 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rusty
Date: 2008-12-05 04:30
I have loved the sound of the clarinet and I thought I would give it a try.
I stuck at it for about 6 weeks and felt that this is ridiculous I`ll never play the B over the break with any speed or without a squeek.
So ,I solved the problem by buying a plateau clarinet. Marvellous it allowed me to play with confidence in a little band.
But after 12 months I thought, if other people can do it why can`t I?. After all I`m only 76 and I love a challenge. So I went back to trying.
My system was I kept a clarinet on a stand and every morning and before retiring I picked it up and practiced notes like A to B or Bb to B, not necessarily producing a note. 100s of them at increasing speed. I found it essential to feel the fingers in place before blowing.
Anyway it only took a few months and the plateau is now collecting dust and I play (in modesty) 2nd clarinet in our local band.
I`m thrilled.
Post Edited (2008-12-05 04:33)
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2008-12-05 12:05
How impressive that you stuck with it! If only our younger students wouldn't give up after only a couple of tries. Congratulations, that would indeed be thrilling to play in a band after achieving so much!
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2008-12-05 12:35
The worst thing a teacher can say it is hard because of this "over the break" mentality...
.soon students will say it is hard because it is over the break...etc...
these are sayings/words that should be eliminated from the teacher's vocabulary.
David Dow
Post Edited (2008-12-05 12:35)
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-12-05 13:28
Congratulations on making 2nd clarinet in the band! I'm glad you posted about your experience, because reading about your success will help encourage and inspire other adults who wonder if they're "too old" to learn the clarinet. Balderdash, pish-tush, malarkey and phooey, say I: Many people who use this site began learning to play clarinet as adults, went back to playing as adults after long "I quit" periods (I'm 60 and a comebacker, having quit for nine years after high school) and/or learned to double on new and different instruments as adults. Hail experience, patience and low cunning...!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: huff n' puff
Date: 2008-12-05 13:39
Hi, D. Dow,
Quite right...... get your instrument in good order, and just get on with it. analyse your fingering techniques etc, and in no time the break will just take care of itself. Yes there are lots of teachers out there with outdated inherited concepts- in all subjects.
I wasted a lot of time "learning" from lousy computer instructors who no doubt were good at handling computers, but had no idea at all about the noble art of actually teaching.
and Lelia...... as a 147 year old beginner, I agree with you. Off to do a bit of skydiving now...... Stay young.............. H&P
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Author: hans
Date: 2008-12-05 13:45
Rusty,
Congratulations. It's a clear triumph of "you're never too old to learn" over "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", both of which are common folk wisdoms here.
Hans (who is 63 and continues to learn new tricks)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2008-12-05 20:41
The plateau clarinet is a handy thing to know about.
I had an accomplished saxophone student who could NOT get her fingers to cover the open tone holes on her clarinet. She failed in her attempt to learn to play the clarinet because she could not tolerate the slow practice needed to plant the balls of her fingers.
I have a colleague, brilliant player, who had a stroke and lost some of his fine motor control. His fingers would leak on his clarinet tone holes, and he actually quit playing it. His floppy fingers still wail on his tenor sax, though.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Rusty
Date: 2008-12-05 21:08
Yes Bob I found the plateau a big help. They make the clarinet so easy to play.
Teachers would probably hate me for saying this but why not start on a plateau and you are up playing both ranges in a few weeks, which is encouraging, and then move to the open hole clarinet as time and patience permits? Of course there is a cost factor here.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2008-12-05 21:31
The trickiness with the break comes with not being aware that the holes may not be covered all the way, either by a finger slightly out of place or a misadjusted instrument. The plateau would eliminate the possibility of a finger slightly out of place.
Unfortunately, it's quite often ascribed to some combination of airstream and embouchre, where that's very likely not the problem. As a fix, though, people might first "try harder" by changing their embouchre or airstream, and in the process their fingers may tend to push on the keys harder, which causes the holes to be covered properly, and BAM! a connection is made between going over the break and screwing with the air.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: huff n' puff
Date: 2008-12-06 12:02
Hi, Rusty,
Lots of good advice there.......... can I add another that probably doesn't apply, but might just.......... make sure that your pinkie fingernails are not too long- especially on your right hand. Anything that can cause your fingertips to wander off the toneholes is a no-no.
1- check the padding and adjustments- that you can blow easily a long B with both left and right hand pinkies......... with and without the aid of the long C key.
2. Relax........ sometimes if you think you won't manage the break, then you might not.
The break is not the big bogey it is made out to be- one day you will wake up, and wonder what it was all about.- just keep your instrument in good order.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2008-12-06 15:22
It's not easy. If a scale is smooth and clean everywhere except for a noticeable difference - a small gap - at the break, then the fingers are not in coordination. Another test I like to refer to is Marcellus in the last page of the Mozart concerto, the somewhat infamous break-crossing passage that basset-clarinetists always take an octave down, which Marcellus makes sound creamily smooth.
A couple months ago I started working on the (1st) break at the start of every practice session. My focus on this has gradually evolved. Some ideas follow, with the CAVEAT that I am a self-teaching amateur nobody (ok, Tony?) . . .
- the first finger and thumb must be agile and coordinated, both individually and with each other, so you may benefit from exercising those things;
- coordination of pinkies comes into play, especially where they can pull adjacent fingers slightly off their holes, so you may benefit from exercising those things;
- one should to be able to slur not only up accross the break, but down to a twelfth below, as in up & down from throat Bb to low E etc., cleanly and reliably - doing this repeatedly will reveal finger coordination issues more audibly then just crossing the corresponding break, because here they produce squeaks;
- tonguing lightly and quickly up and down accross the break is another good exercise, as in Uhl #38.
Despite the above, the Marcellus standard remains beyond me :-) - though the gap is lessening.
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2008-12-06 16:11
what holds people back is that the pads are usually imbalanced, creating a weak seal on the lower joints. that's why alot of people have this fear of going over the break; not because of their issues, but mechanical issues. a properly adjusted clarinet + a good mouthpiece will eliminate this fear.
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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