 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2024-07-16 18:12
Tweaking your clarinet tone without changing mouthpieces, yet. These are not in the order of importance, use your own judgment.
1-Changing barrels can make a big difference in your tone. Finding the right barrel can make your tone slightly darker, brighter, duller, more vibrant etc. There are so many custom options today but it’s important to find the right one and that means trying them. The thing you need to be careful of is intonation. Some can help improve intonation in your throat tone and upper register, others will make them worse.
2-Bell, yes the bell. I’ve found changing my standard bell to a custom one enhanced my break, throat and B and C above the staff. Make sure you check the bottom E and F too,
3-Ligatures, wow, there are so many to choose from these days. Finding the right one for you makes the reed vibrate differently. I like my Rovner because it dampens the upper partials giving me a feeling of a darker and more mellow tone. Some do the opposite, some make the tone brighter, duller, etc. You have to try them with several different reeds to make sure but, buyer beware. No matter what anyone says, they only make a small difference to the listener. You may hear a big difference but it’s not likely to carry. The main improvement comes the way your reeds react and the way you feel making it easier to achieve the desired effect. So yes, they can make a difference. When I had my students try new ones I’d sit at the opposite side of the room to see if I heard the same different as the student did. If the liked it and it made a subtle difference I recommend it. At least most are not an enormous expense, most.
4-Reeds, oh boy, reeds. Different makes and models, different strengths, cane or otherwise. The main thing about making a change is that then you have to work at it and stick to it or in a few months you will go back to your old comfort level. Especially if you go to a more resistant reed to get the sound you want, stick to it, work at until that becomes natural for you.
5- Of course mouthpieces. That’s making a major change not just tweaking but a different one can make an enormous difference if you find the right one for you. If you stay with the one you have getting it “tweaked” by an expert that is experienced can make a slight difference but if it’s your only number one mouthpiece, it may go south slightly too. Be aware, it’s an art as well as a science no matter what some people tell you.
5b-Every mouthpiece is different, every one. I used to stock about a dozen different MPs for my students to try. If one worked well for them I’d have them order at least three of them and pick the best which is what I did when choosing them.
6- You, yes you. We’re all different so doing everything exactly like someone else might not be the best way for you. So many things to think about and experiment to try to make a slight change in your sound or control. Single lip, double lip, upper and lower teeth placement, teeth size, jaw strength, tongue size and placement, a little higher, a little lower, experiment, I’ve got some students to achieve major improvements in tone and tonguing by slightly moving the height of the tongue. Keeping the throat free and “opened” as much as possible even in the upper register, “closed throat” means a more chocked , constricted and smaller tone throughout. Of course good breath control, breathing properly not high in the chest. So there are things to think about but one has to be opened minded, willing to change something and be diligent until it becomes natural. I did it, you can too.
7- Finally, have a sound in your inner ear from listening to other players that you carry with you at ll time so you know what you want to sound like otherwise you’re just guessing. Good luck.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2024-07-20 21:34)
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Author: Toolaholic
Date: 2024-07-17 03:30
Or sometimes you blow bright like me! Never forget how you got this dark deep tone from my Yamaha 622 II bass and 650 soprano clarinet. And when you said to me “it’s you! You blow bright!”. That was a great visit and a great lesson in voicing the clarinet . I’ll have visit again sometime and let you try my new Yamaha CSG III soprano clarinet.
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Author: David Eichler
Date: 2024-07-17 12:12
You forgot to mention the instrument. Even different copies of the same model instrument can have a noticeably different tone quality.
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Author: Alexey
Date: 2024-07-17 18:44
My recipe could be smth like this:
1. We should have a very clear idea of how we want to sound.
Any verbal concepts like "diamond wrapped in velvet", "rather wet than dry", bell-like quality", "rich", "chocolaty", "dark", "bright" etc are good but not enough because they are too vague.
Any complex idea like I want to sound a bit like this clarinetist and a bit like that clarinetist is also a bit vague.
Ideally, it should be mainly only one clarinetist. Why?
Because "Aim small, miss small. Aim big, miss big".
So, if there is a clarinetist we like, it's useful to listen to this clarinetist as often as possible. It's useful to try to play the same repertoire or at least some tunes of that repertoire and try to emulate the sound.
