 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Tim T
Date: 2001-07-16 16:15
OK,
what is the trick, I play long notes above high C to E, but I cannot do it at will. That or it sounds GOD awful.
That, or I hold the note, and it breaks up while I am holding it.
Got a new mouthpiece, Got, and playing stronger reeds.
I practice about every other day, and play in a band.
All to no avail!!!!!!!
Any advice appreciated!
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Author: Gretchen
Date: 2001-07-16 19:20
Which high C? The one above the staff or the second one above the staff?
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-07-16 19:34
Brace as hard as you can against the reed. If you have to, start off by actually biting the reed with your teeth just to feel how tight the embrochure must be. (This might start a bad habit, but if you do it once or twice you'll feel the difference in the embrochure and know how much you have to firm up.) I have yet to hit anything higher than a G# with standard embrochure, but that's better than what I've done before. I can go to the C above that by biting the reed.
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Author: william
Date: 2001-07-16 21:27
For best results, practice EVERY day, is suggested. Instead of relying totally on "biting" to get to the upper range, also try forming an EEEEE arch with your tongue--like a cats hiss. Keep at it--they will come, although they may always sound a bit like "holloween." Good Clarineting (up there)!!!!!
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Author: jenna
Date: 2001-07-16 21:49
As my band director says, "Raise those eyebrows!" Seems to work for us...
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2001-07-16 22:12
NOOOO!! DON'T BITE!!! Bad bad bad habit! It is NOT necessary to bite to play higher notes--quite the opposite, really let the reed vibrate, let yourself feel it vibrate. A slightly higher tongue helps, but a too-tight embouchure will only contribute to a "God-awful" sound--keep the "EE" syllable, let the reed vibrate, and blow FAST wind from down low, and lots of it. HEAR the note. This is VERY important--you must be able to hear in your mind, the pitch you want to play. Sing it. Imagine it, sing it, then play it, and stay relaxed. Imagine the sound you want, too, and play the high C with your best sound, then go up chromatically one note at a time, keeping a full timbre. You embouchure should be *steady*, but not clamping.
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Author: Pam
Date: 2001-07-16 22:23
I agree with Suzanne. You need to stay relaxed. If you've got a decent set-up the notes should come.
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Author: Jessica
Date: 2001-07-16 23:40
Oh, I have all too much experience with this problem. I was having a very similar problem to yours & initialy, biting helped it a lot. Unfortunately it became habit forming & I started to bite *all* the time & then the high notes wouldn't come out. My instructor examined my embochuer (sp?) & determined that they would not come out because I was biting so hard it was preventing the reed from vibrating (not to mention creating a painful dent in my lower lip : ) I have discovered (the hard way, unfortunately) that good embocheur (like Suzanne said) & good air support will get me all the way up to the double C without any problem (except my E occasionally making the annoying jump up to A -- this is, of course, after daily practice for a few months. Daily practice and good air support are definite musts if you want to play up in the altissimo range!
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Author: Meri
Date: 2001-07-16 23:53
Getting the higher notes:
Usually the problem is 1) that you are not using enough air speed to get those notes, or 2) that you are cutting off the air supply unconsciously either at the embouchure or at the waist. (or both)
But then, most of the time, if you are having a problem with your playing, it's probably air.
Meri
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-07-17 01:00
1)Half tone hole technique is a usual way that teachers teach.
This is not a tentative technique but one that should bebome customary.
(Fingering chart does not tell everything.) This topic was discussed before on this BBS.
2)Harmonics training is very useful to get embuchure control with or without the use of register key.
3)To know how small a biting force is necessary, play C2 or B2 and suddenly relax as you may think too much. You will be astonished how much you can relax and still emit the tone with much more cleaner quality.
The most important thing may be to think it easy(piece of cake), not difficult. This makes us very relaxed. IMHO.
