 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Irwin J
Date: 2015-02-06 23:38
Hi, I'm an amateur playing sporadically for the last 15 years in community bands. Many years ago I took lessons from the 2nd chair of the Florida Phil for about 3 years until the Florida Phil disbanded and he moved away. During those 3 years, practicing constantly and playing every Sunday for my teacher whom I worshiped, my technique and tone increased dramatically. But when I stopped, I fell into bad habits of not practicing regularly, etc., primarily because I was busy with my non-music career. Now however as I wind down that career, I want to get back into playing and improving. I just bought a Buffet Greenline Festival (my old Leblanc Opus II is just too hard to maintain intonation anymore, and Linda Brannen wasn't interested in overhauling it yet again). I use an R Spriggs ligature with my Vandoren V-12's #3, and a Gregg Smith mouthpiece.
If anyone has suggestions that would help me get back into the saddle so to speak, I'd love hearing them - whether practice materials/routines, or anything else.
Please also share any thoughts on my mouthpiece/ligature/reed combination with the new Buffet Greenline Festival. Thanks very much!
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2015-02-07 00:32
The Festival is very free-blowing and easy over the register break. Should work with every reed/MP of choice.
Some Opus:s can have lousy intonation to be Leblancs. Otherwise, no Buffets that I have tested can compete with the intonation of a good Leblanc, including the high-end Toscas and Divines. Some Selmers can.
You will probably find that the throat tones are relatively sharp (probably a design decision, to allow for pulling the barrel). The clarion has had a falling pitch ending with flat B5 and C6 on all Festivals I have tried but one, which happened to be a Greenline. :-)
Still, the Festival would be my #1 Buffet choice.
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Author: yaseungkim
Date: 2015-02-07 00:34
My 12 year old son has perfect pitch ear, and he tells me M15 is the mouthpiece to play and we accidentally discovered that his new teacher also plays M15. I picked out four different teacher's music piece performances from youtube, played them for him(without him seeing the videos), and he said his current teachers sounds the best in the blind test.... and that's how we picked his current teacher. That says something - M15. Of course, we had to change the reed with his new M15. We went with Rico Grand Concert Select, Think Blank #3, he used to play Vandoren #3.5. Tonal quality is absolutely perfect according to my son with his new setup, and i agreed.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2015-02-07 01:42
Now might be the perfect time to take some lessons again. I'm sure that's already occurred to you. Sometimes after a long time off there's a desire to get back into shape before putting oneself under scrutiny, but it's actually a great time to establish some positive new habits and perspectives. Even one or two lessons with the right person at the beginning of the rebuilding process could be invaluable.
Enjoy your renewed clarinet adventure! 
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Author: Irwin J
Date: 2015-02-07 02:24
> Now might be the perfect time to take some lessons again. I'm
> sure that's already occurred to you. Sometimes after a long
> time off there's a desire to get back into shape before putting
> oneself under scrutiny, but it's actually a great time to
> establish some positive new habits and perspectives. Even one
> or two lessons with the right person at the beginning of the
> rebuilding process could be invaluable.
>
> Enjoy your renewed clarinet adventure!
couldn't agree more! I'm already looking for teachers in Fort Lauderdale FL and Asheville NC (I'm 6 months at each place). If anyone knows of teachers in either of those places, I'd love a referral, thanks!
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2015-02-07 03:03
If you search here for "Asheville", you should get a thread that's a few months old regarding teachers in the Asheville area.
CarlT
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Author: yaseungkim
Date: 2015-02-07 09:51
I am a firm believer in the notion that the best teacher for someone is not necessarily the best teacher for you... Before you decide on a teacher, you should know what you want from your teacher, and that teacher must be ready, willing, and able to give you the lessons you want and need.
Best musician is not necessarily the best teacher for you, he/she might be the best for someone else, but not for you. Ask yourself what you want to improve on, make a list, then prioritize your list, then ask yourself if that teacher is the right person for your needs. Don't go by what someone else says about that teacher, interview him/her, take trial lessons.... ask what he/she thinks of your music, ask how she will help you, then ask how she will help to get you to where you want to be.
