So, I've Been Busy

Since I last posted I've taken on about 8 (maybe less, not all have come to fruition) freelance writing gigs and I have no time to write, just to write.  This blog, however, is a priority because this is my main instrument.

I also took a gig playing for a local training Orchestra where I'm playing on the premiere of the Conductor's 3rd Symphony.

I'll be doing some excerpt studies on here to sort of get everyone through the process of learning long and drawn out Symphonic Lietrature.  

Stick around and hopefully I can get something good up here.

Peace...

Back to School...Back to Reality

So, I teach school. Band actually. Beginners, to be frank. Kids with little common sense: if you must know.

Every new school year is an opportunity to change the way we provide instruction, the methods with which we teach, and the way in which we want kids to learn.

This year I'm thinking about getting "away" from the book more than I have the past couple of years. I've had spats of being "in" the book, then "out" of the book, then back "in" and now I think I'm gonna be about a third "in"and two-thirds "out".

What does this have to do with Bass Clarinetting? Well, you have to go through spells as a player. Things have to change. You can't keep doing the same thing everyday forever. You WILL go crazy, no matter how much you claim you love practicing. It's inevitable.

I heard an old interview on Friday on with Merce Cunningham, the eminent dancer, choreographer and dance company leader(he was also John Cage's life partner, talk about a pair!) Terry Gross, in her 1980's interviewing splendor, engaged Cunningham in this very long discussion about the body, practice, demand, and the artistry of men vs. women.

They're going back and forth about all sorts of stuff and then she ask him if he still warms-up or practices daily. Even in his mid 60's (at the time of the interview) he said yes. Not only that, but he said it wasn't regimented,he just did something.

Aha! Anything!

There's something to a familiar routine, but there is also something to be said for changing your "routine". When I was in college my idiot Band Director would have the whole order for the rehearsal on the board(that's fine) but he would have some stupid harmonic minor scale on the board just for fun. Yeah, that's stupid. Do things that you're going to succeed at. If you cna play your harmonic minors, cool. If not, don't warm-up on it...practice it.

How interesting!?!? Right!?!?! What if you just...warmed-up? What if.....gasp....I told my students to just....warm-up. Yeah, I can teach them to warm-up (like I was taught) then make them do it. Ding ding ding ding ding, we have a winner!

Most times people DON'T warm-up because they weren't taught how to or they feel like they have to have this insane regimen that is a mile long. This is not the case.

Don't write it down. Write down what you should be practicing and enjoy a leisurely warm-up.

Back to reality doesn't have to be tedious. It could turn out to be refreshing...

How To Tell You Don't Have The Melody

So, were at church today and where we go we have a worship band.  Not an orchestra...I'm not bitter, but an orchestra and traditional service would be nice every now and then (only because I could play in it.)  We've got a Bass Player that plays with the group almost every week.  He's actually a really good player, but he's a little too impressed with himself and it's starting to get on my nerves.

He plays a lot of extra mess on top on the Bass movements that he is supposed to be supporting and it bothers me because I can't hear anything when he's going crazy every other bar.  Listen people and listen good.  The Bass Line is not something to be trifled with.  The Bass Line is not the melody.  Here's how you can tell:

1)  When you are playing something that obviously is not the melody, but you can't really hear the true melody...you're in the wrong.  I think people who use electronic equipment and point monitors at themselves forget this all too often.  You can really tell a pro because they either don't use a monitor at all, or they use an ear piece and not a huge monitor, turn it up too loud and get way too INTO their playing.  If I can hear your mess over the tune, you're wrong.  If you're constantly playing with the volume controls on your equipment, you're wrong.

2)  If you play an acoustic instrument and you can clearly hear yourself, you're probably wrong.  Rarely does a Bass Line also act as a melodic line or fragment.  I could spend all day citing examples of Bass Lines in literature that are also melodic fragments or melodies themselves.  Here's an easy way to tell....you're exposed...nothing else is going on.  When other people are trying to do their thing too, you're not the melody.

3)  If you have all these "great ideas" in your head...keep them to yourself.  Here's an assignment for you:

     a)  Buy any FUEL album.  Something Like Human, Sunburn, Natural Selection, whatever and listen.  The Bassist play solid, firm, Bass Lines.  He rarely plays extra stuff and when he does it actually a melodic fragment that will come up later or is a supporting countermelody.  It is NOT random stuff but, rather, quite calculated. 

     b)  Listen to the "Screamers" album by the Eastman Wind Ensemble.  It's a great collection of Circus Marches.  Now tell me how much of the Bass movement in those pieces is melodic and, if it is, tell me how much of it sounds random.  I bet your answer will be zero.

     c)  Start listening to Bass Lines in popular music and tell me how random all of it sounds.  It doesn't.

We've got to be better consumers of music if we're going to be better performers.  If you're listening to music you like and you don't know they part you would be playing then you're not consuming the music very well.  Everything I own, every CD, I can sing along to the Bass Movements in the music, because it's MY part.  I'm consuming something that is improving my playing.  If you only know melodies and words and you play a Bass instrument you're going to play like someone who has the melody or the words.  Not helpful.  Not helpful at all.

Think about it.  Think about how much time could be saved if every listened with their part in mind.  We could change the world...well, not really, but you get the idea.

 

Playing by "feel"

This morning I was going through my Basses again to make sure the backing I put on a pad had actually taken and I played through each of my Basses with my 11 year old Clark Fobes "Basso Nova" mouthpiece. Yes, it is THAT old and yes he used to call it "Basso Nova"...(I know, I like the Bossa Nova reference to.)

So, the mouthpiece responded beautifully, as always. A Side Note:

I've got a Fobes Debut on my Soprano Clarinets (and it works great) I have a Nova Mouthpiece for my Alto Clarinet and I have my old Fobes "Basso Nova" with my Basses. He's the man. Check him out at www.clarkwfobes.com

Anyways, I'm playing through my horns and I started with my un-extended instruments. Let me tell you, they feel like they weigh nothing when I play them. It's almost like playing Bb Clarinet, they're that light to the touch.

This is an odd phenomenon because my '59 Leblanc 400 is a heavy instrument for its size, but I've never thought of it as heavy and today it felt especially light. When I play those instruments and then move on to my extended Bass it also feels quite light in hand. Typically it doesn't work this way. You give a Clarinet player a Bass and they're like "Geez, this thing is so heavy!" So, it stands to reason that going from smaller Bass to larger Bass would be slightly uncomfortable regardless of how experienced you are.

It would seem to me that your approach to instrument colors significantly how the instrument feels and responds in your hands.

Think about that the next time you play. Are you walking up to your Bass and saying "Man, you're a big clunky instrument!" If so, you might not be having the best time. If you're a Band Director and you make regular comments like that then chances are you have clunky, heavy sounds coming from the Bass Clarinets and Low Woodwinds.

This same assumption prevents students who play big instruments from getting technically difficult parts. Really it's avoidance. Then, they never acquire technique because the don't need to. That's bad.

Coincidence? I think not!

Private Lessons: The Agony and The Ecstasy

Today I'm gearing up for 4 private lessons with my 4 summer students on my side of town.  I have a Senior Bass Clarinetist who made All-State last year, his 9th Grade sister, a Senior Clarinetist who is a monster player, and a 10th Grade Bass Clarinetist who is developing.

In each case the students are very different and relatively easy in the motivation department.  We have issues ranging from tension, hand position, and embouchure all the way to reading, retention and fundamentals.

In each case the kids are coming from a similar stance:  "What do I do now?"

The kids who have the upper hand and are very good did not start out that way.  I've been teaching my Senior Bass Clarinetist since the summer after his Freshman year.  In that time he's gone from the bottom of the Section to the top.  He does exactly what he's asked and doesn't complain.  My younger students may move slower, but they will get there.  

I spend alot of time reminding people that this is a process.  I've grown tired of the idea that everyone will just get it if we yell at them enough.  There's a big difference between lazy students and students who don't get it yet.  Kids who don't get it yet are working hard and not progressing at the rate they'd like to.  No big deal, we can't ask them for more and no amount of complaining is going to change that.  

Lazy students, on the other hand, DO need some less-than-subtle motivation to allow them to grow.  Perhaps they've never worked under pressure before and they just don't realize how much effort is required to get a satisfactory result.  Either way, there's two different kinds of kids at the bottom.

What drives me nuts is when people assume that the decent hard-working kid will get there with yelling and other tactics that should be reserved for time-wasters.  I just can't teach that way.

So, everyone is starting today with scales, fundamentals, some kind of rudimentary exercise (that's on their level) and then working on whatever it is we're working on.  Scales are a killer, but you have to keep hammering them until they get there.  I have no problem working the same stuff time and again and again and again and again until it's right.  We do other stuff too, but those fundamentals aren't going away.

Everyone is working on some kind of literature, be it etudes of actual complete works, but everyone is doing some kind of music that requires thought, reading and interpretation.

