Author: jhoyla
Date: 2012-06-07 12:37
I really envy your facility with the fingering - light, economical and beautifully controlled. You can tell you are an accomplished wind-player!
I hope you don't mind, but a couple of points about your wind and breathing.
I was really glad to see you are breathing in through your mouth, but you are still wary of getting the reed "out of position". Consequently, you try and keep the reed in place and breathe just through the corners of your mouth - not a good thing.
Try this: with your lips relaxed in a non-playing position, open your mouth and place the reed against your bottom lip. Now, gently close your lips, pucker a little and then roll them in to a playing position. rinse and repeat! You need to get this down pat. remember you should be using your embouchure to pull the reed in - not pushing it in using the reed. Your embouchure should seal around the reed, not squeeze it. Seal, don't squeeze. A great exercise is to play on the reed alone, with no hands ...
The problem with your low notes could be that you are over-controlling the reed. Relax. Your wind should come from deep inside your lungs and should be flowing through the instrument with no constrictions. The only back pressure should be the reed and the instrument -no throat constrictions, no squeezing the reed with your lips.
Practice long, low notes from ppp-> fff-> ppp, then quarter notes staccato and legato. Start with bottom D and work your way up through one octave and back. Try and play EVERY note as if it is bottom D, which is the "fundamental" note of the instrument.
As you have probably figured out, you run out of oxygen LONG before you run out of air! Consequently you need to breathe out as well as in. Try doing this at different times - plan ahead. Play, partially exhale, continue playing, then inhale and continue to play, etc. etc.
you're doing great!
J.
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