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Re: Is this an acceptable teaching method?

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2008-12-17 16:15

Well, actually, describing the problems you're having more specifically can help you and anyone here who wants to try to help find possible solutions.

Making sure all pads are covering their holes completely is extremely important, probably the first step. NorbertTheParrot's suggestion to try the "long" B with very light finger pressure on the B key both with and without the C key can help to confirm a leaky pad - the B *should* play equally well with or without pressing the C key. If it doesn't, the "crow's foot" needs to adjusted or the pads need to be re-seated. But air leaks from damaged or mis-adjusted pads higher on the instrument will have their greatest effect on the notes at the bottom of the clarinet (low E and the B you're having trouble with). So you may need to have a technician go over the instrument thoroughly. Again, if your teacher tries to play on your setup (if he hasn't already), he may know immediately that something's mechanically wrong that explains your difficulties.

Reeds that are too weak/soft can result in notes' not speaking immediately - especially when you're moving up or down over the register break. With no fingers on the keys when you play G, A, A-flat or B-flat, you may have a tendency to grip the mouthpiece with your embouchure to get the feeling of stability you aren't getting from holding the clarinet with your hands. This can cause pinching the reed on B after a throat-register note or pinching on the throat note itself when you suddenly take all your fingers off after playing B or any other note close above it. The sax's neckstrap doesn't completely eliminate this on a sax, especially on C-sharp, but it helps. The solution here is to find a reed/mouthpiece that plays easily but doesn't close up at the first hint of pressure against the reed.

If the instrument and reed/mouthpiece seem (to your teacher) to be OK, then you start looking for specific fingers that aren't completely covering their holes. This can be a tedious process and might even be different fingers each time - don't forget your left thumb, which has to catch the tip of the register key for B without opening up the bottom of the thumb hole.

These are all possible causes of the one specific difficulty you mention with B and sometimes G not speaking immediately when they are the second note in a leap over the break. If there other problems, there may be other possible solutions as well.

In your teacher's defense (I didn't at all mean to criticize his teaching methods - I've never seen him work firsthand) the general problem you describe as "I don't feel right with these notes" can only be solved by diving in and getting more comfortable by practicing. My basic point in my last post was that mindlessly repeating passages unsuccessfully is a prescription for failure and frustration, and that to improve and become more comfortable, your practicing has to be focused and deal with specifics. If you're already comfortable with the notes in both registers, then there's nothing really wrong with trying to get you to connect them. You will simply succeed faster if you concentrate your energy on the causes of the problems. There can't be any muscle memory in muscles that haven't done this before. You can only build that muscle memory by practicing - but practicing to correct specific mistakes, not to repeat them.

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