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Re: Beginner sounding very flat

Author: nellsonic
Date: 2020-02-12 09:48

I'm amazed this is so contentious. I've started hundreds of beginners as a band director and at least scores as a private instructor. It doesn't take that many to quickly figure out what works if you pay attention.

Here are some of the general guidelines that work for me:

1) Have a good mouthpiece that's middle of the road - not too open, not too closed. No weird or unpredictable features. With true beginners I, like so many, prescribe the Fobes Debut. Mouthpiece shaped objects that come with most clarinets, including Buffets, should never be played by beginners except perhaps as an emergency back-up if needed. A student should expect to spend $30 on a decent mouthpiece if they want to sound good and play in tune.

2) Begin with soft reeds and progress as needed - quickly at the beginning and then at the pace indicated by the results the student is getting from there. I like Juno reeds to start with as the profile is designed to get sound EASILY and transition well to Vandorens, etc. after first good habits have been set. Vandorens will produce a BETTER sound but are often a struggle when used by a beginner. I have beginners get a 3 pack of strength 2 and one of strength 2.5 to start with. When the 2's are used up/broken, there are no more 2's. They play 2's for an average of 1 to 3 weeks. Starting on a softer reed allows the student to explore the relationship of pressure, air, and voicing without having to rely on pressure to do all the work. Starting on too hard a reed just means developing a good bite. Embouchure muscles and overall sensitivity take TIME to develop. I want the experience of producing a sound on the clarinet to feel as natural and easy as possible from the very beginning. I don't want to deny the student their best opportunity to learn about all this for themselves.

3) Voicing and pitch awareness need to be taught from the beginning. Some beginners play flat because the reed is too soft or old, but most play flat because their tongue is too low in the back. I know there are other approaches, but in America this is often the situation. When first producing a sound we start with hissing the word "key" and feeling the tongue connect with the top molars. It takes most students a few weeks to get the hang of this, but once it's set it's generally set to stay. They check the voicing by playing the barrel and mouthpiece into a tuner. We also sing quite a bit and play materials that have recorded accompaniments. Students are quite sensitive to pitch and able to make adjustments when trained in this way.

It generally takes a few months to a couple of years for a student to progress to a typical "mature" reed strength. When everything else is set up right this is not a hinderance to developing range or good intonation. Reed strength is increased according to what the student sounds like and not based on a schedule. Some who do very well move up quickly, some who do very well don't. There's not a correlation between using stronger reeds earlier and long-term success.

There's more of course, but those are my thoughts for now. Use reeds that are hard enough but not too hard. The sound should be natural, full, and stable - never forced or airy (hard reed) or wavery and thin (soft reed).

I agree that the student in question might be on a reed that is too soft at this point, but probably wasn't months ago. These other issues also need attention though! The clarinet is a system and each element affects the others. Treating a symptom rather than looking at the situation holistically can lead to "fixing" one problem by causing another. Once all the elements start to work reasonably well they tend to reinforce each other positively.

Anders

Post Edited (2020-02-12 12:12)

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2020-02-11 17:00