Author: kdk
Date: 2019-05-05 17:40
Erez Katz wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The second break, high/3rd D to high/2nd B, is a little
> challenging (at least for me) to get perfectly smooth.
> I usually relax my throat for a split second to avoid the high
> pitch artifact
Ken Lagace wrote:
> Use the side muscles like when whistling, to push
> in against the sides of the mouthpiece.
> A good exercise to master is C above the staff slurred down two
> octaves, B down etc. This can be done without changing the
> embouchure.
I'll second Ken's advice on embouchure, which can generally allow more flexibility throughout the entire range, not just when moving between high clarion and altissimo notes.
When my students have trouble crossing between clarion and altissimo in either direction it almost always turns out that they're changing something, usually embouchure pressure, from one note to the other. Nine times out of ten, when a student has trouble with D6-C6 or D6-B5 (or similar intervals) he's dropping his jaw and releasing pressure to avoid a squeak. Check that you aren't changing your embouchure - shape or pressure - as you move your fingers. Your "relaxing" your throat may even be contributing to the problem, first because your throat shouldn't be tense to begin with and second because you might be changing something in your mouth (which can change your embouchure) as well. Pay careful attention to moving only your fingers.
Of course, as Ken mentions, your fingers need to be well coordinated. If, for example, your RH index finger lifts too soon, you could get an unintended E6 in between. If everything comes up but the LH index doesn't go down cleanly or soon enough, you could get an unintended (and probably flat) G6. Do you know what pitch the "high pitch artifact" is? If simply eliminating embouchure changes doesn't help, it may (or may not) be useful to figure out where the squeak is coming from by figuring out which fingering is actually generating the harmonic.
Karl
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