Author: Klarnt
Date: 2023-04-09 09:52
I envy people who regularly play sharp. It must be so easy to just pull out part of the instrument and be in tune again. Most players I know play sharp, yet Im all the way pushed in and still flat. "Just lip up" they say, "push in the barrel" they say. Itd be nice if I could do either!
About 4 years ago I started to notice that I played on the flat side. Ive been struggling to play in tune on the Clarinet, and despite the daily long tones and tuning drones my intonation has remained flat. Some days are worse than others. From what Ive read the common culprits for most (usually beginner) players are unfocused tone, poor embouchure/loose corners, incorrect voicing.
Maybe Im only able to play on the Bass Clarinet, because at least on that thing I can play with good intonation. I don't get it. Acoustically isn't the Bass Clarinet the same instrument just bigger? At this rate I don't know. According to my intonation problems maybe I am comparing apples to oranges.
It seems that the more I practice on the Clarinet the worse I get in the short run. Logically that doesn't sound right, but thats how its felt. In the long run my fingers have gotten faster/more accurate, my tone has significantly improved over the years, but intonation has remained constant. Again in the short run over time I always redevelop the bad habit of biting, which leads to all sorts of problems. Most annoying are the squeaks that come with biting, especially in the throat tones (or maybe Im voicing too high?). Ironically its when I take a long break (a couple weeks to a couple months) out of frustration that everything seems to gets better in the short run!
Its probably not equipment. Ive tried different reeds and mouthpieces. Ive also used a shorter barrel, but that makes the throat tones and upper Clarion too sharp compared to the longer notes. The only thing left is the horn itself, but with other players it plays in tune with itself so it must be me.
Now Ive tried to play at a softer volume to raise my pitch, but then half the dynamics (mf, f, and ff) are useless! Itd be nice to play in tune in at least a normal volume. Ive tried to lower my horn angle to be more steep/vertical or "classical", but I saw little (if any) difference on the tuner.
Is it even possible to lip up on the Clarinet, and if so how? I can easily lip down 20-30 more cents on any given note, and sound like a dying goose in doing so, but I cant even lip up 7 extra cents.
What causes Clarinet players to play sharp? While that's the opposite problem, itd be nice to know what players on the other side of the pond are doing differently.
After 4 years of perpetual flatness I dont know what to do anymore.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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