The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2021-05-06 04:05
Thanks for posting the Schumann Romance played by Todd Levy. I am ashamed to say I've never heard him before.......wonderful music making. The Milwaukee Symphony and Sante Fe Opera Orchestra are indeed lucky to have him.
Obtaining a rich, full, resonant sound is NOT a matter of equipment (once you have it, equipment may give you a little more here and there but you need IT first).
It is "HOW YOU BLOW" that produces a wonderful sound.
I've said things to students until recently about having a minimum acceptable air pressure in the oral cavity (maybe almost hoping for some device like a tire pressure gauge to show what that is). But that isn't right. It does not take into account varying dynamics, only playing at top volume (really really friggin loud). So what is really going on?
There was a post some years ago from Tony Pay who posited that the entire oral cavity (size and shape) plays a key role in the resonance of the the sound wave that is in the clarinet. At first I was a bit incredulous of that bit of information. Now I have come to believe it is even much more than that.
When we are blowing into a horn there is a completely open system that reaches down to the bottom of our lungs. It seems to me now that what gives the key control to the sound wave in the horn is to have a "FIRM BASE" for the lungs to sit on. In other words you need to firm up the "meat" in your mid-section to create more of a reflective surface for the entire system to work right.
You do this by creating opposition of forces between your diaphragm and your abdominal muscles. One video I saw recently described how your mid-section feels when you cough. And then the woodwind person said you re-create that feeling when you blow. One way I've described it is to firm up your belly in the same way you would if you just asked your little brother to punch you in the stomach (you wouldn't do that sort of thing leaving yourself flabby and defenseless!).
Teachers in the past have gone as far as to say, "you blow the s**t out of it." But the answer is that it just has to "feel that way."
.................Paul Aviles
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McDonalds Eater |
2021-05-06 01:26 |
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Re: Getting a richer, more colorful sound new |
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Paul Aviles |
2021-05-06 04:05 |
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Ed Palanker |
2021-05-06 18:02 |
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EbClarinet |
2021-05-06 20:02 |
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Bob Barnhart |
2021-05-06 23:59 |
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brycon |
2021-05-07 00:15 |
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