 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: RosewoodClarinet
Date: 2005-04-10 01:24
After the audition months, I am finding that I did not get any good-news about these auditions so far. Music festival and studio of one of the best players in the US..... I could make none of them to be successful. I realize that I need to have a super-clarity of finger technique. One day, one of my clarinet teachers told me that I need to know where fingers go. This such a simple statement clearly shows my weakest point on my clarinet playing. My technique needs to be better. I am writing this to find any suggestions to be helpful to improve my technique, not only practice over and over. I am very serious about this.......if anyone give me any advice, it would be appriciated. My Dr.Beat is my best friend!!
RosewoodClarinet
Post Edited (2005-04-10 01:27)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-04-10 01:37
The principles set down by Daniel Bonade are the tenets of clarinet technique. They are still as valid today as they were when Bonade was teaching his students (many who later had successful careers and held prominent orchestral positions).
Read Bonade's writings on fast technique, fingers ahead and tonguing, and how he specifically taught legato.
This can be found in his many published articles or in Carol Anne Kycia's book "Daniel Bonade: A Founder of the American Style of Clarinet Playing".
...GBK
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Author: RosewoodClarinet
Date: 2005-04-10 01:47
Thank you for your responce, GBK. I actually have the book and am trying to explore the technique you mentioned. Thank you for your advice.
RosewoodClarinet
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2005-04-10 01:52
There are several different techniques that I use (and do with my students) to clean up technique.
The first (and most obvious) is to know your scales, thirds, chords, 7th chords, diminished chords, etc, all really well. These are all pretty nicely laid out in quick format in the Klose Book (though in this book they are presented in limited ranges). This is an important first start because if your fingers know the patterns well, they will be more steady when they encounter them (or some variation on them) in music.
When you are working on technical stuff (whether it is scales, thirds, whatever, or passages from real pieces of music), there are several variations I do that seem to help.
Practice Rhythms - it is helpful to vary the rhythm of what you are practicing, particular if it is fast and the rhythms are consistent (aka - several beats of 16th notes in a row, something like that. It doesn't work really well if the rhythms change alot). 1 rhythmic variation is "swinging rhythm" (for every 2 notes, add a dot to the first one and play the second one twice as fast). I realize this isn't literally "swinging", but that's what I call it because it's easier to say than "dot the first...etc". You can also reverse this and shorten the 1st one and dot the second one (though this is harder). A 2nd variation is "eight-triplet" or "triplet-eight". This works well for 16th notes. Make the 1st one an eighth note and the last 3 play like a 16th note triplet. "triplet-eight" is the reverse. It's a little trickier if the beats divide into 6 (like in 6/8, being counted it 2 - like the last page of Grand Duo). In this case you can do "swing" or just make up variations like
8th-16th-16th-8th-16th-16th or
8th-8th-16th-16th-16th-16th or
16th-16th-8th-16th-16th-8th... you get the idea...
the point of this is that by changing the rhythm, you change the way you emphasize the notes and the relationship between them. This is really good for making things more even.
A second methods I like is that I call "shifting beat". Say you are playing a piece in 6/8 (like the 3rd movements of Mozart Concerto or Grand Duo). There are many passages where you have long runs all in 16ths. I often will start the run and play one beat (7 notes - the first beat plus the first note of the next beat). Onces that beat is very even and perfect, I'll shift the beat and practice from the 2nd notes of the first beat until the 2nd note of the 2nd beat, then 3rd to 3rd... etc. This is a really good technique I've found with my own practicing and with students. When playing long passages, we tend to over emphasize the first note and crunch (or otherwise neglect) the ends of the beat. By shifting the beat onto every note, you eventually practice with equal emphasis on each note, which results in more even, fluid sounding runs.
Slow finger practice. It is always good to practice things with slow fingers (not just playing slowing, but moving your fingers between the notes slowly - think slow motion). If your fingers are too "clicky" sounding or you are too tense, it can result in unevenness. Practicing slow fingers can help you relax and improve the connection between the notes.
Other basic things, practice tongue or staccato passages slurred. Often tonguing or doing staccato can hide little finger inadequacies. If you practice things slurred, you can hear every little uneven spot, which will make it that much better when you add the articulation back.
