 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Clarence1
Date: 2012-09-06 16:33
Ever have those days where everything you're playing just doesn't sound right? Lately every time I sit down to practice, it's a wreck. Fumbly fingers, out of tune, etc. I can barely get through scales! I try to take a breather and then get back to it feeling refreshed, but it is still just as bad.
Please tell me I'm not alone!
Post Edited (2012-09-07 01:08)
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Author: Garth Libre
Date: 2012-09-06 17:55
I'm one of those people who actually enjoys 10 to 15 minutes of long tones. Even if I only played three good octaves of long tones for the day, I'd consider myself enriched and I find I can always learn something new. Blocks come in many forms. Writers, athletes, lovers, actors, musicians ... all suffer from blocks. Most recover as long as they keep doing something in their fields no matter how minimal.
Garth, 305-981-4705. garthlibre@yahoo.com
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2012-09-06 19:28
No really profound advice from me, but in my experience when everything's out of whack, one of two things is going on: either you've gotten into a run of really unresponsive reeds (either too hard or too soft or just too unbalanced) or your instrument has developed a leak that's making you work too hard and causing everything to tense up, or you've gotten into a rut of playing material that's too difficult or so familiar that you're playing it too fast and losing control.
The general solution would be to (1) step back and try to identify the real problem in more specific terms and then (2) to try to solve the basic problem by making an appropriate change in your routine. If it's a leaky clarinet, you need to have it repaired. If it's a reed problem you'd have to start by finding a couple of reeds that feel comfortable (a complex topic with a lot of issues that only matter if the ones you're playing on aren't responding well). If you've been spending too much time on "reach" music, don't drop it completely but spend some of your practice time - especially as you start - on easier, more tuneful things that won't get you tied up. Long tones can work, if you have the patience for them. Easier scales played *slowly,* or at least at a slower tempo than your upper limit, accomplish much the same thing or even a slow etude. When you go to tackle the harder music, practice problem areas slowly with the best sound and control you're capable of to teach your brain and your "muscle memory" where each note leads without fumbling.
Above all, isolate specific problems - you probably can't solve "everything ... just doesn't sound right,... it's a wreck. Fumbly fingers, out of tune, etc.," in one magic stroke (unless it's a leaky clarinet), but if you can figure out what you're fumbling over, what notes are out of tune and what's wrong with the sound when you aren't fumbling and out of tune, you are more likely to tackle each problem successfully.
Good luck,
Karl
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-09-06 19:33
Clarence,
Have you tried putting instrument away for a few days?
Sitting down with the question "Is this gonna be another one of those days?
-or-
Picking up the horn day after day telling yourself "I'm gonna beat this mental-block to a pulp!"
Well, neither approach may offer what you are looking for.
I've needed to "give permission" to students to put the dumb clarinet down for 4, 5, or even 6! days, and "allow" them to fill their practice time with something they enjoy when similar frustrations arose.
Strangely enough, sudden improvements in technical skill can be fore-shadowed by a similar struggling as you seem to be describing. I can't claim to understand the mechanism by which it occurs, but I have seen it first-hand on more than one occasion.
-Jason
Post Edited (2012-09-08 06:32)
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Author: Paula S
Date: 2012-09-07 11:26
Clarence,
Are you under any pressure from other people to get it right or can you take time out as Jason suggests, to stand back and think?
Until recently I have had quite a long gap where I only played my clarinet on rare occasions. I am good at sight-reading so I didn't really concentrate on improving my playing for years.
I was put under a lot of pressure in my late teens to audition for very competitive performance courses at prestigious music colleges. I spent a year in pursuit of the perfect embouchure and got so obsessed with it that I would reset my embouchure with every phrase if the sound wasn't exactly as I wanted it. This obviously led to a spiral of problems. I managed to cure it by going to desperate measures and making myself breathe through my nose instead of my mouth. In that way I was much less able to reset my embouchure.
Coming back to focussed playing/learning has been great for me in that I am not under any pressure from anyone other than myself. I am fortunate in that my career does not depend on it and I actually love playing now.
If I have a bad reed day, I can leave the clarinet in the case and sort some new ones out. I have found watching other people fascinating. If your fingers are falling over watch people who have great fingering. There are lots of videos on You Tube. When I was younger I probably would have just thought they can do it because they can and then I would try to do it without analysing 'why' and 'how' they do it. Keeping their movements very economical, using alternative fingerings, holding certain fingers down which make transitions easier in passages. I even play along with some of them![[happy]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley12.gif) , then if I goof up, they carry on and I can catch up later in the piece.
I can also replay sections of the videos, then stop them while I have a practice, then start them again. The great thing is I am listening and learning even in places where I am not playing.
Good luck!
Post Edited (2012-09-07 11:27)
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Author: JHowell
Date: 2012-09-08 04:58
If you focus on what's wrong all the time, you'll get more of what's wrong and will fail to hear what's right. When you are practicing, you are in complete control of the course. You can set up the course so that you will succeed, or you can set it up so that you will fail. Choose many small, sure successes over one big failure. Challenge yourself, but avoid destructive testing. Abandon pride in how good you think you are or should be, accept where you are today, figure out what is good, and work to use what is already good to improve other things.
I've had students who wanted to prove how good they were by showing how displeased they were with what they were doing. This behavior has the opposite effect. The more frustrated and furious you are, the worse you will play and the more frustrated you will become. Be grateful; it is a privilege to practice. Don't waste the gift of today on being dissatisfied; do your best. Trust and enjoy the process. The outcome will take care of itself.
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-09-08 05:48
Put the dumb clarinet in its case for a week:
Pick it up afterwards and see how the outcome suits you.
Simplicity is sublime.
-Jason
Post Edited (2012-09-08 14:42)
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Author: JHowell
Date: 2012-09-08 13:32
I disagree with the time-offers.
This is an opportunity to change how you think, which is most likely the problem.
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Author: bethmhil
Date: 2012-09-08 18:40
Two words: Chill out.
BMH
Illinois State University, BME and BM Performance
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