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The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

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RE: Breath Support

Author: paul
Date: 1999-07-23 12:27

I have to agree about the long tone practice for air support drills. There are a bunch of references to this essential skill. Look in the other sections of this BBS for warm-up drills and other air/breath support drills.

The idea of controlling your exhaled air stream is critically important to being able to play the clarinet and play it well. Anyone can blow out air. It takes a lot of training and discipline to control the air stream on demand to meet the needs at the time. Try this small and informal drill.

1. Try open G for your drill note and blow air to get it to sound - but as softly and quietly as you can. Barely get the horn to speak at all.

2. Try to blow the open G at a reasonably comfortable volume. Not too much, now.

3. Try to blow the open G so that it's pretty loud. Don't try too hard, just make it loud enough to get your teacher or friends or parents to notice.

4. Now, vary the volume from very very quiet to very loud and back down to quiet.

You will learn to control other notes and at much finer grades of volume later, but this is the start of proper air/breath control.

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