As to what your teacher said... I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I always talk to my students about knowing something with your brain vs. knowing something with your fingers (perhaps this is what the teacher was talking about). People often stop practicing once their brain knows the notes, even though their fingers may still be uneven or having issues. In my opinion, if you can't play something from memory (like on auto-pilot), your fingers probably don't know it well enough...
Hopefully some of this will prove helpful. I hope that I was clear enough. This stuff is easy to demonstrate, but quite difficult to explain concisely with words...
DH
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2005-04-10 01:54
Just an addition... the shifting beat isn't JUST for 6/8... it works equally well in all time sigs.. I just said that because those examples came to mind...
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-04-10 02:06
theclarinetist wrote:
> it is helpful to vary the
> rhythm of what you are practicing, particular
> if it is fast and the rhythms are consistent
> the point of this is that by changing the rhythm,
> you change the way you emphasize the notes
> and the relationship between them. This is really
> good for making things more even.
I totally disagree....
Slow and EVEN practicing is ALWAYS the best way to learn a difficult passage.
If your technique in a difficult passage is already uneven and unsteady, changing the written rhythm to an uneven pattern only compounds the problem.
Instead, use the "9+1 method":
Play the difficult passage(s) at a slow but EVEN speed. Try to do this 9 consecutive times. On the 10th attempt increase the speed.
If that does not work, repeat the passage another 9 times at a slow and even speed. On the 10th attempt, again try it at an increased speed.
There is never a substitute for practicing with EVEN and CONTROLLED fingers. Only that way will you be able to see the inconsistancies in your fingering and determine how each finger muscle works. Over time, the speed will eventually come.
BTW - Many fingering problems are caused by fingers that are too high off the keys. Keep the fingers close and practice slowly and evenly...GBK
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Author: RosewoodClarinet
Date: 2005-04-10 02:11
theclarinetist,
>As to what your teacher said... I'm not exactly sure what that means, but >I always talk to my students about knowing something with your brain vs. >knowing something with your fingers (perhaps this is what the teacher >was talking about).
EXACTLY!!!!! The teacher told me a story of a priminent American clarinet solist. When he was a student, he went to one of prominent clarinet teacher to study reed adjusting with him. The teacher asked him to play something for the teacher. He played......the teacher told him that needs to know where finger goes. This is all about you mentioned. Memory is important.
GBK, always slow practice helps as well, I believe.
Ah.....I think this summer will be exciting working on my fingers. Thank you for your advice. I really appriciate.
RosewoodClarinet
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Author: Robert Moody
Date: 2005-04-10 02:32
Oh my! I never thought I would disagree with GBK on such an essential part of clarinet playing, especially after introducing me to the extended smiley program here. 
While not diminishing slow, steady practice as an understood mainstay of practicing techniques, I must strongly disagree that "practice rhythms" are bad for technique. Practice rhythms are, not only from my experience, very profitable in helping overcome passages that are uneven in the fingers.
I am almost heart-broken now. Sigh.
Besides that suggestion, I agree with everything they have offered so far.
Robert Moody
http://www.musix4me.com
Free Clarinet Lessons and Digital Library!
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-04-10 02:41
Robert Moody wrote:
> "practice rhythms" are bad for technique
I didn't say they were bad for technique. They have their place. Scales, especially for younger students, become much more interesting when different practice rhythms are employed. Jazz passages, written in steady eighth notes, are routinely taught using a swing rhythm to feel the pulse. But, for example, learning an arpeggio from the Mozart Concerto is (IMO) best dissected and learned by slowing it down in an even rhythm and analyzing each finger movement.
> Oh my! I never thought I would disagree with GBK on such an
> essential part of clarinet playing
If you disagree with me, then you are also disagreeing with Daniel Bonade, who believed in the exact same thing I described.
I've always used Bonade's principles of teaching (especially as applied to technique) and it ALWAYS succeeds.
I have, in the past, tried using the alternate rhythm method of teaching a difficult passage, but with much less success than with SLOW, EVEN and CONTROLLED fingerings. If a passage is already unsteady, adding more rhythmic unsteadiness to the passage is counterproductive. You also run the risk of adding (and retaining) "false accents" where there previously weren't any.