This is where I differ from alot of people.  I spend a ton of time on interpretation and reading.  How to read, how to see patterns, how to relate the music to fundamentals that you already know, how to take and give time, how to express yourself, how to remain tonally equal throughout the entire horn, etc.  Most kids don't understand these concepts or don't get them until it's way too late to use them.  I'm not sure I can count the number of people I met in college and beyond who didn't know how to do this stuff.  It's like they never were taught anything but fast notes and loud/soft.  Yikes!

So, the Agony is realizing I've got to do this stuff and knowing I'll never have enough time to do it all.  The Ecstasy is knowing that I'm doing and doing it right.  (And occasionally, it results in kids getting recognition for their hard work.)

Peace.

Private Lessons Here In Atlanta Now Open For Business

This should end up being the commerical message of all commercial messages.

Being that I titled my blog "The Bass Clarinet Guru" one would think that I teach.  Well, I do.

I teach privately here in the Metro Atlanta area and would love to have as many students as I can stand.  I teach at home and I travel to the homes of students and I quite enjoy it.

Alot of people I know teach privately, but begrudgingly.  They do it for money (which I do as well) but they hate it.  I love it.

Working one on one with a kid is fun.  Preparing them for auditions is quite a task, but it's something I'm good at.  Preparing kids to move from one grade to the next is a challenging task, but one that I do happily.

Sometimes private teachers only teach one area of the instrument.  I endeavor to tackle the whole kid and the whole experience.  How to pass an audition, how to win a challenge, how to survive band class, all of it.

So, if you're in Atlanta I'd love to teach you.  Please feel free to contact me for more information.  I charge fair rates and have a good time teaching.

Peace.

Selmer/Bundy vs. Leblanc/Vito: a.k.a. "The Setup"

So, the other day I was getting my things ready for the beginning of the school year and I pulled out my plastic Bass  to make sure everything was still in order.  After, backing a couple pads everything was fine and I began to do a little warm-up just to check the horn out.  Then something occurred to me:

I play this instrument different than my others.  

In case this matters to anyone I play a:

1997 Leblanc 430

1959 Leblanc 400

& a very old Selmer/Bundy Plastic Bass

So, I've got the polar opposites in the Bass Clarinet world in my studio.  Selmer and Leblanc.  These two titans tangled for many a year dominating the Bass Clarinet landscape while Buffet killed them with the R13 Soprano.

Selmers are slightly finer to the touch.  Selmers are light in the hand.  The bore is slightly smaller than a Leblanc.  The cupped plateau keys provide a slightly lower key level and produce a slightly slower key action than a Leblanc.

Leblancs are hefty instruments.  You could throw a Leblanc off a building(in theory, do not try this at home.  I'm what you would call, a professional) and still pick it up and play it.  Leblancs have gigantic bores.  The keys are plated multiple times and the wood is thicker, making the instrument quite heavy.  Leblancs "talk" to you.  They are NOT delicate.

Now I must point out some things that neither of these horns are:

-  "Squirelly" in the upper register.  Anyone who is complaining about this problem either has a badly broken instrument or an inability to play in the upper register consistently.

-  "Stuffy" in any register.  An instrument is stuffy when it is badly out of adjustment or you happen to be playing the wrong mouthpiece/reed combination for your embouchure and air flow level.

-  "Unresponsive" in the upper register.  If the upper register is unresponsive it's because you aren't very good at playing in the upper register or you have a broken instrument.

Some things that individual instruments may tend to do:

-  Some instruments sound Middle B and Middle C differently than others.  That depends on the instrument, brand, the placement of the keys, placement of the register mechanism, etc, etc, etc, etc.

-  Some instruments sound Low Eb differently than others.  The size and shape of the bell, the placement of the Eb Pad (on or off the bell), the presence or lack of an extension all combine to produce the specific tonal profile of Eb on your instrument.

Some things to keep in mind:

-  Your setup is vital to your success, but it does not have to be fancy.  Case in point:

            *  I won 42 auditions in 6 years and for 2/3 of that time I play a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece               and a 2.5 Hemke Tenor Sax Reed.

            *  The point at which I had to go up a size in reed strength is when I started to play                         noticeably flat.  If you aren't doing that then you don't need harder reeds.

            *  I only acquired a fancy ligature at the end of my college career.  Prior to that I played a             Bonade Inverted.

            *  I didn't start using a Selmer D until then end of my college career.  This means that I                 did all the hard work on what most people would call an "inferior" mouthpiece.  I call it                   inexpensive and user friendly.

            *  I ALWAYS used a neckstrap.  Sitting, standing, it didn't matter.  When you're sitting                   use a peg and a strap.  When you're standing you MUST have a strap on.

            *  I DO use a fancy neckstrap.  Why?  Because my hand position is everything.  Without                 the proper support I'm doomed.  Personally, I use DeJacques straps.  Back in the day                     they were $35.  Now I think they're $95.  Still worth it in my opinion.  

            *  I adjust my own reeds by hand.  I keep two reed knives, sandpaper, emery paper, a                   reed clipper, reed rush and I adjust the reeds according to an adjustment chart. 

From the beginning, the beginning of this Guru thing, around 1994, I've always said that the difference between Selmer and Leblanc is personal preference.  I got my first Leblanc (the '59 400 series) in '94 and I've stuck with them ever since.  You could just as easily get a Selmer and enjoy them and stick with them.  Were it me, I'd never flinch in the face of a Leblanc.

Leblancs are hefty instruments, as I said before, and they provide a sturdier platform to produce the sort of tone that I enjoy on Bass Clarinet.  You can do just about the same work on Selmer, but I just like the feel of Leblancs better.

Notice that we did talk about Selmers and Leblancs, but we also talked alot about your setup.  Your setup determines so much more than your horn.  Without a proper setup (for you) you won't have the privelege of being picky about what kind of horn you play.

One should also note that I did not mention Buffet or Yamaha.  For good reason.  Yamahas are copies of the easiest to spot characteristics of Selmers and Leblancs and thrown together into one instrument, but that doesn't work.  "Frankenhorn" isn't going to do anything for you.  Buffets just don't hold up.  I've never met a Buffet that didn't go out of adjustment simply at the sight of a performer.  You can find message boards filled with horror stories of professionals taking their Buffets on planes or to different climates and their instrument just NOT working.  Yikes people!

I once took my two Leblancs to NJ.  When I left Atlanta it was 60 degrees outside and a slight breeze.  There was a blizzard in NY/NJ and had nary a problem with either instrument the whole time I was up there.  You see my point I think.

Quesrions, comments?  Anything at all, the Guru is in.

So, why are we here?

The Guru is in.

About 15 years ago I was given the moniker "The Bass Clarinet Guru".  Aptly enough, it was given to me by a teacher, not a peer.  I never really thought there was anything to it except that I knew I was very good at playing Bass.  I recent set of circumstances has brought me to the conclusion that I need to start living up to the moniker "The Bass Clarinet Guru".  

I suppose the easiest part of that is knowing that I'm not like Howard Stern and I didn't give myself the name, but that it was actually given to me by someone I respect who is a far greater musician than me.

I have imported posts from another blog of mine to get all my current Bass Clarinet content in here.  I plan on updating frequently about every topic imaginable:  sitting, standing, marching, playing, equipment, literature, you name it.

I WELCOME questions and comments.  The only real way we can begin to grow a community of people who are talking honestly about the instrument is to have HONEST questions followed by HONEST answers.  This is not a forum where some overgrown amateur is going to tell you to go out and spend $300 on a mouthpiece or $500 getting your horn adjusted after you just bought it.  No one telling you that Alto Clarinet just isn't going to work so don't bother.  No one telling you that the plastic Vito Contra your school has isn't good enough to play on.  We'll cover all subjects concerning Alto, Bass and Contra Clarinets. Please jump in, the water's fine!

I'm talking about real answers for real players.  I hope that students feel comfortable here and I hope that you are the majority of my readers.  Of course, adults are welcome, but I want kids to feel like they can get some honest answers and feedback here.

I have alot of things on tap for the Bass Clarinet Community, so please stay tuned.

Peace.

Salon Music for Bass Clarinet

I remember being at BOA Summer Symposium in 1999 and hearing Timothy Mahr talking about wanting to be a composer. I think he even does clinics on this topic now. His premise was simple: If you want to be a composer, then be a composer! That's it. Just do it. (I think some guy from Oregon might have thought of that one first)

Anyways, I always WANTED to be a composer, but I had these grandiose ideas that I could never get on paper. So, a couple of years ago I gave up the grandiose ideas and went with something I could control...I started writing for myself. In the past 18-20 months I've probably written 100-150 pieces for myself. Some big, many small. All of them for me, solo Bass Clarinet, that's it. (Well, I did write a Concerto for Bass Clarinet, but not this nutbag Corigliano-style piece, something much more neo-classical) So, I've got all kinds of music laying around that's just for me. Then I realized something.....

I can actually do something with this stuff!

