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Re: Help Mastering a Passage

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2021-10-03 00:31

Perhaps the biggest lesson to be learned from this example is that the 32nd note passage ought not to look unfamiliar. That is because it is a B minor seventh, flat five harmonic pattern played in a downward direction into the lower register. This pattern is frequent in music and ought to be a familiar part of every clarinetist's daily practice routine.

The 32nd note series can be loosely identified as a B minor seventh, flat five harmonic pattern. Anther reason why clarinetists should include chord and extended chord patterns (jazz and commercial as well as classical) in their daily arpeggio practice.

The 32nd note passage does not contain any of the usual mechanical challenges that limit technique. No sliding of fingers off keys or change of fingering on the same note or difficult contrary motion in the fingers. On the contrary, the note sequence in the passage is idiomatic to the clarinet and should fall easily under the fingers. If this passage looks and feels formidable, it is likely that you are not practicing the right scale and arpeggio patterns in your daily routine. To a player practicing the Baermann or Jettel scales or the Stark Arpeggios and Thurston Passage Studies regularly this passage should require only a few hours practice to get up to performance standard.

Try chunking and transposition techniques to tame the passage. Transpose the passage into all keys. The B minor, seventh, flat five pattern is common enough that it is worth memorizing transcendentally. Then to help the fingers remember the pattern, play it in all keys as a series of very distinct dotted eighth and sixteenth notes. After doing this for a few weeks. your fingers will lead the way fearlessly and surely. It might also help to look up some of the pentatonic scale patterns that jazz players like to use. These have a similar feel to the fingers and should also be practiced in all keys.

One excellent compendium of chordal structures to practice daily is Joseph Viola's Chord Studies, vol. 2 (for saxophone but easily extended throughout the clarinet range). When these same patterns appear in music, they will already feel natural under the fingers because they have been regularly practiced.

Post Edited (2021-10-03 02:33)

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Help Mastering a Passage new

SecondTry

2021-10-02 22:27

Re: Help Mastering a Passage new

seabreeze

2021-10-03 00:31