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Author: SALT
Date: 2001-07-17 03:08
to add to what jenna said about raising the eyebrows, also try positioning yourself towards the edge of the chair with a straight back, place your left foot a little under the chair so that the heel is raised and only the ball of the foot is touching. Keep the right foot in front of the chair and flat on the ground. When you play the high notes it helps to push your right big toe into the floor. I don't know why this works but the advice was given to our entire clarinet section by someone who came in to help us with a piece we were working on for state qualifiers and it worked for me. Unfortunately we barely missed qualifying for state, but I got a good tip from it!
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-07-17 03:49
I didn't mean for him to KEEP biting!! But I'm not a fast habit-former. I did it enough to just know what it sounded and/or felt like. I'm working on doing it without any teeth whatsoever, and so far it's working.
Sorry for the inconvenience. I'd better start raising my eyebrows some more!!
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2001-07-17 05:09
I just have to add, that biting is a "quick-fix" to the high-note problem, and it is very tempting, but in the long run it causes much more problems. I find that I can play up to double C with a steady, yet quite relaxed embouchure, and it even sounds and speaks better that way too. This came after a lot of practice and a decision to trust that I really did not need to put pressure on the reed for the note to speak. (My teacher said it over and over but I didn't trust or believe her!) What Hiroshi said--to tell yourself that it is easy to play high, has also been useful for me, because, in fact, it IS easy, if you just let it be so. Okay I just had to put that in. I have had to unlearn biting and it takes forever, and I flip out when I hear someone say that! (One of my students' band director, a trumpet player, told her to do it, and I just about screamed!)
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Author: Gretchen
Date: 2001-07-17 18:11
K, basically...I agree with everything Susanne says. Listen to her. She's very smart. haha.
Whatever you do, DON'T BITE. It will only make your problem worse. Biting causes problems since it makes you mentally worried which causes you to tighten your entire body making your fingers tight, and making your lip hurt. Second of all, biting cuts off the air that is needed tomake the reed vibrate. How can your reed vibrate to the best of it's ability if your are squeezing it against the mouthpiece? How can your air get past your reed and into the clarinet to make it vibrate if there's not a lot of space? And if you bite, the sound quality that you produce is very thin and what my teacher calls, "wanky."
My advice to you, is if you are trying to play, keep your head up...you may be restricting air flow by accidentally puttin gyour head down. The most important thing you need is air when you play, so don't forget to blow.
Also, lets say you're playing a high D, then think of playing the note as if you were playing it an octave lower. Open your throat by saying "ah" when you play, and relax. None of this comes right away...it comes with a lot of practice, but it'll come. Those high notes are scary, but don't give up. good luck.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-07-18 13:14
Meri says air speed. I agree. More air pressure (sithout restrictions) = more air speed. Practice blowing up balloons, then those little water balloons, then those long thin ones. You need abdominal muscles. Do sit-ups, or are they called curls now.
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2001-07-20 00:49
Yes - air pressure, the air support. The <b>control</B> that you give the air that you are putting through the horn. That support must be firm, whether you play softly or otherwise. That support comes from the abdominal muscles that Gordon talks of. I thijnk this is most important.
Do not bite!!! Please.
Yes, practice everyday, too. That's the way to build what you need.
Good luck to you, Tim,
Tim2
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Author: Tim Sites
Date: 2001-07-26 21:17
First, back off on the hard reeds. Hard reeds are for after you have strengthened your embouchure, not a means to do so.
Second find a note you can play easily, first time, every time with a "mf" volume and no sudden attack. (I don't care if it is an open G) Play long tones on this note and concentrate on the tone quality.
Gradually let the note get softer. Concentrate on exactly how your embouchure is set and how the air pressure "feels". Stop. Take the horn out of your mouth, then try to play again at the softer volume -instantly- with no attack. Keep repeating this until you can start the note at a "ppp" with no sound of an attack. Once you have mastered that note, move to a higher note.
Keep doing this until you reach the upper register. The point is to learn what it feels like when you are playing a note and be able to remember this before you start the note.
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