Author: DougR
Date: 2023-01-14 03:22
Wow, lots of advice! I love bass, love playing it and am constantly listening for ways to improve my playing.
The clarion (IMO) is the register that kind of separates real professional-level players from the less skilled and/or less practiced. When I listen to Youtube bassists, especially symphonic players who do little "this-is-the-bass-clarinet" explainers, I'm alway struck by the "ping" their clarion registers have, and I'm attempting to emulate it in my practice.
One thing I might try, were I you, is to set up a lesson or two either in person or via Zoom, with a top-level symphonic bassist; my theory is that whatever they're doing to hold a chair in a major symphony, I would want to know about. This includes the reeds, mouthpieces, etc., they use--but it ALSO includes their air and their oral cavity (particularly tongue placement), because these all have a major impact on tone quality.
(By way of illustration, listen to THIS guy. His commentary is entirely in Italian, which I don't speak a word of, but listen to his tone! That right there is a tone quality I personally aspire to, and it's good to 'bookmark' it in the brain.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClgLhpSgFoM
Also, I LOVE this guy--he plays more excerpts, over a wider dynamic range than the clip above, which tells you a lot about how the bass ought to sound top to bottom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21bcWIWJvFM&t=1057s
I've studied with some serious heavy hitters on bass, and most of them follow Joe Allard's advice on tongue position (similar to Max's point, above), which is: keep the tongue high in the oral cavity to more efficiently direct the air; project your supported air (ALWAYS supported) to an imaginary point across the room; and never play on a reed that chokes (closes up) when you try to put a lot of air through it.
I personally find the more aware of high tongue position I am, the more 'ping' I hear in my clarion register. Try it, see if it improves your sound.
Good luck! It's a beautiful instrument, and best wishes for finding your sound!
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The Clarinet BBoard
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