I've only been playing for eight months (at most) but my clarion register is always flat and sounds like a foghorn wailing. The link is of a recording of me playing a piece, there are mistakes as this is the first recording and I decided that showing how I imperfectly perform is better than me playing a thousand times until there's the perfect recording. I should be asking my instrumental tutor but she plays oboe not clarinet

Clarinet Playing

Long tones, lots of them, long tones starting pp and going up to FF. Lots of long tones.

My feeling is either your embouchure is too loose, or you haven't taken enough mouthpiece in your mouth, or you're breathing without much diaphragm support, or a combination of these.

There is plenty on that recording to commend though, so well done, and thank you for sharing your playing with the forum.

Well done, mysticmaddess, I enjoyed listening to you and I know how hard it is to record yourself. I can't offer any advice I'm afraid as I'm only a student myself, but I just wanted to say well done for being able to assess your playing in what sounds to be the absence of useful feedback from your teacher. If you can assess your own playing and hear what needs to be improved, I would think you're well on the way to becoming an excellent player!

I've got the same problem- I've only been playing for two months and I seem to be able to get a lovely tone in the clarion register when I'm slurring my notes but as soon as I try tonguing them they sound flat, and really harsh to the ear. I'm trying all of Barri Clarri's suggestions and I think its just practise, practise and more practise! Good luck.


I've got the same problem- I've only been playing for two months and I seem to be able to get a lovely tone in the clarion register when I'm slurring my notes but as soon as I try tonguing them they sound flat, and really harsh to the ear. I'm trying all of Barri Clarri's suggestions and I think its just practise, practise and more practise! Good luck.


You sound pretty good to me! I wish I could play that well.

A suggestion to both of you (Kath/MM) which I find invaluable to this day : do some of your practice in front of a mirror : it will show up things you need to improve very well.

Oboe here not clarinet, but I think the same principle applies. I spent quite a while when I first started on long notes and slow scales before tackling any studies or music.

My long notes include pp-ff s above, but also as follows:
Set metronome to 60. Start pp and go to ff over 8 beats then back down to pp over 8 beats. Repeat until red in face (I currently manage about 40 secs - up and down twice, then once back up to finish as ffff as possible).
It's also a good idea to do steady pp and ff long notes, working slowly up a scale listening very carefully to get the same dynamic and tone on each note.
I also sometimes do a pp-ff finishing with a slur up to the next note, again trying to maintain an even tone.

Your long tone routine is very similar to mine Pushpull.

I'm afraid I wasn't clear in my initial post, I didn't mean just long tones pp-FF but other variations too.

Thanks Barri Clarri- will try that ans see what happens. What should we be looking for exactly? Do you mean to check our embouchure is correct?

You can see where your embouchure is positioned, what shape it is, whether you show your top teeth when you take a quick breath (not a good idea), whether you blow your cheeks out, the position of your hands, general posture : the list is endless.

I find it a very good thing to do, and I encourage all my pupils to do likewise.