Alot of my music is, on some level, extremely difficult. 9 times out of 10 that would be due to range issues, occasionally it would be for some extended technique. I've thought about recording and, the more I write, the more I want to record. It's all my stuff. I'm not being sized up against someone else. Not that that's a bad thing. There are tons of really good Bass Clarinetists out there (you'd be surprised, unless you're on of those people, or know one of them, then you'd know because playing at that level on this kind of instrument speaks for itself.) But it's like being a popular musician, you play YOUR stuff, not someone else's and when you DO play someone else's stuff it's out of respect. I really don't care how my version of "Echange" would stack up against Mike Lowenstern's (his is very good by the way.) I care a whole lot more about MY playing, MY sound, and MY style. I didn't spend four years in college working with a style-meister just to sit here and copy people.

That's my big problem with popular music and ESPECIALLY with Christian music. People copy each other in very eerie ways. I heard a song on the radio today that I was sure was Sheri Carr. All the idiosyncracies were there from Sheri's singing and yet the artist was someone else. Huh? I mean really? That would be like me performing "Echange" and playing it EXACTLY the way Mike Lowenstern plays it, so much so that people think it's him. That's disrespectful to him (because I'm basically misrepresenting myself) and to me (because I'm better than that. Really, everybody's better than that!) Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but at some point you lose yourself in that.

So, by doing MY thing, and doing it well I cultivate a style of playing that is altogether unique. If we didn't have anyone doing this musically we would never change periods, styles, or ideas. All the original ideas in music are not taken, we just have to willing to look for new ones.

That doesn't mean you can't be influenced by people, but it does mean you have a responsibility to yourself to do something more inspired than a straight transposition of something that's already been done. You could even release an album of hymns, but you'd still have to play them YOUR way with YOUR sound.

This means that if you're into contemporary techniques, you should use them, and if you're not...DON'T! Not everyone can do everything. Not every pro owns every piece ever played..they pick and choose their spots. You should pick and choose yours too. That's what I'm doing, fighting my own battles. Fighting an unseen opponent, the radio in your head, will drive you to distraction...

So, I'm the Salon Music for Bass Clarinet guy. Call me Schubert, Chopin whatever but I'm not comparing myself to anyone, just me.

Peace.

So, it's been awhile.../Have you got it down yet?

My lovely bride informed me that I haven't updated in a few days. Well, it's been hectic. We had a VERY long spring break (at least that's how it felt) and have been back to school for a week. I've been busy people!

Well, we've had an interesting last couple of weeks. We were in a conundrum over what to do with our Tax Refund money. We were going to Disney, then not, and now we're going again! Heather had this intense feeling that the money wasn't for us. Well I prayed and journaled and read over tat until small group last Thursday when a friend of yours was talking about a mission going to do in Ethiopia working with orphans. apparently, when she got the fundraising info she only had like a week to raise $1700. Bleh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, as she continued to explain that she's not freaking out or anything like that and that she had about half of what she needed I heard God say "Give her the rest of the money!" So there you go, that money wasn't for us!

Then Heather felt as though she should gift a missionary couple who just moved back here after 10 1/2 years in Russia, so we did that. Then she planned to stock up on grains and stuff like that (cuz we're crunchy you know!) and then we still had some left over, THEN we decided to take a shortened version of the trip to Disney we had planned.

It felt good to get so much mileage out of that cash, especially since almost all of it was going to Disney before we did any of this. Yay God!!!

We've only got like 25 days of school, or something like that. People keep counting down. Not the students mind you, the teachers! I really hate that. I mean, I never really did that very much, but when I sold shoes I had an older co-worker who had been in retail for like 40 years and one night we closed together and as we were counting down the last couple of minutes before we figured we'd be released he said "It sucks counting your life away." Needless to say, I don't do that anymore. I'll count down to trips, but not endings. That's crappy. Bleh!

Now, we've got just a few more weeks of school and we've got drama all over the place. Apparently, it's all top secret so I can't tell you, or I'd have to, well, you know... Who knows what'll happen next year.

When were had resolved not to go to Disney I was thinking about getting a new mouthpiece. Even when I knew I had the money for it I couldn't resolve to get the stupid thing. What's up with that? I play a Selmer D (actually 2 of them, but you know that if you've been reading ;o) and I just couldn't bring myself to try something new. I no resolve and no peace about it. I even had an offer from a prominent mouthpiece maker to be one of his first customers of a new line he's making out this new space-age-like plastic rod that I thought would be cool, but I couldn't pull the trigger.

Well, in the meanwhile I hadn't played since the Thursday before Spring Break and I didn't play again until the Thursday after Spring Break, so that's two weeks. But, when I didn't crack the case, I sounded great! I even had a revelation on a note in the "Sopranissimo" (that's my term for notes that only I and a few other freaks play on Bass Clarinet.) I was actually shooting too high for a Double A. Dang people. I mean, now I'm in Lenny Pickett territory everyday (no joke, just watching the video below makes me want to practice that like right now) and I not even "trying" to get up there. I think this is one of those instances where I got behind the right mouthpiece at the right time.




I can hear all the dejectors. "EEEEWWWWWWWWW, factory cut mouthpieces are nasty and inconsistent." Um, yeah, but they're close enough and I don't think Selmer's going under anytime soon since they're owned by Steinway, who, in fact, is the largest instrument company on the planet. Plus, even if they did, there would be 4 gagillion mouthpieces on the market anyways and a million people willing to copy the ones I have. So there, haha you mouthpiece snobs.

Now, I'm not getting down on mouthpiece snobs. If you're a mouthpiece snob, I understand. I teach this unbelievable Clarinetist who's a junior in H.S. and plays on a Richard Hawkins. I don't think she's giving that puppy up, and I don't blame her. Besides, I'm a ligature snob. I have two vintage Harrison/Hurtz gold plated Bass Clarinet ligatures. You think I'm giving those things up? Yeah right! I'm even thinking of getting the Rico "H" Bari Sax version only because they bought the patent from Harrison's widow.

I also have a kid who is younger and just got a brand new Leblanc Rapsodie Clarinet. Very nice horn, it totally heavy like a tank, I love it. It's just like my basses, those babies are rock solid. He's loves that instrument, but it didn't instantly make him better. It's just gonna make it easier to do what I want him to do. No we see the problem.

I ain't never gonna buy nothin' that I feel like is going to "make me better" because I know better. Maybe I'll invest in some different ligatures or different reeds because they alter response, but I'm certainly not going out to get a new horn or whore myself out to a bunch of new mouthpieces. I can play doggone it! I don't need that stuff to make me better. I can handle a slight change in things here and there as an experiment, but I not expecting a miracle.

I keep thinking back to all the work I did in High School to get to where I am. I can't recreate that work with a new ligature, mouthpiece, or instrument. And that's why I couldn't commit to a mouthpiece. Everybody acts like their mouthpiece is going to instantly change the way you play. BALONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is NOT! Learn to how to play and you'll know how to play. The one thing that drives me the most crazy is when people who have professional "cred" act like a particular piece of equipment "allows" them to play things. It does not! Maybe the reason it "allows" you to do certain things is because the confluence of circumstances for YOU means that that piece of equipment "allows" you to play something you're actually not that good at. Heavens no, we wouldn't want to admit weakness would we?

I've been toying with Double A (as I said before) for 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was in college when I stumbled on this note and now that I need it I've been getting back on it again. (It's happens 3 times in the Smith "Fantasia" and it's the last note and I refuse to play it down an octave.) As soon I got it to speak regularly yesterday I changed reeds, then, I changed mouthpieces and then I changed ligatures and I used the 2 reeds, 2 mouthpieces, and 2 ligatures I had in all combinations I could and kept playing the note to make sure it wasn't a fluke. That's how you know you've got it down. I even played it on a Rovner, by far my least responsive lig, and it still worked. Lenny would be proud.

We're getting warm

I came of age in the land of the warm-up.  In High School we would spend whole classes in the warm-up process.  Hours upon hours were spent warming up the ensemble.  Nothing could be more interesting, or boring, depending on your point of view.  
Warming up is the ONLY thing you can do for yourself that is GUARANTEED to make you better.  I can, and will, go on and on about what you can do to improve, but none of it is a guarantee, they're just really good ideas.  This...this process that not enough people take enough time on is the one common thread that runs through all great wind players.
I'd said if you interviewed some band kids you'd find that most of them are quite bored by the warm-up process and find little value in it, they just know that their director insists on it.  I was never one of those people.

Where I come from, the warm-up is the only thing we've got, kind of like when we tell our kids "You'd better be nice to your brother/sister because one day they're going to be the only thing you've got."  If you don't have a warm-up, you don't got nothin'.  

I can hear the arguments now "But, if you warm up all the time you won't have any time to rehearse!"  On the contrary, Bass-Confucius say "If you warm up regularly your band will sound good enough to rehearse."  "If you warm up all the time and then you can't get in a warm up at a crucial time then the band will suffer."  Bass-Confucius say "If your band warms up constantly and you can't get in a warm up before a big show your band can walk off the bus and win the show (my Alma Mater has done and will continue to do this at least once a season.)  "Oh my golly good gosh!  I have to get married to a warm up routine as soon as possible or our band is going down the tubes!"  Bass-Confucius say "If you get married to a warm up your band will become so inflexible that they won't be able to take a shorter warm up when it is warranted."
To me, these are big "DUH"s if you're a band director, but what if you are just practicing by yourself?

