Author: Max S-D
Date: 2023-01-04 00:33
Make sure you aren't biting to get those notes, since that will thin them out. You can get away with that on soprano clarinet, but the bass won't tolerate it. Staying loose and relaxed is really important. Also, make sure you are voicing them right. The fact that you aren't "blasting off" to higher partials (I like that phrasing) means that you are probably in the general vicinity of where you want to be voicing, but try using a bit more and a bit less arch in the back of the tongue to see if that can remove some of the stridency you are hearing. Both situations can add stridency of different flavors, so try varying that and seeing what changes.
Lastly, remember that you you have your head clamped (via the embouchure) to a big instrument, which is a lot more of a mechanical contraption than a soprano clarinet and has a lot more tube than a soprano clarinet. Rattles and buzzes that might be driving you crazy could be transmitted as vibration via your jaw and may not be very present the sound that the audience will hear from more than a few feet away. Also, those right hand notes are very far away! Sometimes the left hand notes can sound more strident by comparison just because they are much closer to our ears.
A big part of playing all instruments is learning how what we hear and feel as players translates to what the audience hears, but I find the physical dimensions of the bass clarinet can make that difference quite a bit greater than on soprano clarinet or any of the saxophones.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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