Author: brycon
Date: 2021-08-07 19:59
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I will disagree about MOST people going flatter and speeding up while doing a crescendo. I may be talking about accomplished players where this doesn't happen.
It isn't a matter of accomplished or unaccomplished players: pushing more air through a clarinet makes the pitch go flat (the only instruments on which I haven't noticed this tendency is on some particular notes on historical clarinets).
The reason that accomplished players--whatever that means--can maintain their pitch as they crescendo is because they've practiced synchronizing minute movements in their support system, embouchure, tongue, oral cavity, etc. to counteract the clarinet's tendency. Moreover, at a very high level, these movements occur on an unconscious level.
But this point is exactly the one I'm trying to make. An expressive element of the music, such as a crescendo, isn't something added on top, such as some basil on a pizza. Rather, it has a physicality that must be precise, coordinated, and thoroughly practiced--baked in to the practicing--much like the fingers or the tongue.
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If you view them as two sides of the same coin, then every player, from beginner on up, when learning something new, will be trying to do too much at once.
The distinction is an analytical one: it's in your mind. As I said, performing an expressive nuance requires precise physical coordination, the sort that needs to be practiced in order to feel comfortable and confident. Moreover, to perform "technique," we must think expressively. "Grabbing onto" certain notes in a technical passage creates a sense of musical line but also grounds the finger technique, thinking about the direction of the air in an articulated passage relaxes the tongue, and so on.
So often, students fixate on getting things "correct" ("Tongue should hit exactly here, fingers should stay exactly this close to the keys, etc."). If, however, you can redirect this mental energy to expression, to thinking about musical shapes, colors, and so on, they often get out of their own way and unconsciously fix technical issues.
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For example, if your technical ability is good enough that you could sight read a Weber Concerto, then you can start with musical interpretations right away. If you're not up to sight reading something like the Nielesn, you'd better get the technique down solid first.
I'm sorry, but this is just lazy thinking. Alternatively, you can do everything but play less music (perhaps a bar or even a beat at a time), play a slower tempo, play different rhythmic variations, and so on. There are countless practice techniques that don't involve purposefully leaving out a fundamental component of music making until near the end of the process. Moreover, when you think about it, we never achieve technical perfection: we could always play more in tune, smoother legato connections, etc. At what arbitrary point, then, do you begin thinking about expression?
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The Clarinet BBoard
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