Only by slowing down the fingerings and analyzing EACH finger movement as it steadily proceeds from note to note, will you discover where the weaknesses are ...GBK
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2005-04-10 02:43
I, too, like to use the uneven rhythm technique for troublesome passages. For me, putting the emphasis on different pairs of notes helps isolate the problems from note to note. I also use slow practice in the written rhythm with an increasing speed (per GBK)....anything that will get me where I want to be.
JohnG
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Author: Tom A
Date: 2005-04-10 03:01
I believe we're thinking along the same lines, but not necessarily explaining all the steps in the process. I agree that the rhythm changing helps, but I agree also with GBK in ensuring the student can play the passage correctly and at moderate speed first. If a player doesn't get their fingers to a note because they don't know what it is at the vital fraction of a second, nothing short of a magic wand will help.
In my humble experience, rhythm practice assists in increasing speed in several ways. One is, as some have mentioned, changing the relationship between the notes so that different sets of adjacent notes are played quickly, rather than the whole passage at once. Another way is that, as some notes are played faster, a "rotten-under-the-skin" note may be revealed that previously seemed fine at the slower speed. This note must then be practised in context and with the written rhythm until burnt into the mind, before being fiddled with any further.
GBK also has a particular piece of advice relating to Baermann 3. I won't say it as I believe it's his "intellectual property" (in the context of this BBoard, at least) that is his right to distribute. It may assist you.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-04-10 03:06
I guess it's time once again to resurrect my (now famous) Baermann quote:
"...Get a copy of Baermann III. Put it on your music stand and never remove it.
Make a habit of playing in it every day, forever.
After 6 months, you will see why..." GBK
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2005-04-10 03:55
Although it's already been discussed a lot above, I have to also voice my disagreement. Practice rhythms are something that most of my teachers have worked on me with, and they have never been anything but helpful. Obviously, they aren't good if you don't know the notes, but they do help if you know the notes and can play them, but they aren't completely even. I've also used them extensively when helping students improve difficult passages, such as in rose etudes for region band or the difficult runs in pieces like Incantation and Dance.
I also mentioned slow practice. I think that both methods work well and can be complimentary.
DH
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-04-10 09:23
I've used rhythms to practise difficult technical passages, and also to even out uneven passages. This has worked very well for me my whole life for learning tricky things (eg. Nielsen concerto) to even-ing out runs in not-so-tricky passages (eg. Mozart concerto). If I practise these rhythms diligently, I CAN NOT play wrong in a performance. The notes are just "in my fingers".
The method for practising rhythms has already been outlined above, but I'd like to add to it a little bit. I think the important thing is to be consequent with the rhythms that you use. For example, if you practise long-short patterns, you must also practise short-long. Here are some other groups which can be used for groups of four 16ths:
-... (long short short short)
.-..
..-.
...-
and
--..
..--
-..-
.--.
Each group must be practised in it's entirety, otherwise the point of the excercise is lost. The patterns must also be done rhythmically and evenly, and not just free patterns of long and short. So for example, the first group (-...) would be a dotted 8th follwed by three 16ths.
When using this system, there will inevitably be some rhythms which you will find harder to play than others. This is good, because it shows you where the specific technical problem lies. It is for this reason that I find it very good to use to this method for making passages even and smooth which are otherwise uneven and unsteady. It's like a diagnostic tool which shows you which particular sequence of notes you are playing evenly. This is also why it is imperitive that you play every rhythm in each group.
I realise that I am contradicting what GBK has said. But I have found this method to work for me, and also for my students. However, I'm not familiar with Bonade's approach, and can't say that this method is better until I've tried Bonade's! I can only say that this method also works.
But I'd also like to try out this Bonade method. GBK, in your "9+1" method, do you use a metronome?
Post Edited (2005-04-10 09:30)
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-04-10 10:43
I use a combination of the 2 for my students. They must, must be able to play a passage slowly and perfectly even before doing the "rhythmic variations method".
The combination of the 2 works really well and very, very quickly to solidify a difficult passage and to speed it up.
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Author: sanya
Date: 2005-04-10 15:34
Liquorice wrote:
> -... (long short short short)
.-..
..-.
...-
and
--..
..--
-..-
.--.
