 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2024-06-23 22:07
I can't be the only one....
Do you ever find some fingering that is itself not difficult were it the last note in a phrase complicated by the note that follows?
For example, a two left finger D is made somewhat more difficult for me (but certainly not hard) when a full fingered B a couple of notes higher that it follows that D in rapid tempo.
I find myself mentally prepping for the B, a note requiring more air and one where all fingers need to land close to simultaneously, sometimes at the expense of the prior note.
It's nothing that slowing the tempo down can't address but I can't be the only one sabotaged by their own mind, can I ? 
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Author: Slowoldman
Date: 2024-06-23 23:14
Yes, often it seems like the clarinet is "playing" us, rather than us playing the clarinet! And yes, that B is often the culprit.
I find it helpful to think more about where the phrase is "landing", rather than about the "problem" note or interval in isolation, and figure out ways to practice "through" the phrase (or a segment of it) to the "landing spot".
Amateur musician, retired physician
Delaware Valley Wind Symphony, clarinet 1
Bucks County Symphony Orchestra, clarinet 2 (sub)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2024-06-23 23:42
SecondTry wrote:
> I find myself mentally prepping for the B, a note requiring
> more air and one where all fingers need to land close to
> simultaneously, sometimes at the expense of the prior note.
Prepping the extra air isn't generally the problem, it's moving your fingers too soon, or more likely, some of them. Sometimes it's a matter of slowing your brain down - thinking slower - to interfere with the tension and prevent the tendency to rush.
Sometimes you can practice a small chunk of the passage - start on D and play only to one note beyond the B, keeping your fingers and hands/wrists relaxed. Do it at different speeds. Don't let tension creep back in. Once the three notes come out reliably, add another note at the end, so the B is no longer the target, but two notes past is. Now you can start to add more notes at the beginning and at the end, concentrating more on keeping your hands and fingers from tightening up and not so much on the fingerings. If you feel something tensing, go back to a smaller chunk that you play without tension and begin adding again. This approach can work for any problem interval - relax your hands over the interval itself plus one note, then add context back one or two notes at a time without tensing up.
If you find even broken down this way that something in your hand is still tense and not under control, take the time to figure out which finger(s) is/are tense and why. It's tension that causes rushing and bad note-to-note coordination.
Karl
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2024-06-24 12:07
I would venture that the way to overcome this sort of problem likely lies in shifting it more out of the realm of consciousness and more into the realm of muscle memory .The more you trust your hands to do it, the more you will allow them to relax and just get on with it. Sometimes it's all about cutting out the middle man to make business efficient.
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2024-06-24 15:37
try playing the alto clarinet part to sleigh ride at speed. this will give you next note anxiety!
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2024-06-24 18:19
In case I didn't make it clear, I have no problem finding means to address situations where the anticipation of passage difficult mentally provides obstacles on top of those presented by technical difficulty.
Slowing down tempo and repetition at a pace that produces consistent accuracy and confidence, followed by slow metronome acceleration that never occurs beyond the point of introducing (and reinforcing) mistakes is, along with many other player's approach, mine as well.
It's just a curious phenomenon of mentally psyching myself out, even in the confines of an isolated pratice space, where nobody but I can hear, that finds me understanding why some professional musicians take beta blocker medicines even when not medically indicated.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2024-06-24 23:22
As an advocate of slow practice I know when I have been wrong and need to fess up.
So there was some talk on this Board about fast playing being different than slow practice and someone volunteered this video about how to achieve both simultaneously!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ZtpOWEt4s
I wish I'd had some exposure to this concept years ago. alas and alack
................Paul Aviles
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Author: brycon
Date: 2024-06-26 05:00
Quote:
Slowing down tempo and repetition at a pace that produces consistent accuracy and confidence, followed by slow metronome acceleration that never occurs beyond the point of introducing (and reinforcing) mistakes is, along with many other player's approach, mine as well.
Playing from D to B isn't particularly difficult, so perhaps you're at a stage in your development where you don't yet have enough technical facility and dexterity not to be bothered by this combination of notes?
But perhaps your practicing habits are creating some (or exacerbating some) of the anxiety you're experiencing?
I was talking with a golf instructor the other day and asked him how he coached beginning(ish) players on their swings. He said it's important that they simply go to the driving range, hit a ton of balls, and see what their bodies naturally want to do. Once a player has established some patterns of movement, the coach can then steer them toward more efficient; repeatable; and ultimately, more successful swings.
Outside of formal education, we typically learn this way: we try things out, make mistakes, try new things out, rinse and repeat. In classical music, though, we avoid mistakes: start slow enough to make no mistakes, bump up the tempo still with no mistakes, etc. That is, we practice for perfection instead of growth.
I've found with my own students that mistake avoidance creates unnecessary anxiety about passages. And it's probably because when we avoid mistakes we don't actually address the technical hangups that were causing our initial discomfort with a passage. In contrast with the beginning golfer and golf instructor, we don't have knowledge of our patterns of movement and therefore can't fix them. If you play from D to B rather quickly and make a number of errors, you can find patterns in your errors. The left-hand ring finger, for example, is slow closing on its hole. From there, you can purposefully change your habit by doing the opposite, such as maybe trying to close the ring finger earlier than the others, giving yourself some sort of mental cue, for example "anticipate with the ring finger," or any other sort of practice technique you might like. If it doesn't work, go back to the error-making stage and try out a new hypothesis to fix it.
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2024-06-26 11:28
When we are anticipating making a mistake, there is a part of our brain affirming that outcome, while another part struggles to overcome it. The more that the "self fulfilling prophecy" side wins, the less the opposing side believes in itself. A lot of this is taking place more in the subconscious, from where it may no doubt interfere with split second motor responses and even become implanted in muscle memory as a product of the conflict . When I find myself feeling stymied by performance fear, I tell myself that what I'm worrying about doesn't really matter within the bigger picture , which generally has just enough truth in it to free me up for relaxing and doing my best, and even if it's a lie... well...whatever works. Sometimes parts of our minds are unhelpful and we just need to give them the boot, however much they try to offer themselves as somehow useful . The way to overcome obstacles is in shifting the PROBLEM> me.... to ME>problem, both emotionally and psychologically, so whatever is producing the first equation must necessarily go.
I would suggest a repetitive practice exercise, trying to note what your fingers are are doing , as brycon suggested, and above all just accepting graciously that it will take the time that it takes, but less so the more you believe it will work, as opposed to anticipating that it won't.
We all hit psychological stumbling blocks .... it's just part of the territory of being a Human Being .... so no big deal there!
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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