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Crossing the break legato

Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2019-04-17 17:10

Hi,

I wondered if I could ask another question about technique?

I'm trying to learn to cross the break legato at the moment for my grade 3 pieces. The main difficult one is Georgie, by Emma Johnson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjDWeFHHlI

I'm having trouble because when I cross the break from crotchet E to a crotchet high C, or anything like that, the reed starts to shriek.

It was worst with a Vandoren classic 1.5, and I moved to a Vandoren V12 2.5 which really helped. With a Vandoren V12 no3 the shriek goes away entirely, but I am not strong enough to play such a hard reed yet.

The middle ground that I have found is that if I use the 2.5 reed and stablise the tip of the reed very very lightly with the tip of my tongue as I cross the break then the shrieking doesn't happen and then there is no silence between the E and the C as I cross over. It works a treat actually.

However, later in the piece I have to do the same but going from a crotchet E to a quaver high C, and I have to stop the note clearly after the quaver C. I'm not nimble enough to tongue the reed very gently to cross the break and then more definitely after the high C, so my technique doesn't work there.

I just wondered if you think I have the right idea or if I should be doing something entirely different?

I'm playing a J&D Hite D mouthpiece on a Yamaha Custom CX clarinet.

Thanks!

Sunny

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