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 HELP! Need help with High notes!
Author: vitoclarinet 
Date:   2006-05-04 19:56

recently, i've been having trouble playing the high notes(F, G, A above staff). Especially, whenever i try to play the high F, the overtone of the high F comes out. i have a pretty good guess that it's my embouchure, but the thing is i don't know what i'm doing wrong. Could some please help me?

also, this is totally unrelated, but our band is playing variations on a korean folk song by John barnes chance for the coming concert and i was wondering what i could do to play the 16th notes correctly without rushing them.



Post Edited (2006-05-06 12:47)

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 Re: high notes
Author: xxColorMeJoshxx 
Date:   2006-05-04 20:51

With the high notes you need to simply practice and experiment. With the Variations on a Korean Folk Song -> Practice slowly with a metronome. In all the passages I would reccommend playing one set of 16ths (4) and land on the first 16th of the second set (5 notes in total). You're probably having most difficulty in the longer slurred passage that is a modification of the melody (the 5 sixteenths, rest, 5 sixteenths, etc.) and you can do what I mentioned before on this passage too - just break the slur. After you're done with that you can try doing 8 sixteenths plus 1 or just try putting the whole passage together. Remember don't practice wrong notes - if you're making a lot of mistakes correct them and play slower. Best of luck!



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 Re: high notes
Author: 2E 
Date:   2006-05-05 06:23

Theres around about 20 different fingerings for high F with varying intonation for each (F#, G and G# have just as many). Embouchure does affect it (dont pinch) but try to use a lot of air (the same amount for low notes). I find this helps me and im now getting up into the altissimo range (double top D etc). I played variations on a korean folk song only last year, youll be fine if you just know your Eb major scale, yes practise slowly :P

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 Re: high notes
Author: D 
Date:   2006-05-08 21:33

I know it sounds a bit daft, but with the high notes, I find that thinking about each part of my body and forcing it to relax helps the notes out a lot. This is especially true of my left thumb and my shoulders - no idea why but they seem to want to join in the top notes!

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 Re: HELP! Need help with High notes!
Author: vitoclarinet 
Date:   2006-05-08 22:08

thank you all... you all have been of much help
by the way, how can i stop from getting a pinched sound on the high notes? whenever i try to correct it, it just makes it even worse...

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 Re: HELP! Need help with High notes!
Author: pmgoff78 
Date:   2006-05-08 23:36

IMHO you've got two options. Relax, as was posted before and allow the notes to speak. OR, play a controlled style and use throat shaping, voicing, and lip pressure to shape which note comes out. The latter approach is extremely similar to brass playing. So, if you have a brass background that might be a good area to experiment in. WANRING -- This is rough territory. Play a "controlled" style is a really big pain in the %$^&#^&. Proceed with extreme caution.

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 Re: high notes
Author: 2E 
Date:   2006-05-09 02:04

D wrote ...
"I know it sounds a bit daft, but with the high notes, I find that thinking about each part of my body and forcing it to relax helps the notes out a lot. This is especially true of my left thumb and my shoulders - no idea why but they seem to want to join in the top notes!"

It IS rough territory because the ability to smoothly overblow high tones is linked to physiological factors like your posture and a relaxed, open throat. For example you should be able to slur from high E to high A without re-tonguing - difficult to do smoothly cause you have to open your throat and relax. Avoiding pinching is just based on your embouchure and like everything else just involves practise

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 Re: HELP! Need help with High notes!
Author: Cuisleannach 
Date:   2006-05-15 05:14

<<I have no financial interest in Mr. Ridenour's book>>

One of the best investments for altissimo work is Ridenour's book on altissimo fingerings. Every clarinet has good fingerings and bad fingerings, and some of the first ones you learn aren't the best.

-Randy

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