 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: CGG
Date: 2002-10-23 07:13
I am going on holiday soon and won't be able to take my clarinet.
Does anyone have any suggestions of things I can do to improve my playing/prevent great decline while I am away?
I am interested in jazz and blues and am a relative beginner.
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Author: John Kelly - Australia
Date: 2002-10-23 07:29
Take your mouthpiece and reed and wrap a pillow around it when you "practice" to keep unwarranted squeaking noises to a minimum. You need to keep the lip muscle tone up.
Your chops need their daily gym workout.
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2002-10-23 12:58
Hi CGG:
Getting away from the clarinet, for a short time, is often very good practice. Enjoy your vacation(holiday), and think of lovely musical thoughts.
JJM
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Author: Kat
Date: 2002-10-23 16:58
bob has a very good suggestion. If you're travelling by air, use the nasty long walks through most airports to walk in time and count in your head. If you're travelling by car, find a radio station and count to whatever music is on the radio. I suggest this to my students anyway...
Also, if you're at a hotel, turn on a music station and count to that...
Katrina
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Author: George Lin
Date: 2002-10-23 16:58
My two cents:
Listen to a variety of recorded clarinet works. This will help you define what you like/dislike and give you direction on how to base your own sound and tone.
Read up on clarinet techniques, tips, pointers, etc. This site offers a lot of information to start. There are a few other pubications you may wish to read or re-read again: Keith Stein, David Pino, and Tom Ridenour's publications come to mind. You can probably get these through Amazon or any major wind instrument mail order house.
Last but not least, enjoy your time away from playing. A break can be a good thing!
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Author: Irwin
Date: 2002-10-23 20:05
I was recently away from my clarinet for 3 weeks. When I returned, I felt like I was barely capable of playing Rubank I. I started to freak out since I had a Rose etude to prepare for a lesson just a few days away, but I took a deep breath and started running scales. After an hour things started to settle back in.
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Author: Melanie
Date: 2002-10-24 04:24
I agree with some of the above statements. A break can be very useful. I took a couple of weeks off last year, and when I came back, I had actually improved. I've talked to people in my school, and they find that this is common. Of course, this may not be advisable if you have a performance or something right after your vacation. In that case, bring you reed and mouthpiece and also your music. Run fingerings while thinking about proper movements. Good luck, and enjoy.
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2002-10-24 04:25
Try to get to some performances while you are traveling, relatively easy if you are going to large cities. There's more to musical development than just playing.
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Author: Jean
Date: 2002-10-24 13:55
I also agree with those who say it is good to have a break from it once in awhile. Perhaps absence will make the heart grow fonder.
Jean
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Author: Rico
Date: 2002-10-24 20:06
Your inner ear will continue to grow if you let it.
Playing the clarinet is a lot easier than playing music.
Practice Listening to whatever music you can hear.
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Author: Meri
Date: 2002-10-24 21:05
I find that taking a week's break from playing 2 or 3 times a year helps keep the music sounding 'fresh'. Sometimes I find after such a break an exercise or difficult section of a piece I was struggling with before taking the break resolves themselves after it.
Meri
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2002-10-26 03:28
Another thought is this: while travelling by plane or train (not car, though) is to "listen" to your music in your head while reading it. Mentally try different phrasing and dynamics, pencil in what you'd like to try when you really play it again, it can be erased and re-done. While listening to a recording with earphones, pencil in some notations of subtle changes you'd like to make - you don't have to match the recording, but it could jog your imagination to try something you'd never had thought of before, a new cadenza, a new variation of some portion of the music and so on. Reading your music to yourself, like reading a book to yourself, can stir the imagination and is very much a part of practicing and rehearsing, only without the instrument.
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