 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Molly
Date: 2001-12-03 14:37
Well, I must say that this site is the most intense site I have found about clarinets.
I am a high school senior. I play the clarinet and have for about seven years. I am in Marching band, pepband, jazz band, wind ensemble, and concert band. I was wondering if anyone who visits this website could help me. I have trouble with endurance. About an hour after I start playing my mouth goes totally limp and crappy. Are there any special warm ups or practices I could do?
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-12-03 15:27
How often do you practice now? What is your practice procedure?
The only way I kow to build up endurance is to practice nearly every day and gradually work up to longer times. Take a short break every 15 min to 1/2 hour.
As you tire, you can switch to a sightly softer reed to extend your practice time. What brand, model and strength of reed are you using now?
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2001-12-04 12:24
Some of the best warm ups involve a combination of long notes and slurred intervals. Long notes should be practised with crescendo's and decrescendo's to improve lip strength and to get the air speed right. Slurring twelths using the register key, slowly also helps in this regard. Other interval studies such as octaves, perfect fifths and fourths etc. also help. After the long notes and intervals some slurred scale and arpeggio work which warms up the fingers and helps with athritis, RSI etc. later in the piece. Follow the slurred scales with some tongued worh along the same lines to develop co-ordination.
If you are doing a good length practise session you may want to speng 15 or so minutes on this with a couple of short breaks. Before a performance or a rehearsal 5 minutes is sufficient. Slow melody work is also beneficial.
I agree with Dee that there is a possibility that the reeds you are using may be too hard or otherwise not right for your mouthpiece IE. too long or too short for the lay. There is something to be said for using the softest rather than the hardest reed possible. Tone, intonation and high register being the hardest to maintain on a soft reed.
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Author: Kristen Denny
Date: 2001-12-06 18:45
Molly,
You also want to make sure that you are not using
too much jaw pressure. If you are "biting" down
on the reed too much, it will make you tire faster.
Be sure to point the chin down and keep it flat.
Think of all of the muscles of the mouth as pulling
downward. The only "pressure" that you use to make
the reed vibrate is from the thumb. So, upper lip
and corners should pull downward while keeping a
nice snug cushion with the lower lip. Then, use
"thumbs up" to create a solid tone.
You'll know when you are biting if when you have
practiced for a while, you see teeth marks in
the flesh of your lower lip or you will have
teeth indentations on the top of your mouthpiece
or mouthpiece patch. One way to avoid this from
the beginning of your practice is by warming up
for about 5 minutes using a double-lip embouchure.
In doing this, you roll both your bottom lip over
your bottom teeth as well as your upper lip over
your upper teeth. Allow the lips to support the
mouthpiece instead of the teeth. You may have to
rest the bell on your knee as you do this. Play
long slurred notes-avoiding the altissimo register
for a while. Then, go to a normal embouchure and
play the same sequence of notes. You will know if
you are biting if you feel your teeth
dig into your lips. Instead, use the upward thumb
pressure from the right thumb. I hope this will help you!
You can read more about these tips in Tom
Ridenour's book, "The Educator's Guide to the
Clarinet." I use this book for Clarinet Methods
at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It is
helpful for both teachers and students.
Kristen Denny
GTA: Clarinet, UNL
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