-----------
This rhythms method works REALLY, really well. I don't even know why, but my teacher told me it's because the brain is concentrating so hard on the rhythms, that fingers are memorizing the notes, and when we play as written, it comes out much, much easier. I love it, though -- it works well.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2005-04-11 00:26
It takes a long time to do this, but in the long run, I find it gives better bang for the buck than brute-force technical woodshedding (to a point... a lack of such woodshedding would be foolish)
Get to know the clarinet. Know what fingers are down when you play each note. Always know what fingers will be coming up or going down next, and play accordingly. What you see on the page is just an assistant to tell you what fingers need to go where. Know where on the clarinet the last finger down is, and push the air to there.
Never stop on a note, and never run from a note. Always know where each note is going, musically and technically. Music VERY RARELY stops. At all times, on all notes, you are going somewhere, and if you stop looking ahead and knowing how note leads to note, bar to bar, phrase to phrase, you are bound to play late or rush. Always play toward the next downbeat.
Also, and this is incredibly important: Know the piece you are playing. Don't just know what the fingers are doing. Know what the other instruments in the ensemble are doing. Know what keys and pitch areas you are in, and how they lead to other areas. Play it in your head and imagine the ebb and flow of phrases, and how you would like to hear a very good player to play it. If you can hear how you want it, it is MUCH easier to not get hung up on anything, because you are no longer playing "what the page says," but rather "what the music is."
These just begin to scratch the surface of musicianship, but they are good starting points. If, after a bit of woodshedding in the very effective ways described above, you can concentrate on these points, you will find that your fingers know how to do the hard work, and you can concentrate on the big picture. This, in turn, makes the technical woes, which so many people attack head on, flow much more smoothly because they are not the object of focus. If you know where the notes are going, your fingers will follow.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-04-11 00:43
Liquorice wrote;
> GBK, in your "9+1" method, do you use a metronome?
Yes...for the first 9 attempts set the metronome at only 50% of the eventual tempo. On the 10th attempt set it at 75% of the eventual tempo.
After succeeding, more repetitions will eventually bring the tempo to 100% of what you need ...GBK
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Author: Clarino20
Date: 2005-04-11 20:54
Cavallini, Rose, and Kroepsch are all great exercises, but determination in practice is the best. Memorize all forms of scales atonal and tonal harmony. mess around do weird finger combinations for fun. Try three octave jumps or 6ths. The more music you read and play or try to play your technic will improve a great deal.
Corey
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Author: ken
Date: 2005-04-13 03:50
GBK wrote: "Slow and EVEN practicing is ALWAYS the best way to learn a difficult passage.
--One example is unexpected meter changes that cause train wrecks --- specifically, in performance where someone else is responsible for establishing tempo (i.e., conductor, principal, section/band leader or accompanist.) The method of working music up at only one tempo conditions the brain and fingers for only that tempo .... any slight deviation can drastically affect fingers and tongue. And, unless the tempo is duplicated, technique and tongue coordination is laborious, uneven and choppy.
Slow and EVEN practice is ALWAYS the preferred method as it steadies down the metric curveballs and fingers can readily adapt and adjust to sudden tempo changes. Slow, repetitive practice with gradual increase also builds memory reflex and pattern finger route.
The cliché, "music is a language" applies here. Back to basics, the western chromatic scale forms all other scales. These series of pitches moving up or down by step make up an octave. Scales are musical vocabulary and notes are grammar and spelling. These elements of speech must come together and be engrained in the head and heart to communicate with proper diction and melodic movement.
I cannot stress enough the importance of GBK's thesis. Although at times drudgery, fundamentals are a pursuit, a continual deepening and lifelong integration in the development of a growing musician --- they have no solution or end, there is only strengthening.
And, touching the Bearmann III; advanced players/students know how well it forms the backbone of daily practice. It steadily advances skill and comprehension "simultaneously" and happily, the more advanced we become technically the more music we can hear internally, conceptualize and ultimately express from ourselves. v/r Ken
Post Edited (2005-04-13 03:55)
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-04-13 05:59
"Slow and EVEN practicing is ALWAYS the best way to learn a difficult passage."
"And, touching the Bearmann III; advanced players/students know how well it forms the backbone of daily practice"
I'm afraid this is now just going too far. I have never used "slow, repetetive practice". I have used the method of practising at various tempi, but never slow repetitive practice like a machine. I have also always used methods of varying rhythms and articulation. I have never practised Baermann III, but have practised plenty of other etudes and scales. I am principal clarinetist of a professional orchestra.