2. We have to listen very carefully to every sound when we play clarinet
It's not easy to do. It's hard because it requires a lot of attention and a lot of honesty with ourselves. Also, how we hear ourselves and how we are heard are a bit different things. So it's useful to record ourselves a lot and in different acoustics.
3. We should try to somehow close the gap between our real sound and our ideal sound ( and eventually our body will respond to this).
Here we can try things like changing equipment (clarinets/mouthpieces/reeds/ligatures/etc) or changing playing technique (breathing, embouchure, oral cavity, etc)
4. Once we have even small success, we should pay attention to what our body does (or what was changed in equipment), so later we will be able to reproduce this.
Post Edited (2024-07-17 18:47)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2024-07-18 22:32
I agree with David up to a point. Changing instruments could help tweak your sound. The same as I mentioned, barrels and bells, a lot cheaper but if you're that unhappy with your sound, yes, make a change. I changed from a Buffet Bb in the 90s to a Selmer because my old Buffet lost it's brilliance and after trying many I choose a Selmer. It has more projection then my old Buffet but my general tone remained the same.
I want to remaining Alexey that I did mention you have to have the tone in your "inner ear". If you can't hear what you want to sound like you won't know when you actually achieved it long term.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: graham
Date: 2024-07-18 22:37
Thanks Ed - valuable insights
A question - do you see value in using different bits of kit for different situations. For instance, having more than one mouthpiece to match the venue, ensemble, or repertoire you are playing? Ditto ligature and reed? I use two different kinds of ligature and often change these based on what each reed prefers.
I also play sometimes on cane (usually a soprano saxophone reed, which works both on b flat and e flat instruments) or one of the synthetic types. As regards synthetic, I use different types depending on all of the above scenarios.
I feel happy with a ‘horses for courses’ approach.
I wonder if you have views on this.
graham
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Author: Alexey
Date: 2024-07-18 22:55
Thank you Ed,
I read your post very carefully and I didn't want to argue or steal the show. Just wanted to share my thoughts (or my order of priorities or my framework ). Just in case.
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Author: donald
Date: 2024-07-19 16:06
I play with carefully selected barrel, bell, ligature, mouthpiece and reeds. I would still say that #6 on this list should really be #1, #2 and #3. It should also be #4 and #5.
I've got students who manage to make excellent tone on a plastic instrument with a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece. And a couple with R13s who are incapable of controlling and refining their tone. It's about YOU and how you blow the thing for at least 95%
Don't waste your time telling students to buy a new ligature or barrel. Get them to breath properly and structure their embouchure well. And as far as reeds go, it's about selection- following the "don't play on a popsicle stick" rule seldom works in the short term but can transform a player in the long run (because the player has become reliant on resistance from the reed to define the parameters of their sound rather than making lots of vibrations and shaping them into something good).
Go with #6 and YOU will improve, go with number 1 and 2 etc, and you'll still end up having to improve.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2024-07-19 21:12
Alexey, it makes sense. you have to know what you want to sound like to be able to work towards it. All good.
Grahm, I think that's very individual especially based on the style of music you're playing. I've been a symphony and chamber music player all my professional life so for me the same mouthpiece made sense. I've known terrific players that would use different ligatures depending on the reed and hall but again that's an individual preference. My philosophy, whatever works for you, go for it.
Donald, what you said makes a lot of sense but I didn't have young students in mind, I should have made that clear. I had in mind the level of students I taught in university and conservatory interested in a career in performing or even established players.. I aslo didn't really list them in order of importance because sometimes anyone of my suggestion helps the player more than any of the others depending on what the player is looking for. It could be the tongue placement first, it could be a new barrel or mouthpiece, or breathing. But you did make a good point so I'd suggest the player decide which ones will work best for them, or consider them all. :-) Trying to tweak ones tone so it "stays tweaked" is not easy to do because so many players end up going back to their comfort zone after a while. I all depends of the player. Thanks for your input.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: kdk
Date: 2024-07-19 21:28
donald wrote:
> I play with carefully selected barrel, bell, ligature,
> mouthpiece and reeds. I would still say that #6 on this list
> should really be #1, #2 and #3. It should also be #4 and #5.
