 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: simon.obrien
Date: 2021-10-21 20:42
Hi all
I returned to clarinet about 6 months ago after 20 years (am now 39), I was previously grade 7 ABRSM.
As a teenager I was terrible with scales/arpeggio practice however this time around I am strangely enjoying the process of learning my scales, I have so far memorised my major scales up to 4 sharps/flats and am slowly doing the same for harmonic minors.
I am not following any particular ‘method’ in terms of my scales/arpeggio practice other than slowly moving my way around the Circle of Fifths.
I was wondering if people could offer advice/thoughts on recommended books/methods to make my practice more efficient and interesting, I have read posts talking about many books (Albert, Klose, Lazarus, Rubank, Baermann, Eugene Gay, etc, etc) but I am struggling to decide what would be best for me.
I am ideally looking for something mainly focussed on scales/interval practice but maybe with some small etudes to reinforce the scale work. I have 1-2 hours per day to practice depending on work/family commitments so something where I can take bite size chunks depending on my available time.
Many thanks
Simon O'Brien
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2021-10-22 00:19
I am a big fan of the Baermann Book III scale book (interrupted scales, returning scales, dom sevenths, thirds, sixths). Within the standard scale mode you can decide to play them more "etude like" by being more rubato, dynamically flexible, and changing up the rhythms and articulations.
Also I have become quite fond of the full line of the Kroepsch clarinet books. The first two are one or two line etude like exercises that go through all the scales and most of standard, Germanic classical music turns of phrase. Then books 3 and 4 take that up a notch harmonically and get you a bit beyond the basic scale structure. Really good stuff.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: StanD
Date: 2021-10-22 01:25
Simon,
Good for you! PUT IN THE TIME AND IT WILL PAY OFF. I’m also a fan of Baermann, Kroepsch plus Opperman, Stark, etc. If you’ Interested, contact me off this board and I’ll send you (gratis) my revised Baermann III. Guaranteed to keep you busy and in the key sequence you’e following.
Stan
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2021-10-22 01:38
The books mentioned are the same ones I've used. You can expand the scale/arpeggio idea by going into music stores and thumbing through all the books they have. You will find some that have more "contemporary" arpeggios, are more difficult, etc.
One of my favourites is Opperman's "Contemporary Chordal Sequences". Some of these are quite easy, others not so much, and some have double flats and other difficult patterns to read.
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Post Edited (2021-10-22 01:39)
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Author: simon.obrien
Date: 2021-10-22 16:13
Thanks all for your kind input, a lots of consensus for Baermann and Kroepsch so I will definitely put those to the top of my list. I am really quite excited to delve deeper into the clarinet and get myself back to a standard where I can go for my Grade 8.
StanD, thanks for your kind offer however I was unable to find your contact details from the bboard.
Simon O'Brien
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Author: brycon
Date: 2021-10-22 19:15
I suggest you make your own scale book, what early conservatory students called a zilbaldone or a "heap of things."
When you find a bit of music that needs further practicing (or, perhaps, a bit of music you simply enjoy playing), write it down in a book of staff paper and turn it into a little exercise.
Take, for example, the first sixteenth notes in the Mozart concerto: C-B-C-B, D-C-B-A (to which I could add a bridge back upward of: G-A-B-C). Move this pattern up to the second scale degree, D-C-D-C, E-D-C-B, A-B-C-D, the third scale degree, and so forth. Very quickly, then, these few beats of Mozart become something similar to what you'd find in Baermann or any other scale book.
In my experience, this type of practicing is much more intellectually engaging than reading from a scale book. In addition to working out your fingers, it builds transposition skills, strengthens ear training, makes you more intimately familiar with the repertoire: in short, it strengthens the connections among your ears, mind, and body, which should be a primary goal in your practicing at any rate.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2021-10-22 20:07
brycon wrote:
> I suggest you make your own scale book, what early conservatory
> students called a zilbaldone or a "heap of things."
>
> When you find a bit of music that needs further practicing (or,
> perhaps, a bit of music you simply enjoy playing), write it
> down in a book of staff paper and turn it into a little
> exercise.
>
Indeed, this works for everything in life, at least for me ... As an IT systems engineer/architect/synthesizer/whatever I have a bunch of things saved off for reference - oddball things I read, things I wrote, snippets of cool code that I translate from one dialect to another, etc. I also find that if I actually write up a few notes after reading an article and save them away, I'll remember it far longer than if I just read it. Just referred someone to Graphviz yesterday, in fact. Ancient but supported cool tool, and I had a bunch of little things to help her get started.
But, as always, YMMV.
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