Today, I went up to school to teach a couple lessons.  I brought out my short horn (in case you don't keep track, and you should ;o), it's a 1959 Leblanc 400) and didn't have a ton of warm-up time.  I felt kind of hamstrung my whole lesson because I didn't get to warm-up AND I was playing a horn that I don't play everyday that I haven't tailored my reeds to.  A good 30 minutes of warming up would have solved my problems.

I know, I know, you're thinking "Well, if I played the same horn everyday I wouldn't have those problems."  Oh contrare' mon ami!  If you play the same horn everyday and you HAVEN'T been doing this then you STILL need a lengthy warm-up.  You basically have no idea what the instrument will do from minute to minute, but you are warming up regularly you will become more and more aware of what the instrument will do when you put air in it.  Moreover, if you continue to do that and you, by chance, are playing a different instrument one day you won't need AS MUCH time to get acclimated.  Even if you're playing a leaky horn you'll be able to isolate the leaks almost instantly as you warm up because the feel won't be right.  You see, you can diagnose AND learn control at the same time.

I know, I know, now you're thinking "Yeah, that's cute, I can't play a leaky horn, it won't do anything."  Ah, Bass-Confucius say "If you've been hammering your warm-ups, you'll get to the point where you can play anything in any condition in a serviceable way."  Now, I'm not saying you'd go out and play a recital or an audition on a leaky or otherwise "broken" instrument, but you could get through a concert or marching band show or a practice session without it being a total wash.  Let's say you can reasonably repair your instrument, now you know what's wrong.  I've got that problem right now on my 400, and I'll get around to it, but I still have the 430!

Now, what if you don't have a leaky horn and everything's fine?  Well, get to it!

What....

You don't know what to do.  What kind of stuff you should be playing to warm-up.  You're unsure if what you're doing is working, or going to work.  I have a solution!

Warm-up the way you did in band.  Don't get cute, just do things that work.  An example:
 
(all in written pitch)
 
Long tones on the C, F, and G scales.  No skimping, do them all and really work it.
 
Equality of tone is highly essential here.  If you're not careful you could spend a massive amount of time realizing all the notes you have that are not equal in tone to the notes around them.
 
5 note segments in all major and minor keys (at a moderate tempo, play each one 3 times before stopping)
-  You may slur
-  or slur 2 tongue 2
-  or tongue 2 slur 2
-  or mix them up (play Slur 2 Tongue 2, then Tongue 2 Slur 2, Then tongue 1 Slur 2 Tongue 1 consecutively in one rep.)

You could very easily alter the articulated notes from legato, to staccato, to marcato, to a "swallowed" note that almost ends before it begins.  You could get lost in this if you really wanted to.
 
Chromatic Scale (all slurred from E to C, no fancy pants extended range)     
 
Remingtons (movement in half steps downwards from a tonic)
-  I prefer starting on open G, that makes the pattern:
G, F#, G, F, G, E, G, Eb, G, D, G, Db, G, C
-  Then change the tonic to C:
C, B, C, Bb, C, A, C, Ab, C, G, C, Gb, C, F, C, E, C, Eb
 
Playing the remington studies is the easiest way to hear if your pitch and tone are stable.  It's also the best embouchure workout there is.  Try not opening your mouth the breathe, but breathing through your corners and never really releasing your embouchure until you're done.
 
Now, I know this is simple stuff, but that's it.  Some variation on this stuff will do.  Just don't run off with some pretty warm-up, you'll get bored quickly, change is a good thing in these situations. 
 
How long should it take?  Well, if you're really working it you could go for a solid hour and not realize it.  Seriously!  This stuff is important!
 
You'll start to see a difference when you really start working this out.  It's a maturation process that will net a wonderful long term result, but won't necessarily blow you away in the short term.  You've got to be patient.  I spent 3 years warming up like this constantly, another 4 playing 3 hours a day on my own and the last 9 holding to a warm-up of AT LEAST this level every time I play.  No joke.  Try it!

Stop-action tonguing

So, I was in a lesson today and saw an interesting little article in my student's folder from a big-time Clarinet professor.  They had all these articulation exercises written in and one in particular was intriguing...

There were 4 eighth notes each followed by an eighth rest.  The instructions written were:

Do this for 5 minutes and move up one notch on the metronome each week, but the music was titled "stopped tonguing."  I love this stuff!

So, one can only assume that "stopped tonguing" means stop the note with your tongue and then move on.  Ok, I can get down with that.  So, how do I do that?

I look at it this way.  Tongue the note, release the tongue in order to sustain the note (yes, you are sustaining it, even if the note is mega-short) and then come back and stop the air with the tongue.  

That means you're supposed to be doing 3 things to play one note, a note that might even be a half count long.  That requires alot of control.

Control implies that you have to sound good, so, if you're having tonal issues (I mean, like you're just NOT HAPPY with your sound, then wait for this.)  If you're cool, then control is pretty easy to obtain.

Definitely, just playing nice, easy, open notes with simple rhythms like 8th, 8th rest, 8th, 8th rest, etc... is a good idea.  Definitely, set a certain amount of time you will venture to do this.  You can do this in minutes (I'll do this for 5 minutes) or you could say "I'll do this for 24 bars."  However, you can go two steps farther.

Step 1)   Practice something with stopped notes.  You could be practicing just about anything and, as a part of working something out, you just stop all the notes in that passage just to get in the groove of stopping notes.  

Step2)  Try it in an ensemble setting.   If you're in a band or orchestra you could use this technique in musically appropriate places.  Using the stopped tongue as a device to further separate (not shorten) notes is a great way to use the stopped tongue, cultivate it, and add ammunition to your articulation arsenal.

Stopped tonguing increases pressure in the back of your mouth, so it will feel funny but it's fun to do if you really get into it.  Try it sometime!

Making Thine Ears Sensitive

I remember, distinctly, being in rehearsal in HS and begin asked (as a part of the group) to sing something in our part.  What?  I don't sing!  That's why I'm in band people!  I didn't have any sort of relative pitch and I certainly didn't know how to carry a tune.  How am I supposed to make my voice sing the notes you're asking for?  Confusing!
 
Then I get to college and Theory and Sightsinging are taught in the same class period.  No problem there.  However, the class was slanted towards singers and piano players and there was no instruction in how to enact your voice.  I have a really low voice and most people don't so I always found myself uncomfortably singing below other people (which I would not continue to do) or not being able to sing as high as required.  Once again, it also didn't help that the class was slanted towards singers and piano players (it also didn't help that there was no actual teaching going on.  No one started from the beginning and assumed we all knew nothing and then taught everything.  It was more like having someone look down their nose at you every day because you didn't have the training they expected you to have so they wouldn't have to actually teach you anything.)  To say the least, I was disheartened.
 
Then I was taking "Form and Analysis" (not really, they just called it that and the Organ Professor taught it really poorly) and I was struggling because there was no teaching going on and then we were singing stuff in harmony (which I can't do and wasn't taught to do) and was getting nowhere.  Then....
 
I got into Drum Corps.  The best part about that is that there are always recordings avialable, the shows are to the point, usually very well written, and easy to listen to over and over.  I acquired a few Cd's and started listening.  Then I discovered a few shows that I REALLY liked and felt compelled to sing along.  I found that I could easily crack my voice and sing in falsetto quite easily (something multiple college professors, with Doctorates, were too lazy to do.)  Then, I figured out that, after multiple listenings, I kind of had a pitch memory.  Like, I could actually remember what was coming up next and sing it before the note started and be right!  Yes! 
 
Then I started thinking...Can I have perfect pitch on my instrument?  Not actual perfect pitch, the kind you're born with, just perfect pitch on my instrument.  How else do brass players know what note they're gonna play?  How else would I know which note was which without seeing someone's fingers or reading the music they were playing?  Good idea!
 
So, I started to just think notes before I played them.  I "kind of" knew what everything sounded like, but not exactly, so I decided to start being much more specific with the level of sensitivity I had to pitch.  Amazingly, it helped alot.  Not only do I have a much better idea of how everything should sound on my primary instrument, but in playing anything, I have a much more acute awareness of how intervals sound and how harmonic progressions sound. 
 
I never realized how close half-steps were until I started listening to how far apart I was playing some of them on certain parts of my instrument.  Then I started listening to my private students and they were way off too!  Then I have a flashback...
 
If you were taking lessons where I went to college you took a Fall and Spring jury with the entire wind and percussion faculty.  I have no problem with this kind of stuff so I was never bothered by it, but I remember one instance in particular that I took a long time to figure out.
 
I was asked once "Do you feel like you're playing in tune with yourself?"  I had no response for that at the time and no explanation was given.  In fact, the subject never came up again.  Granted, I did change mouthpieces that summer and that did bring my overall pitch up (I tend to play low, it's a consequence of my open embouchure) but I just didn't hear about it again.
 
So, I'm teaching someone a couple years ago and it hits me!  Dang, all of these intervals are totally out of whack!  You aren't playing in tune with yourself dude! 

