 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Roman
Date: 2002-05-01 20:28
Hi, I hope you can help me. Well, I'm having a real hard time playing staccato on high notes, my teacher tells me that it could be that I'm moving my tongue. I'm not sure about this because I'm only having this problem playing high C and up. What happens is that when I play these notes the sound is not clear, my teacher says that he can hear a low note in the sound something like a harmonic. I´ve tried less biting, different positions of the tongue, more or less lip.
Thanks.
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Author: Me
Date: 2002-05-01 22:06
Argh my cat just erased everything I wrote. :0) Anywaay, have you tried blowing harder? Sometimes that can help if the sound is fuzzy or if there's another note within a note. Also try putting more or less mouthpiece in your mouth...and try playing long tones while tounging.
Maybe this will help if my cat stops attacking my keyboard long enough to send it :0)
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Author: John
Date: 2002-05-01 23:52
blowing harder does help, but sometimes there are pieces with very soft and very high staccato notes.
perhaps you could look for a mouthpiece that better suits you, one that lets you have articulation with more ease?
i had a B45 and i could not make those high notes staccato for the life of me, then i recently bought a Johnston "W" mouthpiece and it is incredible.
perhaps it's the reed and ligature too...there are a lot of variables that go into it...
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Author: Kat
Date: 2002-05-02 03:03
If the sound makes a little harmonic "grunt" at the beginning, you probably need to have your air ready to vibrate the reed the moment your tongue leaves it. This can happen if you remember to keep air pressure constant, even when the tongue is ON the reed.
Also, another altissimo-aiding thing to mention is your friend, the UPPER lip.  Pressure downwards with the upper lip can help improve tone in the top register. If you have a hard time figuring out how to make this work, give it a couple of shots with a "double lip" embouchure. Then play "regularly" and see if your upper lip is better. Also check out the postings below regarding "notes above high G." Lots of good possibilities there!
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Author: Rene
Date: 2002-05-02 05:26
You have to blow relatively hard and tongue quite gently. One tends to stiffen the tongue with more are pressure, or blow too soft, when the tongue is just right. Moreover, you will have to adjust the embouchure in each range a bit.
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2002-05-02 12:55
Try a cylindrical bore instrument. Oehler or reform Boehm. The 12th is not a natural harmonic for in instrument that is multi bored IE poly-cylindrical. The 12th is the domain of the cylindrical stopped pipe.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-05-02 14:38
Mark, it is, even in a multiple cylindrical bored instrument. Otherwise you'd get an octave, and then it's not a clarinet.
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Author: jez
Date: 2002-05-02 15:25
Roman,
I think the thing that needs attention is not the staccato, but the high-note production. If you are restricting the sound in order to get the notes out, you won't have the freedom you need to let the notes speak as you want when you're tonguing them; in order for the note to speak freely when you release the air-column the embouchure must be as free as it was lower down.
jez
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