There are many ways to learn to play well, and your route is not the only one!
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2005-04-13 12:50
I will just quote one thing which GBK said which makes a heckuva alot of sense
<"There is never a substitute for practicing with EVEN and CONTROLLED fingers">
Bravo! This is exactly my feeling, and of course control is one of the things sometimes lacking in much of the clarinet playing heard by amateurs and beginners...an essential element in real clarinet technique is the fingers. How else can we expect to play when we have a mean conductor breathing down our necks? You must have a prerequisite amount of technique on the clarinet or your realization of the score is musically nothing.
I also believe eveness can be taken too far as to create monotony as well..and a even and monotonous performance is a bad performance as well...one must actualize dynamics and staccatto technique to meet the requirements of "GREAT" performing as well. I remember Harold Wright telling me in a lesson that there has to be a "bag of musical tricks up your sleeve so as to create musical interest." In fact this was in the Rondo of the Mozart Concerto where Mr. Wright told me I sounded too even...
It 's imperative that a fine clarinet performance has worked out all the wrinkles in rythmn and in air and legato without the audience ever knowing it....if you have a difficult spot nine times out of ten its either with finger technique or air or embouchure...Bonade was on the money when it came to rythmn practice because this is the one thing we hear in music festivals constantly. Some clarinet playing in the K622 who has the idea that he can suddenly speed up or slow down without musical consequences...I also notice alot of players with slow down in the hard bits and speed up in the easy bits..but after a while this really kills the listener..it's like I'm playing it my way but with little or no regard to a steady quarter note pulse.
Interesting post this one and in fact of course it shows how much the hands are such and essential element in clarinet technique. I also have a quote which came from a Drucker masterclass I attended done a many an eon ago.....
"Clarinet players constantly underestimate just how strong the hands have to be... The fingers must be in the right place with the right stregnth or ealse the trainwrecks will occur..." The rest of the writing in my notebook is illegible.
I for one cite the Stravinsky 3 Pieces movement two where slow practice and even slow practice will help one gain. I also cite the speeding and slowing down approach here as of benefit as well...I also find I hear many younger or young advanced playersa do this with no thought as to the concept of hearing the slurred groupings...We must have a sense of the slurred grouping in all music.
I also have my advanced students work on playing slowly but with accents(air accents) in places where they are finding trouble with connections...but that again is another element of an approach that may or not work. I also think that working in irregular meters is an excellent way of developing technique.
I also repect the teaching of Bonade because his performances on clarinet with the Philadelphia orchestra and Cleveland orchestra are among some the finest music making ever done! I also love the Clarinet Compendium by Bonade and for me it is the bible of clarinet technique.
David Dow
Post Edited (2005-04-13 13:02)
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2008-08-13 09:28
This is an older thread, but I was wondering if there are any new ideas on the board about it.
As far as rhythms, I have made one that I have been using a lot recently. If 8ths are - , dotted 8ths are -' and 16ths are . here is the rhythm.
4/4 -.. -- -'. ....
I use this for passages with many notes, going back and fourth (or just over and over again). The reason I like this is that it is uneven to most patterns and every time you repeat it you are playing the pattern differently. You don't have to stop and start and new rhythm, just keep looping and every note gets a different place in the rhythm. Also, it has slow and fast notes in succession. On the off chance that the passage has the same number of notes as the pattern, the rhythm won't change, so I play it like this (quarter notes are _ ).
4/4 -.. -- _ ....
Another idea I am thinking about. If you are working on long technical passages, do you think it is more profitable to practice small sections up to speed and put them together later, or to practice the entire passage slowly and get the entire passage up to speed as one complete unit?
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-08-13 12:15
Hello Skygardener,
The first portion of what you describe would fall into a category that is called "varied repetition" which I find extremely useful.
As to your final question, for me the answer is both. Implementing the two together should allow you to learn the passage more quickly as long as perfection is the standard by which you practice. (so the fast short sections are useless unless they're being played perfectly.)
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: brycon
Date: 2008-08-13 19:12
I've always wondered if people that practice technical passages in different rhythms improve because of the exercise or simply because of the repetitions of the passage in question.
I practice technical passages as GBK describes and also by dissplacing the beat. In a string of sixteenth notes I will practice placing the beat on the second note of the group, then the third, etc. This way the rhythm and speed of finger movement stays constant.
