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Re: keeping fingers moving exactly in time

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-07-14 17:56

SunnyDaze wrote:

> My breathing is still working in the new way and it's been four
> days now. It's pretty interesting learning to breathe a whole
> new way after 40-odd years. :-)
>
Well, no, the way you were breathing when playing is what was new after 40 years. "I used to take a kind of forced breath in and then force the air out while playing, and my breath used to stutter without my being able to smoothly control it. I was articulating with my diaphragm instead of my tongue, which I know is not right, and I couldn't turn the articulation off, even when I was meant to play legato," wasn't how you were breathing during your life pre-clarinet, and you probably weren't articulating consonants in your speech with your diaphragm. So, you're working to break habits and misunderstandings that are relatively recent.

One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was just to sing a passage first, then try to play it the same way. The mechanics aren't totally the same, because reeds and vocal chords don't respond the same way, but the basic acts of blowing and articulating are more similar than they are different and can serve as a good starting point.

Karl

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