 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Psolomon
Date: 2014-08-29 07:29
Attachment: Screen Shot 2014-08-28 at 11.29.30 PM.png (39k)
Hi everyone! I'm having some trouble with a particular excerpt from Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherezade" (see attached image). My problem is the fast, clear articulation in the altissimo range - particularly anything above high D (above the staff) comes out as either pecky, airy, too loud, out of tune, or all of the above. Overall, i can't seem to play it cleanly and, to put it frankly, pleasant-sounding. Any advice would be appreciated!
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Author: maxopf
Date: 2014-08-29 07:45
I'm glad you posted this - we're going to be playing Scheherazade this year in my youth orchestra, and this is an excerpt I've had some trouble with articulation-wise. Curious to hear what people say about this.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-08-29 12:55
The cleanliness of ones articulation is magnified in the altissimo mainly because it is only the very tip of the reed that is vibrating up there. So it is even more critical to remember the basics:
The tongue is really only a damper. Sound is produced when the tongue LEAVES the reed (the tongue never HITS the reed). You only put as much force on the reed as you put on the roof of your mouth when saying the word 'ARTICULATE.' And most important of all, you should tongue using the very tip of your tongue to the very tip of the reed (Larry Combs would draw a dot at the very center of the reed just under the very edge so that you could visualize that spot as the target for the tip of your tongue).
That all said (that all being rudimentary) this excerpt exposes those of us with 'slower' tongues because double tonguing is almost impossible up there. If it is the speed of the excerpt that is what is troubling, I would slur the first two of that group of five staccatos to make it work.
...........Paul Aviles
Post Edited (2014-08-29 12:56)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-08-29 16:57
You need to ask yourself a couple of questions:
Is the speed of the articulated 16th notes a problem if you play it an octave lower?
If you can tongue those notes at a lower octave, then the problem in the actual passage isn't your tongue, it's the response time of the reed.
Can you play this with good sound and good pitch if you play it legato (slurred)?
This is the crux of the problem with this and similar passages. Good articulation is based on good legato. All you do when you articulate is separate the sound of the slurred passage - think of a stream of vowels in speech - with consonants (generally with your tongue lightly stopping the reed). If this passage comes out airy, out of tune, too loud or generally unpleasant sounding if you don't tongue the staccato notes, you have no hope of making it sound any better when you apply the tongue.
The reasons why it might sound airy,etc... in that register and not in a lower one may have more to do with your reeds, your general approach to producing sound in that register, lack of steady air flow, ineffective voicing or excessive or inadequate embouchure pressure. In addition, when you move your tongue you may be moving other parts of the embouchure or pressing the tongue too hard.
So, you need to tell us more about this problem (the passage, BTW, isn't easy to play well). How do you sound when you play the passage legato? How do you sound when you play it as written but an octave lower? Do you have a general problem with altissimo notes, or is this particular passage more difficult?
Karl
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Author: BflatNH
Date: 2014-08-29 18:22
I agree with kdk.
The problems you report are what I get when my reed and/or setup isn't working. You are working too hard to get notes in that range. If it has always been this way, then I might think of upgrading something. Some of my reeds are great over the break but have trouble as I go above the staff, others will go well to G6 (middle C = C4), and others will go consistently to C7. Balancing the reed in the mouthpiece (rotate left&toot-right&toot a la T Ridenour) is essential to better higher Altissimo for me. My barrel helped my Altissimo as well as the throat tones. Ligature type and placement on the mpc affects the ease of my reeds speaking in certain ranges.
Just some options
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-08-29 21:14
Also try different fingerings for those altissimo notes. Some are clearer than others, more in tune, and some are easier to articulate cleanly. I would probably use normal E, long F, play G as TR1xx,12xEb, then back to long F and regular E.
A strong and constant airstream. I would practice each note as a stacattissimo (is that a real word?) quarter note at maybe 80 bpm and focus on keeping an airstream and air pressure during that silence before I release the reed for the next note.
Counter to what Paul Aviles said, I know an excellent clarinetist or two who advocate touching the middle of the reed with the tip of their tongue (especially in the altissimo) It helps to dullen a "harsh" tongue and still achieves the result of stopping the reed from vibrating.
Personally, I tend to work towards what Paul suggests, tip to tip with minimal movement of the tongue, but just as an option, for high altissimo passages, you can try the middle of the reed as some others I've met have done.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-08-29 23:01
I just wanted to clarify the "tip of tongue to tip of reed" business. First off, I am a relatively recent convert to this technique ("God save us from the converts!") and as so perhaps I am slightly over zealous right now. It is as I said from Mr. Larry Combs (not from me) and the MAIN benefit (even though you get deadly accurate articulation this way) is the SOUND. I find that even though I have played with focused air most of my life, adding the focus of the air to the very point where everything happens, gives a much greater resonance and depth to the sound. Even in the experimental stages of trying this out (while still being uncomfortable with feeling the edge of the reed vibrate against your tongue) you can still hear a VERY noticeable difference (if you're paying attention that is).
............Paul Aviles
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Author: GBK
Date: 2014-08-29 23:32
sfalexi said:
> Also try different fingerings for those altissimo notes. Some are clearer
> than others, more in tune, and some are easier to articulate cleanly.
> I would probably use normal E, long F, play G as TR1xx,12xEb, then
> back to long F and regular E.
I think that's moving way too many fingers.
Instead, play the E and F with the standard fingerings and then go to the G with either:
TR xoo/ ooo (Eb)
or
TR oxo (right side key Eb/Bb) / ooo (Eb)
or
TR oxx (left pinky C#/G#) / xxo (Eb)
BTW - This passage is in unison with the piccolo and then joined by other woodwinds. The piccolo will be the voice heard the most.
...GBK
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-08-30 01:21
The sixteenth notes are with the whole upper woodwind section, so not very exposed at that point.
You might try to play the G in the sixteenth-note part as a harmonic of F4-C6 (thumb and register key). It isn't a high quality G if it were exposed and long enough to be heard clearly, but for me it's in tune enough and reliable in this kind of context.
Karl
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