Now I can't stop saying it.  It's everywhere!  It's as if I can now see radio waves that were not visible before, like I've got X-ray vision.  Craziness!
 
Anyways, how do you make yourself more sensitive to the changing of the tides?  I don't know that there's a formula for gaining a more firm grasp on relative pitch, but I do know that there are things you can do...
 
-  don't get discouraged
-  if you're not a singer, become a shower singer (you know, like in the Golden Girls when Sophia realizes that Blanche's brother Clayton is gay "He's as a gay as a picnic basket!"  "Ma, how did you know!?"  "I heard him singing in the shower.  He's the only man I ever knew who knew all the words to "Send in the Clowns."  It won't be this revealing, but it will teach you about pitch memory.
-  if you like singing with the radio, you're in business as this will also teach you alot about pitch memory.
-  if you refuse to sing SOMETIMES you won't get any better at this stuff
-  if you're ever in a rehearsal situation where you are guessing who's sharp and flat you're doing the right thing
-  watch some American Idol and figure out how many of the singers are flat most of the time (hint - it's ALOT!)
-  do a full intonation chart for your instrument
-  try singing your parts to yourself, then check it against your own playing.  You'll be amazed how "off" you are sometimes.
 
Try it out!  Having a good ear is the best way to start moving around and changing instruments.  If you have a good ear, picking up something new will be alot easier when you know what things are SUPPOSED to sound like.

Reflecting on Challenges

Reflecting on my relatively short playing career (16 years of seriousness) I find that I'm constantly learning and never really mastering.  I was in a class today and the Director made a good point to his kids "If you think you've mastered this part, you're wrong.  Even professionals who make the big bucks [or don't] will be the first to admit that they are still learning."  No kidding.
 
I know that I don't make the big bucks, but I'm a hardcore serious player.  I've never really put a Clarinet down for longer than a couple months, and that is always necessitated by a lack of time.  I remember being able to do things in 10th Grade that seemed simple in 11th Grade, and then again in 12th Grade.  Every day from when I graduated from college to now I've improved a million percent.  I'm growing, I know I must be, but it's so hard to tell sometimes.
 
If you have a bad reed day you feel like you're awful.  The only thing you hear is a rough buzzing sound or the sound of swirling spit and you think "Ugggh, I suck!"  I don't, but it's hard not to think that.
 
I would go to auditions in High School and College and think at every one "I SO hope that today's my day" like I wasn't prepared or something.  I never thought for one second that I was "the man" or "the guru" (a title given to me by my assistant director.) 
 
I was constantly tinkering with my playing back then, just like I am now.  I know when I went off to college I sat down in my first lesson with my Clarinet prof. and he said "So, what do you really want that you don't have?"  My response was technique, bottom line, I thought I had none.  His response was "Ok."  No, "Oh yeah, you really have horrible fingers, etc, etc, etc."  Just "Ok"
 
We talked a little about the state of my playing and I referenced someone who went to my High School AND went to the same college who was like 5 years older than me.  I said "I want to be as good as ___________."  His response was "You're better than __________ when they graduated from college, right now." 
 
Dang, that's nice.  I sort of walked around thumping my chest for a couple days until I was confronted with all the little issues in my playing.  Then I came back down to earth pretty quickly.  Looking back on it, my teacher was doing the same thing.  He's an incredible player, but as I see it now he was totally messing with his playing too.  He had, as I feel I do now, a massive understanding of playing, literature, etc, but he wasn't satisfied.  How do I know?
 
I remember hunting for literature and him just pulling things off the shelf.  The time he came up with Hindemith's "Acht Stucke" and saying "Let's try this" was pretty interesting.  It's a piece for unaccompanied Flute, I guess that says it all.  It felt like a challenge "Can you learn this?"  I bet it was also a personal challenge "Can I teach you this?" 
 
I loved the challenge.  I played many pieces like this and every one had the same caveat attached "Can you learn this?"  I guess that's where I'm at now.  Can I make this tweak to my sound?  Can I slightly change my tooth position on the mouthpiece and make it stick?  Can I start opening the first finger completely on Altissimo C# and D?  Can I totally eliminate the "spit sound" even if my reed is horrible today or too soft today?  Can I learn a tight french vibrato? 
 
Every time I want to make a change it's always spurred by this thought "Man, I suck!"  Now, I know I don't, but I can't help but feel that way sometimes.  My Director in H.S. used to always advise everyone to keep around them papers and tests you got incredible grades on because sometimes you need to be reminded that you can do this, especially when you feel like you can't.  I've got plenty of things like that around me as assurance, but I'm never going to get TOO into them, because if I do I'll get a big head about me. 
 
I guess everyone's in this state of flux.  Man, I rock.  Man, I suck.  Not in a Manic sort of way, it's just that sometimes you're doing great and sometimes you're not.  I hope I'm always trending up, that's all.  I get concerned that I might be going backwards.  Sometimes, just like in life, you have no idea what to do to not be going down.  Sometimes you have a pretty good idea what to do but you aren't sure how to enact your ideas, and it's hard not to get down on yourself because you don't know what to do.
 
It's so hard to fall back to this sometimes, since we're human and prone to stupidity:
 
Phillipians 4:13(NKJV)  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.   
 
Part of the strengthening must be the quest for betterment, but it's still of Him who shows you the way.  It's a delicate balance between striving and improving.  It's so hard to find the place where you can say "This makes me better and I'm not acting like a raving lunatic to get there."

Things That Bug Me: Playing Really High

Things That Bug Me: Playing Really High on the Bass Clarinet

I've been blessed with an extensive altissimo from early in my career. Actually, I'll never forget switching back to Bass Clarinet as a sophomore in H.S. and getting my first lesson in playing high. A guy who had just graduated (and was a phenomenal player in his own right) taught me how to play up to a Double C. I kind of held onto that and when I studied ith my first really good private teacher she started every lesson saying "Alright, let's play the "Traumatic Scale". She called it that because it was supposed to go up to Altissimo G every time and lots of her students didn't like that. However, that combination of the Double C and a really good private teacher birthed this altissimo renaissance in my playing.

Within a year I knew how to play up to Double C with techincal proficency and I made fast friends with someone who wrote a couple pieces for me. Back in the day he wrote his first piece for me, a concerto, in Db Major and wrote in some Double Eb's and said "Can you play this? I wrote it in pen." Well, now I'm stuck. So, I figured out Double Eb in short order and worked out some 4 octave scales. At current my Eb, E and F scales (written) are 4 octaves.

I found a fingering chart by Terje Lerstad that went far higher than I could have imagined and began employing the notes that were even higher than Double F in an "eek it out" performance practice. I ended up using a "Triple C" in a gliss from Double C to Triple C on the last note of the Artie Shaw "Concerto for Clarinet". It won me a second place tie with a Clarinet performance major (one year my senior) in a Concerto Competition.

At that point I decided to draw a line in the sand and start to categorize the "pretty altissimo" and the "it-comes-out" altissimo. Pretty went up to double F, it-comes-out went up to Triple Eb. I don't sit around using these notes all the time, but they do come in handy when I want to play something that isn't for Bass Clarinet and I want to play the piece at pitch.

Now comes the hard part. How do I get these notes to come out at all?

Increasing your range on any instrument is a slow progression. Wherever you're starting is good enough. If you can barely cross the break, that's ok. Start where you're at. Regardless of where I started I'd be playing everything the same way. No massive embouchure changes, no serious changes in air flow, nothing crazy. The only thing I would change is the throat shaping I'm using to produce the pitch. Now, from Low Eb on Bass Clarinet to Altissimo G should all be done the EXACT same way. Only above this note do you need different throat voicings to get the notes to speak clearly.

I would recommend playing up to whatever note you can get up to and stopping. Try to make that note and the 3 notes below it sound pretty good. Don't be satisfied with something that's just "alright" really work toward a very solid tone that is beginning to show your unique characteristics...a tone that fits YOUR tonal profile...then move on. Make sure the 3 notes before each successive pitch sound good as well and continue moving up the instrument. Straining, fussing and fighting won't do you any good, but consistent, steady, stoic practice will. Make sure you're playing all these notes up to Altissimo G just as you would play the lowest notes on the instrument, regardless of how high they are.

When you reach the Altissimo (C# just above the staff) then you will need to make sure that you are depressing the half hole lever (which will uncover the actual "half hole") You can't live without the half hole being open from now on. Once again, no straining, no fussing, no fighting, no hootin', no hollerin', nothing. Just play until the note speaks. Passing up the altissimo G you enter a whole new realm. Before I get into how to make these notes speak, I'll list the fingerings that I use to make them go. These may not work for you on your instrument. Personally, I play Leblanc Bass Clarinets, so if you have a Selmer, or whatever, then these may not be perfect for you, but they're probably awful close.

