I love these. I think they go really well together too to make a complete work of art.
I wouldnt presume to reccommend fingerings, and also I couldn't without getting my clari out again and having a fiddle about. When it's not in my hands I havn't a clue which fingers make which note.

I am still working on Bartok's Rumanian Dances and I'm trying to give them a Klezmer feel. Lots of the youtube clips that I've seen featuring them seem to play them really slowly and seriously emphasising the classical music feel rather than the fun to dance to feel that I think they should have. Yesterday I managed a bit of growling for the first time ever but it's not yet controllable!

Mainly practising for my grade 8 on 6th December and, spent all morning rehearsing for our Scarborough Library concert on Saturday 5th December. Our 'other' pianist turned up this morning to tell us she had a clashing committment on the 5th and wouldn't be able to play, so I'm now doing all the piano work. Fortunately she had only agreed to do 2 accompanyments and, with me, 2 Moskowski spanish dance piano duets. So we've scrapped the duets and the accompanyments are straightforward and, Dawn, the Shostakovich trio is now certainly in! We worked out a very good way this morning of overcoming R's problem on the recorder and, we think, improving the listening experience at the same time - details in the morning. The rest of the rehearsal went very well.
If anyone happens to be in Scarborough on Saturday the 5th, the concert (free) starts at 11.15 for one hour, prior to which there are free mince pies and warm drinks from 10.30. This is the annual concert of the Friends of Scarborough Library music group (which I run) and all are welcome.

Final practice before my Advanced Certificate exam tomorrow, so giving my recorders a good tootle.

intriguing.....



Yes do come along if you can

All the very best for that, KJ, and I'm sure you'll do really well, as usual .

Best of luck katyjay.

Dawn : I'll post something extensive about getting jazzy sounds in the next few days : it needs to be an extensive post. If I forget, give me a virtual dig in the ribs about it!

OK Barry Thanks. My teacher's still not back yet and if possible I'd like to pleasantly surprise him

Any fingering tips for the Fughetta (as detailed above??)) My knowledge of the various G fingerings is a bit hazy.... (Though I can think of three off the top of my head....)

Can I give you a virtual dig in the ribs about the cadenzas then please....

I would also be very interested in hearing how to get a jazzy sound.

Have just been practising Cantaloupe Island (impossible bit in the middle - too fast for my ageing brain) and improvising a B flat blues.

Yes, by all means give me a cadenza related 'dig in the ribs'! I'm Sibelius-ing three of them, and I'll get them to your email inbox as soon as I can Dawn.

As regards the top Gs in the Finzi, for all of them I use thumb/register key -2-/12- Eb key.

The b-c guide to getting jazzy noises out of a clari

I'm not going to go into improvising or anything like that, I'm going to try to cover three things, some in more depth in others.

1 - High notes. Certainly, if you're going to attempt solos by people like Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, you're going to want to be confident in notes like 5 leger line Bb/B/C. Plenty of mouthpiece in the mouth is needed, as well as a lot of diaphragm support (no good going half-hearted at these notes). Have a look at several different fingerings (the wfg.woodwind charts are excellent) - some fingerings will work better on some clarinets than others. You need a good reed, too, but not necessarily a hard reed (I play on 3s, and cope fine with these notes).

2 - Vibrato. Two types, both valid, in my opinion. Diaphragm vibrato is achieved by pulsing your diaphragm regularly. Start slowly, and gradually get it quicker and quicker. It takes a lot of work, but you'll get there. The second type is lip/jaw vibrato, and this comes up quite a lot in jazzy pieces (I use it to achieve the 'Stranger on the Shore' effect). This is achieved by controlled wobbling of the jaw/bottom lip, again, start slowly and build it up (it's very easy to make your clarinet sound harsh and unpleasant using this, so be very careful). This is an awful lot easier to demonstrate than describe, if you catch me at an event, do feel free to ask, and I'll have a go at showing you.

3 - Glissandi. Like at the start of Rhapsody in Blue! It's achieved largely through fingers, with a bit of lip/breath control. Play a strong two leger line B. When you're happy, slowly expose the left hand index finger hole to play a C. It'll take practice to make the transision seamless, but you'll get there. The speed needs to be quite slow. Once you're happy there, start at A, slide the middle finger off to play B, and just before the middle finger has left the hole, start sliding the index finger off. You may need to do some lip and diaphragm adjustment (you need tons of support). Then gradually add the other holes, until you get to the D (where I'd start for Rhapsody). You can then use the technique to smear other notes for a nice jazzy effect, and I use this a lot.

Now I bet you're all going to go off to practice all that lot (particularly 3 ). Have fun!

Yep.
As a special treat I went to Symphony Hall yesterday to hear Kari Kriikku play Lindberg's Clari Concerto and I was absolutely blown away by the wonderful sounds he can get from his clari.
.... so today, I don't think there will be enough hours to fit in all my practice.
Gotta dash....

Thank you Barry And bet the neighbours will really love me too!!!! NOT!


My duet partner from band can do fab glissandi and jazzy lipping and vibrato effects so I may ask him to show me more too.