I never understood how uneven motion could create even motion.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-08-13 19:27
Hello Brycon,
I like your idea and have used it before. I believe the idea of varied repetition is to focus on pairs (and then trios) of notes in combination. This "isolation" of pairs in succession really does help some of us to play evenly.
You might think of it in another way...varied repetition makes the passage "harder" so that when you return to its' original form it feels "easy". (This is a poor way to think about it, but it does make sense).
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: William
Date: 2008-08-13 19:34
"I never understood how uneven motion could create even motion"
It works for some, but I do not understand why other than it may help develop more independent finger control and also may help you learn ALL the notes in a given passage--an essential element for playing anything correctly. The way I approach a difficult passage is to learn to play it perfectly--EVERY SINGLE NOTE--at a tempo that works for me, and then gradually increase until I have reached the tempo suggested by our conductor. Problem is, he always gets hyped up during the performance and goes faster anyhow.....but that's another story.
BTW, GBK alluded to the importance of keeping the fingers close to the keys to improve basic techinque. I always thought it to be interesting that during a Charles Neidich master class here a few years ago, he said, "I don't worry about how high my fingers go--they just fly all over the place." And then he played a perfectly executed scale the entire range of his clarinet to demostrate his point. Who said that for every rule, there is an exception...................LOL
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Author: allencole
Date: 2008-08-14 07:59
I'm not nuts about practice rhythms, particularly with students who don't practice enough to fully implement slow, accurate practice.
I've tried the varying rhythm thing, but best thing I can equate it to are those typing accuracy exercises where you type a document backward to increase your attention to and concentration on the task.
But in most areas, I prefer to work directly toward the task that I actually see.
Allen Cole
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2008-08-18 12:57
I would agree with many of the ideas in this thread, such as varying rhythm for practice. However, another point that I think is important is that in runs, for example, you must work out where the tricky corners are. For instance, if you take the last movement of the Saint-Saens sonata, the runs at the beginning start out as quite standard arpeggios and scales but there a little "switchbacks" at the end. This little corner, together with the approach to it and the lead out of it, which is only about 3 groups of notes, are what you need to work on. This applies particularly as the tricky bit comes around the break. Furthermore, the third run is in a rather more difficult key than the first two - sort of G sharp minor - so this also needs concentrating on.
Another thing which is particularly difficult on the clarinet is the kind of optical illusion where you the music looks as if you have successive ascending groups of notes but what is hard is to remember to come down between the groups (or vice versa). In this case, you need to practice playing one group and landing on the first note of the next in succession and as, this gets secure, move on to two or three groups at a time.
In terms of practice speed, I'm not going to suggest a precise mathematical tempo but I think that, if you take things slowly and methodically for a few practice sessions and keep moving back to practising it slowly after you have tried something faster, you will be surprised how soon you get something under your fingers.
Vanessa.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-08-19 00:58
You will have to excuse me if the following has already been said, I got tired of reading all of the suggestions, so I will give my opinion. Of course putting in the hours is necessary, the more the better. Practicing right and the right material is just as important. I use the Baermann book 3 book with my students and I often go over it more then one time because the second time around the student is better equipped to play faster and smoother. You have to push yourself on these to play them at tempos you never thought you could, repeating them many, many times and always playing evenly. I also require my students to memorize their scales, 3rd, all types of chords and whole tone scales. I love the Kroepsch daily studies, book 1 and 2. One and two line technical studies repeating each one over and over, beginning slowly and working it up to great speeds. Then I use at least one or two technical etudes, there are many. I emphasis keeping your fingers close to the keys, not wasting energy. I often use 1 or 2 measure finger studies. And very important in reading music is to learn to read ahead, at least one measure if not more. Identify any problems you have like over the break, left or right pinky weak, tongue slow etc. and make up exercises to over come your difficultly. I used to sit by the TV after practicing all evening and make up finger exercises going from my right pinky to my left etc. because I had trouble with those fingers. I’d repeat B-C, B-C-C# and back, B-D-C-B, etc. Over and over keeping my fingers close I was able to get an extra few hours of practice each week after my lip was to tired to play. ESP. www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 A little Mozart
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-08-19 05:39
brycon wrote:
> I never understood how uneven motion could create even motion.
