release the reed to "attack" or start the sound. I can get a very clean start at any dynamic this way. The first time I used it was for the bass entrance at the beginning of La Valse, which the conductor wanted to be almost inaudible. I'm doing the same thing this week for the much louder attacks in the first couple of scenes of Bernstein's Trouble In Tahiti.
I'm fairly sure that, when I try to blow and attack all at once on those low notes, I'm probably pinching slightly because of the motion of my tongue on the much larger reed. When I pre-start the air (much like a gong player primes the gong before he actually strikes the note) it also pre-sets my tongue (maybe going back to Ed's point) and embouchure position and eliminates the cause of the squeaks. If your multiphonics have the same root cause, that's another possible avenue to try.
Karl
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