For windy

[LarryS]

Thanks Windy for the help. Here is me attempting to play the overtones after releasing the register key. The high note just disappears. Bear in mind I haven't picked up the licorice stick in months so things have got a little sloppy, but I would like to get back into it, and would like to know where I'm going wrong, and why my clarinet is so hard to blow. Should it be free blowing? I understand there is meant to be some resistance, but how much is me and how much is the budget instrument?
Playing with a Yamaha 4C mpc with a Legere 2.5 reed.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ptXSXrucKTg?feature=share

[kewald]

Check for leaks in the throat keys.

[LarryS]

Check for leaks in the throat keys.

Do you mean the A key at the top? I'm not sure what is meant by throat notes

[windydankoff]

Throat notes are probably defined as anything above the open-G. Any leak will cause inefficiency, of course, for the area of the leak and every note lower.

A simple mouth-pressure test of each joint is advisable. There are numerous YT videos showing ways to check leakage.

This is a start ...

[kewald]

Throat notes are probably defined as anything above the open-G. Any leak will cause inefficiency, of course, for the area of the leak and every note lower.

A simple mouth-pressure test of each joint is advisable. There are numerous YT videos showing ways to check leakage.

This is a start ...

Or, a vacuum test.  Do one joint at a,time.  Close all tone holes as you would when playing.  Hold your palm over the bottom of the joint and suck on the other end by mouth.  If you can't get a vacuum there's a leak.

[LarryS]

But surely if there's a leak the pressure would be less...

[windydankoff]

absolutely not. You aren't dealing with static air pressure, but with a dynamic resonance device. A leak breaks or weakens the wave, like a light finger touch does on a guitar string.  Test for yourself - slide any finger slightly off an open hole and as it begins to leak slightly, you'll feel more resistance. Right?

Regarding your recording - When you shift from C to clarion G, the G is flat. I emulate your sound to discover what you are doing, and I find that your lip is simply too soft. If I play the chalumeau with the same soft lip, I have to blow harder.

You need to develop a tight muscular ring around the mouthpiece (picture an o-ring slightly stretched). It supports the reed for control, but doesn't act like a soft pillow. With a good muscular ring, the reed can vibrate as designed. With a pillow-lip, the vibration is dulled and it takes more energy to blow.

If you look at an anatomy drawing of the muscles of the lips, you will see that it forms a ring. I try to always remember that when my sound goes flabby.  I suggest you use a tuner as you practice this. You'll have a breakthrough in your tone throughout the instrument, as well as tuning and control. And, your lips will get a workout, but will strengthen to the task.

[LarryS]

Thanks Windy, its because I haven't played for months, my chops have gone soft. As for leaking with a finger, no I don't see how the pressure can increase. I'll have to try it when I get a chance to play ...

[kewald]

Here's a good book of embouchure exercises.
"Embouchure Drills", by Dr. Kornel Wolak.  Kornelwolak.com/ is his website.

[LarryS]

To be brutally honest with you I just can't be bothered doing endless boring exercises. I just like to mess around and play by ear. And I wish I'd got a sax instead...

[kewald]

To be brutally honest with you I just can't be bothered doing endless boring exercises. I just like to mess around and play by ear. And I wish I'd got a sax instead...

That's how I was until I took an online intonation course from Michelle Anderson of Clarinet Mastery.  After a few minutes each day for 30 days, my playing has improved considerably.  Now my wife only closes the door when I'm working on a horn that isn't yet right and squeaks!   My playing has also gotten much easier and more enjoyable.

[LarryS]

To be brutally honest with you I just can't be bothered doing endless boring exercises. I just like to mess around and play by ear. And I wish I'd got a sax instead...

That's how I was until I took an online intonation course from Michelle Anderson of Clarinet Mastery.  After a few minutes each day for 30 days, my playing has improved considerably.  Now my wife only closes the door when I'm working on a horn that isn't yet right and squeaks!   My playing has also gotten much easier and more enjoyable.

Oh I was just feeling fed up when I typed that. I have tried her course before but I couldn't stick to it.

[delb0y]

I think the need to play long notes every day, and scales too - especially over the break - really, is the hardest thing about the clarinet. It's like there's this "work" you have to do every day before you get to the fun stuff. On a guitar, or a piano, you may get sore fingers if you don't play for a while, but at least you can still play. Neglect the basics on a clarinet and you lose the ability to play with any degree of nice sound. So somehow you have to accept ten or fifteen minutes work every day is just part of the territory. Once you've made that choice, then there's a word of pleasure to be had. The true secret is to find ways of making these drills not boring - I'll play very long notes (say 20 seconds or more) whilst working on a scale (thereby killing two birds with one stone) and really listen to the tone and the notes and do this for ten minutes. I'll play long notes throughout the range. Around the throat register. The chromatic scale with long notes (say 5 - 10 seconds). Blues scales - major and minor. Patterns. Loads of things to practice slowly and afterwards you're ready to have fun...

[LarryS]

I think the need to play long notes every day, and scales too - especially over the break - really, is the hardest thing about the clarinet. It's like there's this "work" you have to do every day before you get to the fun stuff. On a guitar, or a piano, you may get sore fingers if you don't play for a while, but at least you can still play. Neglect the basics on a clarinet and you lose the ability to play with any degree of nice sound. So somehow you have to accept ten or fifteen minutes work every day is just part of the territory. Once you've made that choice, then there's a word of pleasure to be had. The true secret is to find ways of making these drills not boring - I'll play very long notes (say 20 seconds or more) whilst working on a scale (thereby killing two birds with one stone) and really listen to the tone and the notes and do this for ten minutes. I'll play long notes throughout the range. Around the throat register. The chromatic scale with long notes (say 5 - 10 seconds). Blues scales - major and minor. Patterns. Loads of things to practice slowly and afterwards you're ready to have fun...

And that's the problem, I don't always have the option of practising every day, and sometimes, I just don't feel like it.

[delb0y]

I know that feeling. The last two months have seen a reduced amount of practice opportunities for me, too, for various reasons. One being that the father-in-law is now living with us and he gets up late, sleeps a lot, goes to bed early, and generally wouldn't appreciate a clarinet being practiced. Then there was a tooth infection that made it impossible for me to play for three weeks. Then (for a while at least) the office reopened and it was back to the commute. Put all this together and November and December were tough. I tried to play every day, often failed, and when I could play it was just long enough for a few notes and a few scales.

Alas, I now find myself gone back to where I was about this time last year, (i.e. when I'd been playing just six months) in my playing, tone, reading, everything. It just shows how easy it is to lose all that hard gained ground on this instrument.

Derek