Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2011-01-04 19:32
Sure Robin, you can post them on your blog. I am not sure whether Mr. Terry would want his videos to be linked on your blog but i find them so important in relation to our discussion that perhaps you should ask him!
"Especially when we get tired, it is too easy to bite the reed, hold pressure in the chest or throat. If exercises can be made to gradually take your slow demonstrations to faster repetitions, then a lot will be gained."
In fact, this was what i was trying to get my student to do today. Take the slow movement solo of Tchaikovsky 4th symphony. At the end of the 1st section after the note A (where many people do a tiny rit, which is not necessarily a good thing), it is often difficult to re-articulate smoothly the Db for the 2nd section after that 'rest'/relaxation/de-pressurized state, especially if one takes a breath at that point (i know god Alex and friends don't, but most of us mere mortals probably do; i do in one breath for each section). What one can do then is to take this small section and make an exercise out of it. Play A-F-Bb-G-A (as written on the score), end the note A as beautifully as possible, take a rest, a long one if you like, and give yourself as much time as possible, say 8 beats, to prepare yourself for the next entry of the Db. Things to take note, 1) stop the opening of the reed. 2) start blowing to fill the space between your lungs and front of the mouth, continuously (never stopping even up till the point of tongue's release, balloon bursting sensation as described in video), so that air pressure starts to built up. 3) when one feels ready, which takes longer than most young students seem to imagine, release the tongue for the note to start.
The 8 beats rest then becomes shorter and shorter until it becomes as written, which is almost none! A boring exercise can then be derived from this, with the melody and the Db substituted with long notes of any lengths, which ever ones you chose. So the point is even with a rest as short as that one should always attempt to start again with the right process of sound production, in other words, to train that reflex of putting the tongue back on the reed and filling up the gap between lungs and front of mouth with air in as short time as possible.
The end result really becomes what people describe as playing on the wind, elaborated here by Mr. Terry B. Ewell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Mga5-307w
Hope this helps!
Howard
Post Edited (2011-01-04 19:38)
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