 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Piccolo_Clarinet
Date: 2018-12-28 20:39
I am a third-year clarinet player in my middle school wind ensemble. Since I'm first chair, my band director decided that I should learn the Eb Clarinet over winter break since some of the songs we will be playing will have an Eb Clarinet part. After two days of getting used to it, I checked SmartMusic to see if my band director posted any songs we might play for our next concert. One of them had an Eb Clarinet part, so I decided to try it. The song was a concert band arrangement of the "Barber of Seville Overture." There were a lot of altissimo notes, the highest being only like a double G above the staff. I'm used to that because my band director sometimes throws hard pieces at us that have lots of altissimo notes. Anyways, I knew those notes would be written a perfect fourth higher for a Bb clarinet. I just never knew those notes would be so piercing, loud, and annoying. Near the end of the song, an unbearable headache was forming from those squeals people call notes. Is this normal? How will I be able to practice? Should I stop playing the Eb Clarinet?
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2018-12-28 21:22
This may sound laughable to some, however, I would recommend using soft, flesh colored, foam ear plugs. Because they have a tendency to be rather long, I would suggest cutting them in half or to another appropriate length so as not to "stick out" and then "lightly" insert them into your ears.
I'm in my 70's and wear hearing aids that amplify the higher frequencies to the extreme. If a baby is within 40 feet of me and starts crying, I quickly have to pull out my hearing aids. Mine do not have audio balancing technology.
What can I say? I think I feel your pain and hope this helps.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2018-12-28 21:35
Without hearing you it's hard to know what's going on, but my first guess would be that you're playing too loud - forcing too much air through the mouthpiece. the result may be loud to your ears and it may be causing you to put a lot of unnecessary effort into blowing, both of which, separately or together, could explain your headache.
Whenever you use a school-owned instrument, it should go without saying that you need to confirm with a skilled repair tech that the instrument is free of leaks. If your band director doesn't have money budgeted to pay for that, you may have to pay for at least a diagnosis yourself.
The mouthpiece is important. There are a lot of mouthpieces out there that take great effort to play. Producing the basic sound shouldn't take a huge effort. You'll be heard quite well with an easy, clear sound because of the quality of the Eb tone and the range you're mostly playing in. In fact, if you take fortissimo literally and play "as loud as possible," you'll mostly annoy players around you and force the instrument out of tune. Try backing off your concept of forte volume and see if that helps.
On the same track, try a lighter reed and see if you loose anything important. If the instrument, your embouchure, the mouthpiece and the reed are working well together, G6 shouldn't need to be forced. But many Eb mouthpieces won't go there without thinning out or using very stiff reeds, and reeds that are too stiff make you work too hard and allow no flexibility for pitch.
Karl
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2018-12-28 22:11
After a major error noticed, I deleted my response.
Post Edited (2018-12-28 22:23)
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Author: Piccolo_Clarinet
Date: 2018-12-28 22:41
Thank you for all your responses. Earplugs do sound like a good idea. I might try them. In response to Karl, my band director said past students had this clarinet before so I don't think there are any leaks. I do need a lot of air to play altissimo notes, more than on my Bb clarinet. I use strength 3 Vandoren reeds on both my Bb and Eb. Maybe I could try 2 1/2.
I've heard that some people use Bb clarinet reeds on their Eb clarinet. I don't seem keen on the idea of cutting reeds. Do you think Bb reeds would be easier to use on an eefer?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-12-28 23:16
There are barrels that have a notch in them to accept uncut Bb clarinet reeds (Backun for sure).
I agree with Karl about backing off for sure. The Eb clarinet already has a built in sound that cuts through the texture (think of how you hear the oboe even at low volumes). So just moderate what effort you assume for a given dynamic. Your current 'mp' may very well be a solid forte in context.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: kdk
Date: 2018-12-29 00:37
Piccolo_Clarinet wrote:
> In response to Karl, my band director
> said past students had this clarinet before so I don't think
> there are any leaks.
On the contrary (I taught school instrumental music for over 30 years) that past students have used it may increase the likelihood that it could have mechanical problems. It doesn't decrease those chances. And if previous users simply used brute force to overcome any problems, they, too, may have wasted a lot of effort and gotten a result that was less than they were capable of. Unless you know how to leak-test an instrument yourself, you should have it checked one way or another by someone who does know how.
