 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Andrez444
Date: 2019-08-19 09:39
I teach a competent student who only recently has started to have issues with his top E, both in scale passages and wider intervals.
I have checked out his instrument, playing it on several occasions and it seems fine, with no sign of any additional resistance for this note to speak.
Additionally I have had the student blow through the instrument, having rotated the mouthpiece so I can finger the notes myself as he plays. This also seems to work for him, with the notes speaking well.
I would welcome any suggestions anyone may have to further assess what is happening, and possible approaches moving forwards.
Thanks in advance.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2019-08-19 12:06
Andrez444 wrote:
> I teach a competent student who only recently has started to
> have issues with his top E, both in scale passages and wider
> intervals.
>
Is it only E, or have other surrounding notes become a problem as well? What exactly is the problem - squeaking, not speaking? Is it equally severe in legato as it is in staccato?
If the instrument is mechanically OK and he has no problem when you turn the mouthpiece around, then he's changing something somewhere when he is on his own. He needs to pay attention, and you need to watch, very carefully to try to detect any change in embouchure or instrument position that he is making in anticipation of a note he has become anxious about. Repeating the exercise of blowing while you finger is a good way to model what it feels like to get the note(s) that have become anxiety producers to play more easily.
Raising his tongue slightly (to think of "eee" more than "ah") to adjust "voicing" may help, and I find for myself that keeping the instrument angle small (reed close to my chin) helps a lot, but that depends on the way his reed is set up for the rest of the range. If he plays with the instrument farther away from him normally, changing the angle for the altissimo notes shouldn't be necessary.
Mostly, watch for something he's *doing* as he approaches the problem note(s) that he isn't doing when you finger and he blows.
Karl
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Author: Dibbs
Date: 2019-08-19 13:29
Could he be touching some key and opening it slightly? Maybe the instrument feels a little unstable in his hands for that fingering and he's trying to support it somewhere.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2019-08-19 15:32
Is the sound of the failed E an undertone or a squeak?
I agree wit Karl. Based on your description the student is changing something in their embouchure without realizing it.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: vintschevski
Date: 2019-08-20 04:52
Dibbs's suggestion is worth investigating, even if just to rule it out as the cause of the problem. If the student is lifting the left index finger in a somewhat exaggerated fashion, he might be dragging down either the right hand little finger ("pinky" for some people) or the left ring finger as a sort of compensating gesture - and thereby just slightly opening another key, as Dibbs suggests.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2019-08-20 06:32
It's a little odd a competent student would develop fingering issues on just this note in both scales and intervals, but it's possible. Another idea is that the A above this E (A6 above E6) can play very easily with the same fingering, and the difference in voicing to get one or the other is relatively subtle. Maybe the student recently is voicing things differently, enough to bring out the A (or something related) instead of the E. That might not produce obvious issues or symptoms anywhere else.
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Author: JosephDvorakClarinet
Date: 2019-08-23 08:32
If squeaking, he is probably getting too grippy with the embouchure. Students often overcompensate for high notes in this way. Ideally, the embouchure should be a little relaxed, with high tongue position, high soft palate, and the "big crowd muscles" (the upper abdominal muscles--so called by a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra because they are the muscles used when projecting one's voice, such as over a big crowd) all contributing to accelerate the air. This will result in more consistent response in the upper register, and a rounder, nicer sound in this tessitura of the instrument as well.
There are a couple exercises I like to help students develop an air stream with more spin, directed into the clarinet via high voicing. One exercise is to start on E at the bottom of the staff and attempt to play each of the harmonics above it (B, altissimo G) simply by attacking the note again with altered tongue position (thinking "eee" as a previous commenter correctly said!) and faster air (accelerated by the big crowd muscles). The more the student can "dis-involve" the embouchure in this process, the better.
Additionally the student can practice playing without the register key while keeping the embouchure relaxed. A good way to begin learning how to do this is to play a low E forte, add the register key, remove it and try to hold the note and fade out. This can be repeated on chromatically ascending chalumeau notes until F at the top of the chalumeau.
The student's reed may also be a problem. An unbalanced or warped reed affects response in the high register. Try using Ridenour's ATG system to balance the reed, store reeds in the Rico reed case with humifier pack (and also in a zip-lock bag), and breaking them in slowly over a few days. Legere reeds are also a great learning tool for students, as they are always balanced and don't warp.
Lastly, there is a great fingering for high E for leaps. Take the normal high E finger, add the first finger in the left hand, the left hand throat G# key and the left low E/clarion B pinky key. Again this fingering is very full in large leaps or isolated attacks.
Best of luck!!!! :D
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Author: Luuk ★2017
Date: 2019-08-23 14:05
Lots of useful tips above, but with all due respect, the concept of 'fast air' has been discussed several times on this board, and not always favourably. (See for instance http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=433883&t=433883, http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=474234&t=474216, http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=283291&t=208541.)
The least we can say is that, for many players, the concept of 'fast air' is not very enlightening.
For me, playing in the third register became much more reliable after working on these three things:
- don't be afraid, relax, don't pinch,
- apply more more air support,
- anticipate the third register note already while playing its predecessor in a lower register.
Regards,
Luuk
Philips Symphonic Band
The Netherlands
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