Author: fskelley
Date: 2015-08-09 08:03
Attachment: Eb-Bb-pop-good.mp3 (364k)
Attachment: Eb-Bb-pop-bad.mp3 (391k)
At the end of one of my songs, I hold an Eb6 for about a 5 sec sfz ending with vibrato (love it or hate it), then pop up to the ending note Bb6 at ff or whatever I can muster. Getting the Bb clean was problematic for years, then I switched my Bb6 fingering from my usual R (No thumb) o x x (C#/G# key) | o o o (G#/D# key) to R (No thumb) x x x (C#/G# key) | x x x (F/C key) and that fixed it- it was nearly always clean. My first "good" audio sample is pretty close to how I want it. It's supposed to be a slur or pop up- no air space between the notes.
Recently the Bb6 has become unreliable again, with many outcomes more like the 2nd "bad" sample, ugh. That's no way to finish a big song. Many things in my setup have shifted of late for the better, and this seems to be a casualty of that process of general improvement.
When I fumble the Bb during practice, I start playing the Eb-Bb phrase over and over, and it's mostly fine. Then I try the last 10-20 measures of the song a few times, and that too, is pretty secure. But next time I play the song all the way through, when we reach the end for that big note, it seems the reed is (or I am) too tired. Or I've just psyched myself out of being able to do it, hard to say how much of a factor that might be. And sometimes my original Bb6 fingering works as well or better than my newer one, so perhaps my old fix no longer fits my modified setup.
So- what I ask is--- what fingerings would YOU use for this interval? I realize I have never tried alternate fingerings for Eb6, I'm always using R o x x | x o o (B/F# key) (G#/D# key). And what embouchure or mind tricks might you use? ...so that you could be absolutely certain your final big Bb6 would be clean every single time? Think exposed spot at the climax of a big show night after night... and if you mess up the note everybody will know it.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
Post Edited (2015-08-09 08:13)
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