> Go with #6 and YOU will improve, go with number 1 and 2 etc,
> and you'll still end up having to improve.
I think the most important influence on tone or any other part of playing is the player's/student's awareness of musical quality and the ability to distinguish between what is musical-sounding and what isn't. #1 is the player's concept.
"Being you" will not result in anything worthwhile if the player doesn't take the time to listen to established players in order to develop a general concept of clarinet tone. The more examples, the better. The most important ability that a teacher should aim to develop in a student is the ability - eventually - to discriminate for himself between good results and bad ones. This doesn't mean trying to imitate a specific model (e.g. the teacher), but rather to understand what qualities good (great?) players share in common and incorporate those qualities into an individual approach that's comfortable and sustainable.
Karl
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Author: donald
Date: 2024-07-20 17:27
You could have just as easily have written...
"having a fancy ligature/barrel/mouthpiece/bell" will not result in anything worthwhile if the player doesn't take the time to listen to established players in order to develop a general concept of clarinet tone. The more examples, the better. The most important ability that a teacher should aim to develop in a student is the ability - eventually - to discriminate for himself between good results and bad ones. This doesn't mean trying to imitate a specific model (e.g. the teacher), but rather to understand what qualities good (great?) players share in common and incorporate those qualities into an individual approach that's comfortable and sustainable.
Now go back and read the initial post, and take note of what was mentioned as the first 3 priorities.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2024-07-20 18:25
donald wrote:
> You could have just as easily have written...
> "having a fancy ligature/barrel/mouthpiece/bell" will not
> result in anything worthwhile ...
> Now go back and read the initial post, and take note of what
> was mentioned as the first 3 priorities.
I'm not sure I get your point. Mine was that none of the equipment mentioned will by itself make an improvement if the player doesn't know what he's trying to achieve with it. I guess I did miss Alexey's post, which says the same thing. I meant concept to supersede debate over which of Ed's original list should have been first or second or sixth.
Karl
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2024-07-20 21:33
Interesting answers all. I'll repeat what I said in one of my above answers. The order they are in is NOT THE ORDER OF IMPORTANCE. I'm sorry I didn't consider people would take it that way, I should have. Put my suggestions in any order you think appropriate please, any one of them or combination of could help the player "tweak" their tone.
I also said a player must have the tone they are looking for in their inner ear. I wrongly assumed everyone knew that meant one has to hear others to know what it was they were looking for in order to get the tone they wanted in their inner ear. Me bad, I apologize.
Lastly, as a student I asked one my teachers, Leon Russianoff, who I should sound like, he said, LIKE EDDIE PALANKER. That's what I achieved over the years by "tweaking" my tone to match what I was hearing in my inner ear by using my suggestions, Of course I incorporated them in my years of teaching as I learned the subtleties of tweaking ones tones. Take care.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2024-07-21 14:59
" A genius is the one most like himself."
Quote: Thelonius Monk.
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: Alexey
Date: 2024-07-21 22:11
Julian ibiza wrote:
>
>
>
> " A genius is the one most like himself."
>
> Quote: Thelonius Monk.
>
I expected this to appear earlier. It's a huge and a side topic.
Even in ancient times, famous painters started by copying masters' works. It didn't prevent them from becoming new famous masters.
The same in music.
Suppose I want to be myself in terms of tone. How do I know what a good tone at all? I have to listen and choose a model. I can choose a bunch of models but it's again "aim big, miss big, aim small miss small".
However, despite how hard I can try to emulate someone it's impossible to be the same as another person. We have different anatomy, different backgrounds, different cultures, etc.
So I can be a bad copy or a good copy of someone in terms of tone. Or I can be one most like myself. It depends on my personality and talent. If I am average I would prefer to be a good copy of someone than be one most like myself but with a terrible tone lol
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2024-07-21 23:36
Hi Alexey,
It was a bit cheeky of me to throw that in there, but I was reminded of it by the reply of Ed's teacher Leon Russianoff to his question " What should I sound like?".
Musicians ALWAYS have influences, so I guess it's about taking that and personalizing it. That Thelonius chose the term " genius" for this is probably apt. It's not something everyone is going to achieve, but it's an interesting angle to be working on however far it takes you I think. All personal development is more exciting when it contains the dimension of self discovery.
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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