 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: nata
Date: 2015-03-04 07:32
Hi everyone!
Whenever I am playing my clarion B and C#, I feel like I can not tongue easily.... articulating is really hard... there is so much resistance, due to the closed tubing of the clarinet.
How do I articulate clearly with this occurring? I have tried shaping my airflow like for the altissimo notes, but I do not think that works.
Many thanks in advance.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-03-04 08:13
There is a tad bit "more" to the full tube notes but I would surmise there may be an issue with HOW you approach articulation.
The most important concept to keep in mind is that the articulation (or interruption of sound) is created by gently placing the tongue upon the reed (the tongue merely functions as a damper). The re-activation of the reed (the generation of sound) is produced by REMOVING the tongue from the reed.
With that in mind any differential in dynamic (accent, weighted feeling, etc.) is created ONLY by increasing the air flow to the reed.
David Shifrin uses the piano analogy: The tongue is the damper; the air is the hammer.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2015-03-04 16:55
I repair clarinets (my full time job). If I have this problem I first assume it is a leak, pad, body, tenon cork. Key ring height problem. If the problem is you it should surface on other instruments.
Steve Ocone
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-03-04 17:45
Diagnosing this problem sight unseen suggests I offer you a multifactorial approach:
1) If you can, take in a "micron" more mouthpiece...not to the point where you squeak, but if possible, a "micron" more.
2) Get the clarinet checked for the seal of its pads as Steve suggests. These "all finger down notes" can be affected by seals being compromised at any point in the clarinet's length. Do you have a similar problem with low "E" to "F" tonguing? You can do this check of the instrument yourself to some extent. Write back if you want to know how.
3) Slow down the metronome to the point, if any, where you can tongue. then slowly speed the metronome up: literally 1 bpm at a time until the point of your failure to successfully articulate. At the point of failure is it the tongue not keeping up with the fingers or vice versa? Sometimes articulation problems are caused by players not moving their fingers as fast at the rate of their tongue. These players can invariably move their fingers much faster than their tongue, they just don't realize they need, in this case, to speed the fingers up a bit.
4) How is the throat "A" to "B" tonguing? Better, worse...?
5) Is the problem the same irrespective of which pinky plays the "B" and "C#?"
6) Are you rocking the clarinet from left to right when pressing those pinky keys...I hope as little as possible?
7) Is it easier for you, if at all, to articulate the scale going up, versus coming down?
8) Do you know what a double lip embouchure is? If so, are you opening the upper palatte of your mouth (even if you play single lip) consistent with how this embouchure necessitates by the case?
9) What happens when you play long tones on these two notes?
10) When you play the "B," try for a second to open, at the same time, the throat "A." What if anything does this do to make the note sound clearer or play easier? (That's a trick for better voicing a long "B"--clearly something that is not part of the problem at hand.)
11) Are you already playing reeds at the top end of your personal strength spectrum?
12) Practice long tones with these two notes.
13) Stupid question, but I have to ask...nothing is blocking the clarinet's barrel like a swab, correct?
14) Do the notes articulate better when you press down harder on the keys, particularly the B and C keys (notice I didn't say C#)? Does the C# key OPEN (not close) adequately enough when you press the key? Does the "C" key adequately close when the clarion "C," "C#,"and "B" are voiced?
Post Edited (2015-03-04 17:58)
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Author: pewd
Date: 2015-03-04 17:59
I'm with Steven on this one - first make sure your instrument doesn't have a maintenance issue.
Have someone else ( a clarinet teacher ?) try your instrument.
Then try someone else's instrument with your mouthpiece and reed.
It would help to know how long you've been playing clarinet - are you new to the instrument, or have you been playing for years or decades?
#13 above - ha - I should give free lessons, and simply charge $30 for resolving stuff like that - y'all wouldn't believe....
Check your reed placement - make sure the reed isn't too low on the mouthpiece - you want it a hair's width (a thin hair!) above the top of the mouthpiece. Place the reed too low and clean articulation is difficult.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2015-03-04 18:44
It's 99-44/100% sure to be a hardware problem. For the clarion B4 ![[B4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/b4.gif) , try pressing on the F/C key as well as the E/B key. If the problem clears up, a simple adjustment of the crow's-foot is all that's needed.
However, since the C#5 ![[C#5]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/db5.gif) is also bad, I suspect that the low F pad is not seated correctly. Have your repair tech check the seating carefully. The rim for that hole may be nicked or uneven.
Also check out the seating of the other three large pads.
Once you get that fixed, B4 and C#5 should come out easily.
Ken Shaw
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Author: kdk
Date: 2015-03-04 21:49
pewd wrote:
>
> Check your reed placement - make sure the reed isn't too low on
> the mouthpiece - you want it a hair's width (a thin hair!)
> above the top of the mouthpiece. Place the reed too low and
> clean articulation is difficult.
>
I don't have an argument with anything that's been said so far except part of the above. True, if the reed is too low it will close more easily and make articulation balky. But "a hair's width ... above the top of the mouthpiece" is for me, taken literally, too high. Not that Paul is necessarily wrong, but that his prescription isn't necessarily the only right possibility.
I actually line my reeds up "a hair's width" *below* the mouthpiece tip. The reed certainly needs to overlap most of the tip rail. But I find the reeds that I use sound muffled if they extend even slightly beyond the mouthpiece. This is dependent, though, on the individual reed's resistance. The result of lowering the reed on the curve is that the reed's resistance is less as the lip contacts it at a thinner point in its taper.
To be sure, the long notes ARE a little more resistant than the short tube notes at the throat, and you notice that in particular when you move up or down over the break. *If all is mechanically well with the clarinet,* you have to resist a tendency to "tongue" more heavily in an effort to overcome the additional resistance, which can also cause your jaw to move with each release (thinking in terms of the stop-release process Paul Aviles described earlier). Try checking yourself by articulating a higher note that you don't have trouble with - say, F5 (top line of the treble staff). Then go down by half steps and try to feel if anything in your approach changes.
Karl
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