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 Re: How much air to put through the horn?
Author: Arnoldstang 
Date:   2021-02-23 01:47

It is common to hear novices play with a weak clarinet
tone. This usually goes hand in hand with a soft reed but just increasing
the reed strength doesn’t fix the issue entirely.
Instructors use language to help students fix this. An example of this language might be “put more air through the instrument” or “use fast air”.
To the student this confuses the issue as “pp” is now “mp” , “mf” is now “f”. Support doesn’t equate to just playing louder.

Support involves an isometric approach involving two forces; blowing and abdominal engagement. Simply put to achieve a pp sound level we blow at a mp
level and the abdominal tension mollifies this to pp. It is counter intuitive as we would think support would make things louder. What it does is turn a weak pp tone into a more solid tone with more integrity. As in language we have a distinction between the words “soft” and “weak.

Support at ff level is less significant in my opinion but it does help contain the tone somewhat. ie. a less aggressive loud.

The benefit of support is control. Your batting average for clean high soft attacks should be higher. Additionally I think there is an intensity difference. ie soft vs weak.

Here is an exercise to demonstrate how air support effects air flow. Blow air to the palm of your hand about 3 inches away. As you blow tighten or push out with your abdominals. I experience the air slowing down with the increase of abdominal tension.

Freelance woodwind performer
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 How much air to put through the horn?  new
BaconLord 2021-02-19 04:29 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
kdk 2021-02-19 05:25 
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Paul Aviles 2021-02-19 06:05 
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Tom H 2021-02-19 06:21 
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eac 2021-02-20 21:55 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
Tom H 2021-02-21 00:17 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
Arnoldstang 2021-02-23 01:47 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
Paul Globus 2021-02-23 05:36 
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Luuk 2021-02-23 14:32 
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Paul Aviles 2021-02-23 18:56 
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kdk 2021-02-23 23:03 
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BethGraham 2021-02-24 22:00 
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Paul Aviles 2021-02-24 00:43 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
Arnoldstang 2021-02-24 09:38 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
Paul Aviles 2021-02-24 19:02 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
EricBlack 2021-02-25 01:55 
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Arnoldstang 2021-02-25 21:02 
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TomS 2021-03-02 07:46 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
alihanima 2023-07-27 13:17 
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Chris P 2023-07-26 01:23 
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Paul Aviles 2023-07-27 22:20 
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spikey1973 2023-07-28 01:40 
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Julian ibiza 2023-07-28 11:30 
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lisapurnellsw 2024-02-22 08:21 
 Re: How much air to put through the horn?  new
Julian ibiza 2024-02-22 11:07 


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