The answer is that this is not really the right question. What alternating short-long and long-short rhythms does is it forces you into overcoming natural tendencies that cause you to make certain movements more quickly or slowly than others. These natural tendencies stick out like a sore thumb when you alternate rhythms--you will catch them with one of the patterns at least. If you can play both the short-long pattern and the long-short pattern with good rhythmic accuracy, then you will have the muscle control to play evenly with straight rhythms.
In other words, it isn't "uneven motion creating even motion," but rather, development of rhythmic precision and muscle control in unnatural-feeling rhythms that makes it easier to control finger movements when playing straight 16ths. Basically, it turns the music into a finger exercise that develops the muscular skills needed for that passage, so that when you play the passage straight, it's much easier to do.
This is not the only practice technique I use--it's not a substitute for slow, deliberate practice, for instance, which really has to precede the use of this sort of thing for it to be most effective--but it can work very well and get good results in a short period of time. It works especially well on tongued passages where you need to synchronize tongue and fingers. The important thing to remember is that it is not a technique for LEARNING a particular passage--it is really a technique for EVENING out a passage that has already been learned the old-fashioned way.
One may question the theoretical basis for this technique and this or that famous teacher may never have employed it (although some really good ones do), but, for some of us at least, it works very well for its intended purpose.
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Author: Phurster
Date: 2008-08-19 14:08
Several months ago GBK posted an article by Sean Osborn. This article recomended slow to fast practice (as most of us do).
The interesting thing though was that it advocated the use of dotted rhythms and reverse dotted rhythms.
The very thing that GBK now seems to have a dogmatic aversion with.
I am delighted to disagree with GBK.
Chris Ondaatje.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-08-19 15:44
The technique article by Sean Osborn in The Clarinet, March 2008 has many important and valuable teaching ideas, most notably concerning regular fingerings, resonance keys, overtones/partials and fingering technique.
I have never been a believer of using uneven rhythms to learn difficult passages, as Sean advocates in his article. I've always found that slow, even practice, concentrating on how each finger moves, achieves the best results. With my beginners, I find that learning (or practicing) a passage using uneven rhythms unnecessarily complicates the problem.
That is why there are different approaches to teaching the clarinet and how one method does not always fit all ...GBK
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-08-19 17:03
GBK wrote:
> With my beginners, I find that learning (or practicing) a passage using
> uneven rhythms unnecessarily complicates the problem.
That's probably true for beginners. In my case, I wasn't even introduced to the technique until I was already playing at a fairly advanced level.
I think this practice technique is more for players who already have a good idea (mentally) of the end product they are trying to accomplish (and who have already learned the notes through slow and deliberate practice) but need to work on achieving the muscle control to be able to keep everything even as they increase tempo (physically).
Ultimately, though, the goal is the same as what Bonade describes in "Clarinettist's Compendium" as a "snapping clean cut motion" of the fingers with one independent movement for each note. The difference, I think, is that with dotted rhythms, if you aren't "snappy" enough or your fingers don't move with sufficient independence, you get immediate audible feedback--so it *forces* you to develop those skills.
As GBK indicated, though, there are many ways to reach the same goal, and some work better for some than for others.
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Author: William Rappaport
Date: 2021-12-18 22:36
I always thought my finger technique was pretty good, but I then tried what Daniel Bonade recommended for “passage work,” which is “snapping, clean-cut finger motions.” I discovered that this works wonderfully for slurred playing, and has the bonus that it helps your articulation even when you’re practicing slurred passages. In fact, I often practice articulated music all slurred, with good right thumb leverage against the upper teeth and fast, snapping clean-cut finger motions. It takes time, but your hands’ relationship with the clarinet changes for the better this way, in my opinion. If I then apply the Bonade stop-staccato/finger preparation technique, it works so much better than if your hands are not built up to function in this way.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2021-12-21 04:53
I just wanted to make sure we are all on the same page. The stop-stacatto and the “finger-snap” movement are only PRACTICE techniques much like an athlete will do “lats” in the gym but that’s not the butterfly stroke (if you are a swimmer).
For good legato (smooth connectivity) Keith Stein said in his book, The Art of Clarinet Playing, “move your fingers as if they were suspended by spider webs.” The idea being that you DON’T want finger pops in nice, lyrical passages.
……………..Paul Aviles
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The Clarinet Pages
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