When I say 123 I'm talking left hand fingers.
When I say 456 I'm talking right hand fingers.
R means right pinky and L means left pinky(followed by the note the key plays.)
Reg means register key and T means thumb.
F after the 4 or 5 key means the fork key.
C# after the 123 keys means the banana key that plays low C#.
HH means the half hole is open.
S after the 12 keys is the sliver key.
SK means side keys and 1 is the lowest key and 4 is the highest key(ex. SK1).
A and Ab denotes the left hand A and Ab keys.
When I say LL after the note I'm denoting how many ledger lines it is above the Treble Clef staff (ex. 4 LL = 4 Ledger Lines above the treble clef staff.)
Got it? Cool! Off we go.

Altissimo Ab (4 ledger lines above the staff) T Reg HH SK1
A (4 LL) T Reg HH 2 3
Bb (5 LL) T Reg HH 2 3 C#
B (5 LL) T Reg HH 2
C (5 LL) T Reg HH 2 SK1
C# (5 LL) T Reg HH SK1
D (6 LL) T Reg HH 2 3 C#
Eb (6 LL) Open
E (6 LL) T Reg 1 4
F (7 LL) T Reg 1
F# (7 LL) T Reg HH 2 3 4 6
G (7 LL) T Reg 2 5 REb
G# (7 LL) T Reg Ab 2 5 REb
A (8 LL) T Reg HH 2 3 4 6 REb
Bb (8 LL) T Reg 2 5 REb
B (8 LL) T Reg HH 2 SK1
C (9 LL) T Reg (HH) 2 3 4 5 or (T Reg HH 2 SK1)
C# (9 LL) T Reg (HH) 2 3 4 6 or (T Reg HH SK1)
D (9 LL) T Reg (HH) 2 3 5 6
Eb (10 LL) T Reg (HH) 2 3 5

That's all I've got at current. Terje's fingering chart actually goes higher and, of course, I use alot of fingerings from his chart, so don't think they were my idea! So, what to do...

This is the hardest thing to learn and the easiest thing to remember once you get it. It will be very much like learning to ride a bike. Promise.

If you're using a saxophone-like embouchure then you already have a nice amount of lip on the reed. Don't shy away from that. As you push with your throat and all the funny voicings start to jump out your lip being on the reed will cause a divide in the reed and give you all kinds of harmonics. This is excellent stuff, don't be afraid of it, you just don't have control of it yet. Heck, sometimes I don't have control of it.

When you ascend the instrument all the pressure is going to be coming from the back of your throat. As you increase and decrease pressure the aperture at the back of your throat gets larger and smaller. Sometimes you don't have to do a whole lot to get a speak as you push "a bit" newer, higher notes come out. Occasionally, you'll find a note that only speaks and a specific point, at a specific frequency inside your throat. For me, this note is Double A, for you it could be something else. Whatever you do, DO NOT apply massive pressure to the reed to get what you want. There is already pressure on the reed and you may need a tiny bit more to get a good sound...I can live with that, but do NOT try to do all this with your lip....it won't work. No joke people.

Westward Bass Clarinets!

Does vibrato = tone?

I don't think that I've ever considered this question thoroughly.  For years in High School I constantly heard "The vibrato is NOT the tone, it is an embellishment of the tone."  a concept  which I still agree with in simplicity.  However, how many people use their vibrato as their tone successfully?  Could those same people play without vibrato successfully?  What is so alluring about vibrato?  How do you learn to play with vibrato?

Personally, I never once took a lesson or played one single exercise involving vibrato.  One day, my Director said to me "You know, you should try playing with vibrato."  I was off.

I went to two people I respected as musicians and said "So, how do you do that?"  The first, a supreme Alto Saxophonist said "Don't try too hard, just vibrate your air, from your lip and your diaphragm, don't try to do too much of one or the other."  The second, a supreme Bassoonist and Saxophonist, started outlining all these exercises that required vibrating with the metronome.  I said "Cool, thanks" then went on my merry way.  So, I never practived it, I just started doing it.  

Rehearsal was the best place to work this stuff out because I was at the front of the section and no one was questioning me.  I furthered that by being tactful and not making the vibrato known until I thought I could do it tastefully.  A few months later I was using vibrato all the time.  Well, what kind was it?  I don't know, my vibrato is probably as broad as you can play it before people would recognize it as slow.  Back then the only vibrato title, and still the only, I knew was "french vibrato."  Ewwww, the dastardly french vibrato.  Too fast, too intense, too much vibrating, not enough sound.  Probably the reason I tend to play on the slow end.

So, is it acceptable on Bass Clarinet?  Is someone going to yell at you if they catch you using it?  Well, I've been jumped all over more than once by sectionmates in an adult band because the vibrato was messing them up.  Sorry, that's just how I do.  Funny thing, nobody ever complained before.  So, you might step on some toes, but the toes you're stepping on are not super sure what's going on, so they may just rebel, that's ok, we're all human.

How do I do this stuff?  Well, look at it this way.  Vibrato is a slight flucuation of the overall tone and pitch.  In order to play with an effective vibrato you have to have a good ear.  If you're not sure what "in tune" sounds like, then you are not ready for this.  Perhaps doing an intonation chart is a good place to start.   Get a sheet of paper and warm-up.  Tune the instrument to open G.  Now, start at the bottom of the instrument and play chromatically all the way up the horn.  Play every note "mezzo mezzo" (if you don't your volume will distort the pitch.)  Write down for every note how flat or sharp it was.  Now, you have somewhere to start.  As you begin to vibrate you'll now what you're doing to certain notes.  Without this information you'll be continually vibrating notes that are already out of tune, meaning they are most likely vibrating even MORE out of tune.  

Don't attempt to vibrate too much.  The vibration comes mostly from your air column, meaning down deep.  You've got to be able to have the air column vibrating before the air leaves your mouth.  Solely using the lip will sound more like a novelty act than classical music.    

Don't attempt to vibrate all the time.  The vibration needs to be reserved for notes that sound good vibrated.  For example, when "An American Elegy" begins the first note is in the low woodwinds and brass.  Just a simple low F I believe.  You can't vibrate this note.  It doesn't make sense.  You've got to use some musical sense.  Moreover, you can't attempt to vibrate this note to try to make it sound good.  You've good to have another method to enter and sound nice.  Vibrato doesn't always equal pretty.

If you are incapable of beginning notes without slapping the note upside the head then vibrato isn't for you.  If you cannot "non-articulate" or breath attack a note, then you can't substitute vibrato for poor fundamentals.

If you don't sound fundamentally good, meaning you can't produce a characteristic tone on the instrument, then you cannot substitute vibrato for the tone.  Vibrato will only make you sound worse.

So, as you can see, at its base vibrato does not equal tone.  However...

I've been messing around with a french-style vibrato for a couple months.  Let me tell you something, this stuff really works.  Now, I'm 31, so this means I've got 15 years under my belt playing with a vibrato but I've found that with a massive amount of control will allow you to vibrate so tightly (notice I didn't say quickly) that the vibrato and the tone meld into one unit, it's pretty cool.  So, a french vibrato is NOT fast and obnoxious, but tight, controlled, and blended. 

Does that mean it equals the tone?  No, but it does have "refrigerator rights" with tone.  There's big difference here.  Find it, and a solid french vibrato you will have.

How would I recommend practicing vibrato for vibrato's sake?  Play stuff.  I tend to stay with the Rose Studies.  32, 40, who cares, as long as it's solid music.  Teach yourself how to put the vibrato in there and how to control it.  As before, the other best place is rehearsal.  When you're tactful no one is going to know you're folling around with a vibrato, but it will improve because you'll be playing it pretty regularly.  

So, to answer the question;  No, vibrato does not equal tone.  It just has equal rights.

Things That Bug Me: Playing Loud

Playing loud....ahhhhhh, the glory days. There was a time when I viewed the Bass Clarinet purely as a volume machine. "How loud can I play this?" was the question settling on me every time I got to rehearsal. Yeah, I could play sensitively, but really, I wanted to just blast somebody out of their chair. That's fun stuff. For the longest time I never considered exactly how I could produce as much tone as I did. I was NEVER once brought down to size for playing with a bad sound, and only occasionally called on the carpet for playing out of balance.

That's the beauty of playing a low instrument, no matter how loud you play (if you sound good) you are bound to blend in. Now, I'm in no way saying that you shouldn't be sensitive to the ensemble or that you should totally abandon musical taste, but what I am saying is you have alot more leeway with volume than you think. The band is built from the bottom and a weakling will never be heard over an orchestra. It's a wonderful position to be in, to be at a seat where you can hear everything and support it at the same time. Honestly, I don't know how you can sit in the Flute section and not be able to drive the group. I'd get bored so quickly my little head would spin around. Besides, those instruments naturally carry. You could sneeze into a Flute and get a sound that will carry to the back of the hall. Put any kind of air into a Trumpet and someone will hear you. Sneeze into a Bass Clarinet and what do you get? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

That's why this is so important. You're going to be overcoming natural tendencies of the instrument. If you're playing Bass Clarinet and you find yourself not being heard. Not able to bring yourself, as Grainger would say "To The Fore", not able to really carry a group, being kept in the background, then you have a world of obstacles to overcome. How do I produce more sound? Am I using the right reeds? Am I using the right mouthpiece? Am I using the wrong embouchure? How do I get more air out of me and into my horn? Read on, this is not about produing a unique tone, this about making sure people hear your unique tone.

