The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bob H
Date: 2002-07-22 02:25
who can tell me how to practice for the 3,5,7,and9thpartials???
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Author: jez
Date: 2002-07-22 13:22
I think you mean 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th harmonics.
Try playing middle B, ordinary fingering, and trying to make it overblow, without moving the fingers, by changing the lip-position and the shape of the cavity inside your mouth.
The notes available are (going up) G C E G A D, so its possible to play bugle calls all on the same fingering. Practising this is very useful for control of high notes generally. If you can get to the stage where you can choose which harmonic is going to come out you are much more likely to find the right note when you're using the 'correct' fingering.
Don't confuse this with an exercise I've seen posted here doing a similar thing with something stuffed up the bell, I've never understood the point of that.
On reflection I don't really mean 'changing the lip position' the contact point remains the same, but moving the jaw changes the angle at which pressure is applied.
All of this is ideally done without any increase in lip-pressure, the highest notes should be possible without biting and sound much better that way.
Good luck
jez
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-07-22 15:46
Bob -
Stuff a large handkerchief or swab up the bell. Finger middle B, drop your jaw and blow HARD. You're looking for the 4th space Eb. You'll find it fairly easy to play the next three harmonics above that, and maybe as many as five.
This is also a good exercise for learning to play louder. When you open up and get the air pressure up, you'll be surprised at how big the sound is when you pull the cloth out of the bell.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: jez
Date: 2002-07-22 18:18
Ken Shaw,
You say "This is also a good exercise for learning to play louder" Can you tell me what else it is good for?
jez
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-07-22 18:18
Do so at your own peril I must agree wi' JEZ; you got sumthin' stuffed up in the bell, you're begging for an explosive situation. Your lungs or your ears're gonna go. You gotta have strong fingers, big lung capacity and a certified safety helmet. Onlookers -- please keep a verrrry safe distance....
:]
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Author: jez
Date: 2002-07-22 19:22
The late, great, saxophonist Marcel Mule had a saxophone made with no holes or keys to practise his harmonic control. I wonder if anyone has ever done the same on the clarinet. I think I'd like one with just a speaker key, it's too secure in the bottom register, unlike the sax (at least when I played it)
jez
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-07-23 14:21
jez -
I think it was Sigurd Rascher who had the no-key saxophone. I was at a clinic where he brought it out and played maybe a dozen overtones on it.
I use the swab-in-the-bell exercise (which was published in the Leblanc Bell house organ by one of their Leblanc Artists) to practice putting lots of air into the instrument, to practice register control and to remind myself that the instrument plays itself as much as I play it.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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