In the Bleak Midwinter

[LarryS]

My embouchure is getting tighter.

https://youtu.be/Xi-WJ50yD7U

[Airflyte]

Not bad Larry. Not bad at all.

That would be a good tune for a Clarinet Pages quartet! Anyone play a French Horn? 

[windydankoff]

Good, Larry. Intonation is much better on this one.

You are picking up your L1 finger to hit the A key. The correct way is to keep your L wrist higher all the time, then with a rotation of the wrist, you can roll the finger onto the A. You'll get much smoother action using one movement instead of two.

Ref:  http://www.clarinet-now.com/clarinet-left-hand-position.html

[LarryS]

Thanks Windy, I will try out the steps in that link! There's a piece I learned called Jumpin and it uses a jump from E to A, and its messy because I lift off and then press the A key.
I tried to upload an image of the score but I keep getting an upload error on this site

[LarryS]

I'm getting this a lot of late when trying to upload images, even though they're small


"An Error Has Occurred!
The attachments upload directory is not writable. Your attachment or avatar cannot be saved."

[LarryS]

Here it is

[LarryS]

Here is my take on it, with a couple of embellishments (and err mistakes)

https://youtu.be/2aBl589d1L4

[Dibbs]

Good, Larry. Intonation is much better on this one.

You are picking up your L1 finger to hit the A key. The correct way is to keep your L wrist higher all the time, then with a rotation of the wrist, you can roll the finger onto the A. You'll get much smoother action using one movement instead of two.

Ref:  http://www.clarinet-now.com/clarinet-left-hand-position.html

No.  You absolutely should not rotate your wrist.  If you read the article Windy linked to you'll see that it says exactly that.  I used to do it myself many years ago and it took a lot of effort to correct.  It's a hard habit to get out of.  Of course you shouldn't "jump" the finger either.  That's probably a hard habit to get out of too.

The key is correct hand position.  It's a bit like holding a gun.  Your index finger should be curved round the A and G# keys ready to open then them with minimal movement.  You only need to move your index finger.  Moving your whole hand at the wrist is an inefficient movement and takes your other fingers away from where they will very soon need to be.  It will ultimately limit your technique. 

Do check out the article Windy linked to.  It is very good.

[Dibbs]

One more thought.

I don't know whether this is the case with your instrument Larry, but a few years ago I tried a cheap Chinese clarinet and the key geometry around the A and G# key was such that I was literally unable to play it.  This was a good number of years ago and I believe Chinese instruments have improved a lot in the meantime.

[LarryS]

Thanks Dibbs. I did read that article and acted upon it. See my follow up video above (Jumpin)