Let's start with air. This is always the easiest thing to fix. I'd say most people breathe too shallowly and allow for too little expansion of their lungs. When you sit to play, be sure that your back is straight, and this requires that you lean slightly forward in your chair and over the instrument. (This is also the point at which I recommend you use a floor peg AND a neck strap. No exceptions.) Placing the peg slightly under your chair allows you to lean slightly over the instrument and get your face up over the mouthpiece. This is a much more desirable angle for playing. Doing this also allows your neck to be straight which gives you a clean line from your lungs and through your mouth to blow air. If you're standing you can easily mimic this posture as long as you have a neckstrap that tightens well and doesn't slip (I prefer DeJacques, they can't be beat.)

As far as getting air into your lungs, well, you just have to suck all the air out of the room with every breath. Your lungs have an amazing capacity to expand and to learn to function better than they do now. Even if you have a respiratory disorder (personally, I have asthma) then controlled and methodical use of your lungs will increase your lung capacity and potentially lower your need for medication (it did in my case.) As you continually work your lungs you'll find yourself becoming stronger and stronger. Over time you'll find that you may not be able to hold your breath longer, but you'll be able to broaden your tone because there will be SOME improvement in the amount of air you can take in. I've seen Freddy Martin (a DCI Hall of Famer) do very cool exercises that involve breathing and simple stretching (as I could see, it was to stretch the ribcage.) It's, by far, the best exercise regimen I've seen for wind players. Try combining those things sometime. My wife does Pilates (really well) and there's "Pilates Breathing" involved. But what if, just what if, you could do hard core wind breathing while doing something like Pilates? Nice combo I think. I'm not a fitness professional, but I'll say...anything that stretches your ribcage would be mighty helpful(Heather says a good mermaid should do ya.) The expanse in your ribcage helps an awful lot. Doing this to simple patterns (breathe in 4 and out 4, in 4 out 8, in 4 out 12, etc.) will greatly improve your lung strength.

Forcing the air out of your lungs requires sheer force of will. There's no substitute for desire here. You either want to get the air out or you don't. If it were me and I were trying to come about this on my own I'd play leaning over and squatting (causing me to contract my abdomen.) I knew a girl who was a Flute Performance major as an undergrad and she came back from her first semester of school telling us how her teacher told her to practice like that. I tried it for a while....it works (actually, it forces you to work like a dog to get something out of your instrument. Plus, I probably didn't do it enough.) I've also heard from someone who studied at the same school I went to that her/our teacher had her practice laying on her back. The idea is that you MUST be "wasting your air", moving it as fast as possible. Just remember this, in all of these exercises you should be training your body to push air up from the base of each lung, from your diaphragm (as if you've never heard that before.) People say it all the time, but they leave out the part where you exhale with your diaphragm. Yep, those details will get you every time.

Only one more topic to cover before you go and apply this stuff. Your setup. It really doesn't matter what mouthpiece you're using, and reeds are only slightly more important. I played on a Yamaha 4C and 2.5's all the way through my Sophomore year of college (now, that's NOT a volume-friendly setup.) You can produce a very broad, quality sound as long as your reeds are not too hard for you. The only thing stopping you now is repetition. If you're in an ensemble on a regular basis then you have ample opportunity to learn how to move air into your instrument. You have ample opportunity to experiment with your tone without ruining it for the group. If you only have the outlet of individual practice then you must LIVE with long tones. Stay in the middle of the instrument for as long as possible until you feel you're getting somewhere. It's at this point that you might want to try moving progressively up and down the instrument, being very careful to play as full on the bottom and top of the horn as you do in the middle. You'll discover that it is (obviously) more difficult to maintain a CONSISTENT volume the higher and lower you get on the instrument.

Imagine your sound as a box.  

(Go ahead, I'll wait...........)

Now imagine that box in various sizes depending on the volume you're playing. If you're playing, as my Assistant Director in H.S. would say "Prit-ty Darn Loud" then that box is "Prit-ty Darn Big." Now, as you move up and down the horn you have to keep the box the same size, no matter what note you're playing. As an individual this is considered "uniformity of tone." I know, it sounds fancy, but it means just what we talked about.... you tone doesn't make this drastic change with every change in pitch.

This is something that LOTS of people have problems with, but never really know it (Kind of like in Romans 7:7 when Paul says '...For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire.') If I had never heard of Tony Kniffen from my buddy and his whole thing about uniformity of tone I would have no idea I had a HUGE problem with that. This is a two way street people. If you figure something out, share it because you never know who may NOT know what's up unless you tell them. The moral of this story is simple. You don't have to play a volume friendly setup to produce volume. The setup doesn't produce volume, you do. Your instrument doesn't produce volume, you do. Go forth, be merry, and produce......sound that is.

Things That Bug Me: Playing Across the Break

This one drives me bonkers! The break is viewed by so many as this incredible barrier, a musical firewall, a Macedonian Phalanx



the Western Front of the Clarinet(except it's not all quiet), the Great Wall of Break. Like it's this impossibility that cannot be crossed (you know, like when you see that lady who swam across the English Channel and everyone thought "You're out of your mind!") The word break has such a nasty connotation in musical circles. Clarinetists and Band Directors alike curse its name and try to avoid it as much as possible. It's this fear that causes people to not be able to do anything about it.

That attitude drives me crazy. "Well, it's just hard so I can't do it." or "OK kids, now this is REALLY hard but don't freak out because you'll probably never get it anyways." or "This part doesn't "lay well" because it crosses the break." I've heard all of this and more. It's always the same thing "That's so hard, oh no, I can't do it!" Excuse, excuse, excuse (or in the word's of Bob Harper "Talk, talk, talk! Words, words, words!)



Uggghhhhhhhhhhh, enough already!

*OK, deep, calming breaths*

Let's make sure we're all talking about the same thing. The break is the space between Middle B and C and the throat tones on the Clarinet. This space requires you to put down all your fingers again, press the register key, and start all over again going up the horn. It sounds harder than it really is. Now for the demystification...

Approaching the break is probably the easiest place to trip yourself up. Most people get near any kind of jump that requires crossing the break and they immediately psych themselves out. "Oh gosh, here it comes!!!", then a massive burst of air shoots forth and fingers go down all in a jumble and "SQUAWK!!!!" Yep, it's already all over. Basically, everything was done wrong in this scenario. (Oh, and by everything, I mean, EVERYTHING!)

First thing's first. When approaching the break you need to find other ways to read the music. Is there a sequence going on? Some kind of pattern that allows you to just keep playing without a serious amount of thought? You can quantify the interval ("Hey, that's a Perfect 5th.") Is there something that will make you think more about reading than crossing? ("Hey, this is an arpeggio!" "Hey, this is a scale with a note or two missing!") Something!?!

Second on your list is simply, what notes are you playing? Is it A to C? Bb to B? Bb to C? A to B? Determine which pinky fingers need to be down on your right hand. This technique is called "right hand down" (people teach it all the time, and no, it's no revolutionary.) At this point I would also recommend choosing a right hand fingering for the higher note. Even if you're left-handed the left hand pinky keys are only an escape ladder, not the main elevator.

Third is revolutionary (since I've never heard anyone teach it.) Put your middle and ring finger(and the occasional pinky finger you may need on this hand) on your left hand. This technique is called *Ta-DA!* "left hand down." Now then, you've reduced the number of fingers you need to move to 2. Yep, you went from 5 or 7 to 2. Nice, huh?

Anyways, now we have to figure out if you have good motion on your thumb and left index finger. Your finger should be hooked such that your middle knuckle is, basically, pointing straight up towards the top of the Clarinet. If you do this your finger will be positioned resting against the Ab key and almost over the A key. Now, you don't even have to roll, a simple upward movement of the finger will open the A key rather easily. Your left thumb should be placed on the left side, near the edge, of the left thumb key. Make sure your thumb is pointing across the instrument at a 45 degree angle. Since you don't have to cover a hole you don't need to have a ton of contact on this key. I would say that too many people use this key to attempt to hold the instrument up (but that's a whole other post.) Now, if you're on the edge of the key a simple rocking motion on the thumb key will depress the register key. Remember, it barely has to be touched to open (and to work for that matter.)

Now, for those of you that are like "Well, if you have a double register mechanism then blah, blah, blah and if you have a Single Register Mechanism then blah, blah, blah. Oh, and BTW, I didn't buy horn X because it had this kind of mechanism and I just can't play that.....harumph, harumph, harumph!" I have news for you. *Getting down to a whisper* The horn doesn't play bad, you do...... Please stop spreading the rumor that the instrument makes you do things. If the instrument makes the "hssss" sound when you press the register key, broaden your tone so the expanse of your tone sucks up the "hsss' sound. Period. Done. Easy. It's over.

Moving on...