> I do need a lot of air to play altissimo
> notes, more than on my Bb clarinet.
Shouldn't be the case.
> I use strength 3 Vandoren
> reeds on both my Bb and Eb. Maybe I could try 2 1/2.
>
You haven't mentioned what the mouthpiece is. And you don't say which Vandoren model you're using (Traditional, V.12, 56 Rue?). We can't tell from here if a #3 is too hard or not.
> I've heard that some people use Bb clarinet reeds on their Eb
> clarinet. I don't seem keen on the idea of cutting reeds. Do
> you think Bb reeds would be easier to use on an eefer?
I used to use Bb reeds, which I cut short to fit. But I hadn't played Eb in a number of years until I recently was hired to play a very exposed Eb part (in Bernstein's Trouble In Tahiti). When I got the old cut-down Bb reeds out and tried them, I didn't like them as much as the new Eb reeds I had bought more recently. I decided it just wasn't worth the trouble to cut more Bb reeds. For one thing, if you don't have a barrel like Paul describes, you have to cut them just to try them.
But, still, it might save your buying a whole box of lighter Eb reeds if you can get a couple of lighter Bb reeds, shorten them, and see how they feel. When I played the Bernstein, I settled on reeds that were a half strength softer than the reeds I was playing on Bb clarinet. But it depends a great deal on the mouthpiece's facing.Ideally, you just have to experiment.
But don't keep working so hard. It should be more like letting the sound out than forcing it out. Piccolo instruments (whether flutes, clarinets or trumpets) shouldn't be forced. They're loud enough and bright enough when you play them with control.
Karl
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2018-12-29 01:34
With regard to the mechanical condition of the school eefer, the fact that it was leak-free at some time in the past has nothing to do with the state it's in now. School instruments have a hard life, even while in storage. Check it for leaks, or get it checked if you can't do it yourself.
The fact that other students had no problems with the mouthpiece provided is also not relevant. Mouthpieces are very much a matter of individual choice. I have 2 eefer mouthpieces: one is a modern Rico which is resistant and hard to play, the other is a no-name hard rubber piece that I inherited with the instrument which plays like a dream, with no real effort.
I've used cut-down Bb reeds for years. I bought a length of aluminium square-U section wide enough to accept a reed from a local hardware store and cut about 6 inches off it. Score a line to indicate where the tip of the reed goes and cut through the sides of the section but not through the base of the U where you want to cut the base of the reed off. This is your cutting guide. All your reeds will be the same length and it takes about 10 seconds per reed. Use a small hobby hacksaw or any serrated blade such as an old bread knife. One of my mouthpieces also accepts and plays well on soprano sax reeds.
Tony F.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2018-12-29 02:24
Things that could cause your headache:
Playing too loud (as noted above).
Playing with too much pressure (air or stiffness of reed).
Biting to achieve altissimo notes.
Practicing in a space that is too closed or having too many reflective surfaces (pure speculation on my part).
Finally: congratulations on being first chair after three years of playing. Fantastic that you have Smartmusic integrated into your program. It's also awesome that your band director programs challenging music and *wants* Eb played in their ensemble.
But "learn the Eb over the winter break"? That's not reasonable. It's also unreasonable to expect to play high altissimo notes *easily* when you've just started playing this instrument.
I love that you take ownership of the challenge -- that's great. Now give yourself a lot more time to allow things to happen, and always stop playing when pain is involved.
James
Gnothi Seauton
Post Edited (2018-12-29 02:35)
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Author: TomS
Date: 2018-12-29 09:17
I played one of the little beasts for a few years, regularly.
A little goes a long way ... the timbre of the instrument cuts thru the ensemble and therefore not a much shear power is required.
As I remember, my instrument was a Selmer Series 9 and MP was a 5RV with a cut-off Vandoren German B-flat reed.
Properly played, it adds a wonderful dash of spice to a Band, helping to cement the sound of the flutes and clarinets together, IMO. Indispensable.
In high school, only the best players were assigned the E-flat.
Good luck taming this critter ... it can be done, and will delight everyone!
Tom
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