 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Ben Shaffer
Date: 2018-12-05 22:58
I'm an older casual Clarinet player.
here to for I've been playing in several church bands and as you'd expect most of the Music is played fairly slow.
of recent I've been playing with a local Community band.
The pieces played general are faster and often you play fast runs.
MY clarinet is a composite Vito V40 all things being equal, me practicing, a vanDoren M13 MP, a good ligature and good barrel, would you think buying an upgrade clarinet would offer me easier playing faster keys?
I've got my eye on a used Selmer Soloist.
I don't think its a narrow bore Horn and would that make a difference?
The Selmer is had a refurb and is not very expensive
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-12-05 23:25
There is the possibility that your keys need some spring tension adjustment and a good oiling (usually should be done once a month or so........according to Bill Brannen).
You may be happier with a better horn in terms of timbre, response and tuning, but all things being equal, speed is........technique.
Of course as Anthony Pay pointed out the only fast thing we do with fingers is trilling or turning around at the end of a scale. Otherwise it is just one finger, then another, then another. It is an issue of coordination. I have grown much more fond of S-L-O-W, deliberate practice as I get older. And by that I mean play the troublesome passage over and over; ten times, thirty times, a hundred times; PERFECT and slow. Then just try it close to or at tempo and notice if there is improvement (or how much improvement there is). There is the typical regimen of moving the metronome up a couple clicks at a time, but I much prefer the "slow and jump" method.
.................Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-12-05 23:29
Ben Shaffer wrote:
> I'm an older casual Clarinet player.
> would you think buying an upgrade clarinet would offer me
> easier playing faster keys?
Not if your Vito is in good repair. It's possible that another clarinet would be ergonomically more comfortable for you - weight and key placement and shape are different from one clarinet to another, but you'd have to try a lot of clarinets to know. There are other advantages to higher-end instruments - ease of response, evenness of response and intonation over the scale, to some extent more refined tone quality. But fingers and how you exercise them (through practice) determine your limits on technical speed.
Karl
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: RKing
Date: 2018-12-06 03:35
I am also an older clarinetist and I echo what Paul says above.
After more than 50 years of playing, I can sight read much better now than I did in my teens - but my fingers just don't quite get the message as fast anymore. So when the band sight reads a new piece, I often struggle to get through it.
But give me that music and let me work out the kinks, slowly and deliberately, with a decent amount of practice. Then I can carry my part very well.
Buy a new clarinet? Sure, but only if you really want a new horn and think it will help. Sometimes a new instrument is just what the doctor ordered to give our enthusiasm a boost, even if it doesn't help our technique.
Ron
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2018-12-08 06:44
IMHO, the keywork on a modern Leblanc (like the V40) is some of the better keywork available on a clarinet unless you get into very pricey instruments. The V40 keywork is the same as was used on the professional clarinets (at least I can't tell the difference). It is unplated of course, but I see that as an advantage.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tom H
Date: 2018-12-08 09:57
"Step-up" clarinets and professional clarinets are of course better (the latter being very expensive nowadays). But a good student model with all pads in good shape and all notes playing easily is something I wouldn't hesitate to use in a concert (I do keep a Selmer student model under my chair in case the Buffet R13 has an unfixable problem on the spot).
If you plan on playing with the group for years, I would advise copying the harder parts and starting a booklet of band parts from that group to regularly practice. Conductors tend to repeat stuff that works (and that they like) as time rolls on.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