Regarding that rush of air that preceeded the fingers moving in a jumble (which has now been corrected), you have to keep your air flow consistent and warmer than you would think. If you're using a standard Soprano Clarinet embouchure you can't keep your mouth open enough to allow the air flow at the temperature I'm asking you to use. You've got to back off a little...move towards a Saxophone paradigm. An embouchure that more equal pressure all the way around the mouth. Now, if you don't use a ton of air to begin with then you have a bigger problem than crossing the break. Chances are you don't sound too hot(haha, get it? Hot, warm air?....nevermind.)

As the air speed remains consistent and the air temperature is slightly elevated you can simply move two fingers(index finger and thumb) and you're good to go. The note will speak much better than previously, and if you do this enough your overall tone quality will improve.

I recommend that you design some exercises for yourself so you can practice this. Maybe play Major Scales backwards down across the break. You could just a easily use a 5 note segment or even a 3 note segment. Bottom line: You have to do something or it isn't going to get any better.

There's an excellent example of needing this kind of skill in ensemble practice. Eric Whitacre wrote a lovely piece for Band called "October." I love it! Beautifully written. The parts (especially mine) are all very interesting and have alot going on even though the piece is not a barnburner. Basically, you could play the Bass Clarinet part as an unaccompanied solo and carry it off quite nicely.

Anyways, when you listen to the piece enjoy, it's lovely. At about the 5:30 mark things start to get a little frenetic and some tremolos begin to enter in the upper woodwinds. At the 5:42 mark the Bass Clarinet comes in with the tremolo I'm talking about. When everything stops and all you have is trills and tremolos in the woodwinds, in the background is a tremolo in the Bass Clarinet part. The first from D on the 4th line of the staff to Throat A. Then it changes to Middle C to Throat A. Yep, that means you're crossing the break multiple times per second...then you have to change tremolos, then change back. Oh, did I mention you have to play it loud too?? Yeah, no hiding in the corner on this one. We can heeeeaaaaarrrrr yoooooooouuuuuuuu! You can tell even in this recording that the Bass Clarinet tremolo is slower than every other one in the woodwind section. (It doesn't hurt that I know exactly where it is, but you get my point, it's audible.) Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Now, this is not the only example of these principles in literature, but it is quite extreme. When you're in a community band, like I was, and the 3 adults sitting next to you (one of whom who used to teach you privately) all say "I'm not playing this." and they proceed to play it down an octave then you know there's an issue with this in performance practice on an almost epidemic scale. I implore you, please, work this out. I'll do other posts on other pressing issues, but if you do not have command of the middle of the horn you are sailing a sinking ship.

A Weighty Mouthpiece Issue

So, I've been thinking. I've been playing a Selmer (D) mouthpiece on Bass for about 10 years now. It totally works. I've got two of 'em to boot! One's kinda old (I wouldn't call it vintage as it doesn't have the model etched on the table) which is really nice (basically, it plays the entire range of the horn without issue(Eb3 to Eb8)) and I have a newer one (got it in 2002) which is "FATTIE!"

Anyways, I keep thinking about other mouthpieces I should try, brands I should give a shot. There's all sorts of pieces that I've considered: a bigger Selmer, one from a new Behn line, a Fobes Debut (I have an original Basso Nova that is so old it has the hand engraved "Basso Nova" on it. Got it from Clark's booth at Clarinetfest in '98. He actually let me stand there and try 30 pieces before I bought), a HUGE Pillinger, and a HUGER Pomarico. I LOVE the "Basso Nova", but something about the Selmers draws me in deeper than the Fobes, but I can't give up on the Fobes. That sucker is one-of-a-kind.

I should speak up for Clark right here. I play a Fobes Nova on Alto Clarinet and it's as big as a howitzer



(no, really, the back end of the mouthpiece is larger in circumference than the shank on the neck) and plays that way too.

I play a Fobes Debut on Soprano Clarinet (he sent it to me free as part of his Debut program. It worked! I love the thing and sing it's praises daily!) It's not a tank, but moves like a spitfire



...and that's a good thing on Clarinet. So, the moral of this story is, Clark rocks!

On Bass, however, I'm about 1000000000000 bagillion times more discerning about my sound. If you read my diatribe on tonal profiling then you'll know that I'm REALLY particular about my sound. I've considered getting everything from something bigger, to something smaller, to something made from rod stock (like the Selmers are); I've considered upgrading on a mouthpiece I currently have (like getting a Fobes San Francisco (which is made from a Zinner blank)), and way too much more to tell. Then, the other day, I'm thinking..."What if I actually use a heavy mouthpiece?" Honestly, a heavy mouthpiece. Like, on "Good Eats" when Alton Brown always says about fruits and vegetables "They should seem heavy for their size." Should my mouthpieces seem heavy for their size...?

I did an unscientific test on my pieces (of which I have many) and I have to say the Selmers seemed heaviest, the Fobes seemed almost as heavy, and my little plastic Yamahas and Brilhart seemed pretty light. Maybe I'm on to something.

I'm going to bring the Fobes out of the dugout and bat the New D, the Old D, and the Fobes 1,2,3. I'll give it about a week, then I'm gong to weigh them. We'll see if I'm remotely right (even if it only applies to me.) Hopefully I'll come up with more questions than answers.

What is a Tonal Profile Anyways?

Let's define this puppy. A tonal profile is the combination of the characteristic tone of an instrument and the unique qualities of the individual performer.

Alright, the Bass Clarinet has a characteristic tone. This, in and of itself, is a mystery since hardly anybody can teach this correctly. The Bass Clarinet is NOT supposed to sound like a big ole Clarinet. If it sounded like a big ole Clarinet then essentially what you would have is the sound of the left hand keys on an electronic keyboard with the Clarinet patch turned on. Yuck!

Actually, the Bass Clarinet should sound like a strong Ox in the field. A cross between the Bassoon (the double-reediness) and a Soprano Clarinet (the FIRM singing quality). Without the reedy quality (I like to call it "syrup") you've got the wrong bird. I get asked for this all the time "Can we take out the reediness?" Ummm, no! You want me to sound like a completely different instrument? Really? That's weird.

Reediness is inherent in the instrument itself. If you wanted to boil the tone down to one thing it's that. It's GOT to sound reedy. You've got to be able to hear the reed vibrating. It's the difference between a Mack truck and a Ford Pinto. You can hear that Mack Truck coming from a mile away.

Ok, so now you have the strong ox (or the Mack truck, whichever you prefer.) He's just standing in the pasture waiting to pull his weight. He never fails. Ever.



Now then, you have to add to that your unique qualities. Your embouchure, your air flow, your tongue position, the position of the mouthpiece in your mouth, your posture, the shape of the inside of your mouth, the shape of your throat, the expanse of your ribcage. Yeah, yeah, all of it. These things make you unique. They make you sound like you, assuming you are exploiting these traits. If you take alot of mouthpiece in your mouth you get a particular sound, if you keep your teeth high on the mouthpiece you get a particular sound. Creating more expanse in your ribcage gives the sound more girth. Moving these things around will reveal to you all sorts of sounds, many not pretty. The ones you find that are nice can be molded into something you like. The sound you really enjoy. Your sound.

Then there's the other half of your unique qualities. And really I think it comes down to this question:

What other instrument do you want to sound like?

Is it the Cello? The Euphonium? The Contrabass? The Horn? The Tuba? The Viola? Maybe a Tenor voice? Baritone voice? True Bass voice? What?

Make a decision!

Personally, I enjoy the Viola. I kind of feel bad for 'em, having to read in Alto Clef and all. There's something about the raspy woody quality of the instrument that I LOVE, especially a really big Viola. Oversized Violas(17") sound so COOL!!! The sound reminds me of Shostakovich...the 8th Quartet. A piece written in "memory of the victims of fascism and war." I cried the first time I heard it (at a recital in college, and it was played fabulously.) I still can't make it through in tact. It's powerful. Even if you're not into classical music, listen and you will be moved. Personally, I prefer my Borodin Quartet recording, but the Emerson Quartet plays it extremely well.

That's right, the Bass Clarinet is not this boisterous, happy instrument. We fit in during circus marches, but we don't REALLY belong. That's Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet, Trumpet and Alto Sax land. I mean, you can do that and make it work, but at it's heart the Bass Clarinet is...

a harbinger of gloom, of resolution of wrongs long since past, an old friend you thought long since gone coming out of the ashes of war, the friend who Dmitri Shostakovich asked "In whose hands do you leave me to die?" The Bass Clarinet is the path "In leaves no step had trodden black." (The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost)

This isn't pretty stuff. The instrument isn't pretty. It's gritty. It's harsh. It's intense. It's raw.

The timbre of the instrument is divided. If you are truly allowing to reed to vibrate freely you'll be able to hear two sounds. The pitch and the raspy undertones of the reed. Yes, two pitches. I can whistle two notes at once so this isn't a big deal to me, but if you've never heard or experienced that it might sound really strange. Mongolian throat singers perform in this tradition and do so to great effect. Manipulating the vibrations inside their mouths they can produce multiple pitches. Manipulating the innner shape of your mouth (Yes, you don't have to just use your throat) can produce a very complex tone that will continually reveal different components the more you refine it. Now that's fun!