Ultimately, there has to be chemistry between you and your teacher.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2015-02-07 19:16
Practice Materials: "The Vandoren Etude and Exercise Book for Clarinet"
Carl Fischer, #WF55
Kroepsch - 416 Progressive Daily Studies for Clarinet - Volume 1
Carl Fischer, #O312
Turn off computers, cellphones, tablets,etc. - they are a horrible time waster. Then get into a practice room and have at it. It needs to become a regular, consistent part of your daily routine.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-02-07 19:46
Nobody mentioned practice material, so let me address that a little. The basis of clarinet technique begins with the Baerman Method Book III. You should practice those scales, scales in intervals, and broken chord patterns every day until they are permanently etched in your brain and your fingers. They are the primary technical key to opening up facile performance in virtually any music idiom and certainly the bulk of the classical repetoire. Practice them evenly, as smoothly and connectedly as possible while maintaing a good, steady air column.
The most useful etude book to thorougly absorb is the Advanced Studies by Victor Polatschek. These can be quite challenging, because they avoid cliche patterns and stick close to the creative invention of actual compositions. They need, like the Baerman scales, to be practiced at three tempi--very slow, medium, and as fast as you can smoothly and evenly play them. And you wil certainly want to listen to actual recordings of the original orchestral and chamber works upon which these studies are based, to get some sense of their style and purpose.
For more conventional but still useful technique of the "warhorse" predictible variety, the Rode Twenty Studies for Clarinet is a good bet. To be thorougly saturated in the Romantic idiom of Weber and Spohr, the Baerman Method books 4 and 5 can be a lot of fun, and you will certainly be able to play diminished seventh chords in any key or context after working through them.
The Frederick Thurston Passage Studies, books 1, 2 and 3 are smiliar to the Polatschek in presenting actual ideas of composers rather than dry, predictible and mechanical melanges. Book 3 is quite difficult but very much worth working through (and I do mean "working."
So, in sum, if you can play through the Baerman Method, Books 3, 4, and 5, the Polatschek and Rode studies, and the Thurston Books, you will have a very soild foundation to build on and you will find it easier to sight read many pieces of music that may at first look unapproachable.
Two books to develop musical style are H. Voxman's Classical Studies for Clarinet (Rubank Series) and Larry Clark's recent transcriptions of J. S. Bach, Six Cello Suites. Both are very reasonably priced, widely available and contain some great music.
I also agree with Jack Kissinger's suggestions below that if you need to start closer to the "beginning" than my suggestions above, The Hite Melodious Studies are a good place to begin. I would also add the works of Abe Galper, which are pedagogically very sound.
Post Edited (2015-02-07 22:58)
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2015-02-07 20:52
I'll second the recommendations for lessons.
My suggestion for someone working on their own, trying to knock off rust and get back up to speed is to get the two volumes of David Hite's Melodious and Progressive Studies. Start at the beginning of volume 1. You likely will be able to read right through some of the earlier studies. IMO, that's a good thing. It brings back fundamentals and gives positive feedback. Eventually, you will come to a study that you can't quite read through. Then you work on it until you can. That the studies are melodious makes them more pleasurable to work through than typical scales and exercises. That they are progressive, gradually increasing in difficulty, means you are not likely to be banging your head against a wall getting frustrated early on.
I think the Rose Etudes are similar in nature but with a steeper slope.
Good luck.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-02-07 23:24
"Ultimately, there has to be chemistry between you and your teacher."
yaseungkim: I think you meant "ultimately" in the sentence above as the "most important," or "culmination of other reasons to learn under a teacher," and I couldn't agree more.
But your sentence nonetheless made me smile, if not for a slightly different angle on "ultimately."
I learned under names both known and unknown to this bboard. Some of these teachers were people I did not like when studying with them. They'd point out my mistakes, and cut me down to size far more than complement me.
Often though, in the end, or "ultimately" as you say, these were the ones I often learned the most from, and had the fondest memories of.
This wasn't necessarily you "Mr. X.," but regardless, rest in peace. I hated that
old fashion darn metronome on the piano that would move back and forth like a grandfather clock, that heaven help me if my scales were one micron off from timing with, even if I find myself doing the same now as a teacher.
You're with me whenever I play or teach. I miss you.
Post Edited (2015-02-08 02:50)
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