Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2021-10-04 22:38
Here's a couple further ideas for working on a difficult passage. These are either for the advanced or for the desperate. I've used them all at one time or another. Results have varied.
Play it 100 times. Or more. Ricardo Morales was quoted as suggesting this. A passerby once stop and listened to Vladimir Horowitz practicing, and reported that the great pianist spent over two hours intensely focused on a single bar. For another example, as one of the young Sviatoslav Richter's early lessons with great teacher Heinrich Neuhaus, he was assigned Liszt's Sonata, a monumental and demanding work; the next week when Richter played if for Neuhaus, the teacher pointed to a passage known as one of the piano literature's touchstones for difficulty, and he asked how Richter had dealt with it . . . Richter said he just kept repeating it until it came out right.
Practice it on your instrument with fingers only, no tone. You can tell by sound and feel if your fingers are timing it right. Watch tv or something and just keep your fingers on the clarinet, repeating the passage over and over. Again, you'll know when it's right, even if you mind is focused elsewhere. The neuro-muscular mechanism operates, ideally, without conscious thought.
Watch your fingers, either directly or in a mirror, to make sure they're not doing something silly without telling you. I reached a speed plateau on descending scales, especially articulated, and it was only when I eyeballed my fingers I realized that my lh was doing this: when I lowered my index finger the middle finger would fly up, and when I lowered my middle finger the ring finger would fly up. Etc. The faster I was playing they higher they'd fly, and it looked like insanity. That came out ok at slower tempos, but broke down at fast ones. Ha, probably had been doing that since I started clarinet.
Play the passage all tongued instead of slurred. This seems to turn up the glare on timing issues.
Listen to someone that's really good, then just play your bit like they would! Seriously, inspiration is a thing. Your appreciative response to great playing helps focus your own efforts, and, again, it's partly unconscious.
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