Does the mouthpiece need to be particularly open to do this??? I struggle with bending the notes about on my clari but can do it on Sax wonder if using a classical mp (5RV) would hinder me in making a jazz tone...

It should be possible on your mouthpiece DawnF but I find easier on a more open mouthpiece.......then again I don't get on at all with closed mouthpieces.

Re the trill question - can't remember what I use in the Arnold (haven't looked at it for a few years). The combination that springs to mind to me is to use RT -23 for the E, RT - 2- for the F# in the trill then RT - 2- + bottom trill key for the G.

As I've said before - you can never know enough fingerings for the highest notes - you never know when you just can't get all your fingers in the right place for your personal favorite!

Tried some of the jazzy ideas out last night. Can just about pulse diaphram but had more success with lip vibrato - must be careful it doesn't get out of hand though.

Re gliss could do it from B to C and Ato B to C ish so it's a start at least Not sounding too impressive though yet. My band colleague has said he does most of the gliss work with his lip and works at altering the pitch with just his lip i.e. he tries to make a C into a B and vice versa etc just by altering his embouchure.

Differents strokes for different folks I guess. I can't bend my notes much on my mouthpiece so am trying Barry's method.

For very short glisses over a tone or so, the lip way is very effective.

Assuming this thread isn't just for clarinettists.

I've been practising a couple of more modern pieces today - Krystall from De Fire Riker by Trygve Madsen and Rustical Miniature no 1 by Sigtenhorst Meyer. Both pieces that I bought in the Brittania music sale. I wasn't sure about either of them at first but the more I practice them the more I like them.

The Krystall piece goes from a pp to a "ff!" (!) back to a ppp within the space of about 10 bars. I know how I want it sound in my head but the technical ability needed to execute it is just not there (yet, hopefully). *sigh* Lots of long tone practice with dynamics needed I think. It is set for grade 6 but I think it is one of those pieces where you need to be way beyond that to really do it justice.

In a serious attempt to do some 'work', rather than just playing, I've been playing scales, arpeggios, more scales and arpeggios, scales in thirds, dominant sevenths and diminshed sevenths - phew! Then, as a reward, I took out my Andrew LLoyd Webber Showstoppers book and played Memory, complete with all the dynamics and articulation - that's the first time I've played it and felt completely happy with it!

I've also been practising (or messing about with!) the lower altissimo and discovered that I can get what I think is a D# by overblowing clarion G - should I be able to this? It sounds ok and the note is strong, so I don't know whether this is a good or a bad thing! Incidentally, for anyone else trying out the altissimo, I find that tilting my chin upwards slightly improves the notes quite dramatically!

There are a lot of notes you can get by overblowing clarijo. I'll put a tuner against overblown G tomorrow, but I think I'll find it's more like a slightly flat E natural rather than a pure D#/Eb. I will let you know.

Thanks Barry - that sounds about right actually but do let me know. If you can get a true D# (or an E for that matter!) then I'll have another go at it!

No not just clarinettists - anyone. I put it in Woodwind but piano players have also contributed in the past. maybe it'd have been better in General Music...

Is this an Oboe or piano piece? (showing my ignorance here )

Sounds like you've been having fun Clarijo.

They are both oboe pieces. Not ignorant at all, I don't think they are that well known. I assumed they were kind of known when I bought them as all three pieces in one set, and 2 out of 4 of the other are on the current and previous syllabuses (syllabi?). But my teacher didn't know them at all.

Have duly tried it : it's an ever so slightly flat E natural on my clarinet clarijo. Tuning improves a bit with the addition of the RH Eb key.

Thanks Barry - it's clearly some randomly useless note I've stumbled upon!!!

I've been so busy lately that i've had little time to do much playing, but today I managed to have a little session on my new sopranino sax. When I first had it a few weeks ago the top notes were about a tone and a half sharp, but now they're really coming under control due to lots of work with my tuner / slow melodies to CD backing etc.

I've been playing from Nobuya Sugawa's 'Recital album' book (alto sax, but works well for 'nino)

I was very fortunate to go and see him last month at the RCM and it was excellent

Saxgirl

http://www.reverbnation.com/keridegg

http://www.keridegg.co.uk

Nuffink yet today - must go and do some. Exam is only approximately 36 hours away!!!

I did loads of flute and clarinet practice preparing for next weeks exams at lunch time, and have just had a rehearsal with my accompanist - it was terrible. Not sure I'll pass my flute exam

Or a useful starting point if some silly composer asks you to play a quarter tone between E and Eb!

Thinking about you for your exams next week Appassionata



Good thinking!

Will keep it in mind then - perhaps it could be a clarijo speciality note?!!


Best of luck with your exams, Apassionata!

Thanks (I may be needing it!)

Everything for Saturday's concert and Sunday's exam.

Scales for my exam on the 8th.
Then the Schumann Fantasy Pieces. I'm thinking that they have to be easier on an A clarinet... there is a really horrible bit of fingering in no. 3, bar 16 - clarion G sharp, down to C sharp, then D sharp... whichever way you play it you have to slide a little finger somewhere.
Or am I being dim? Barry? Anyone?

*Off to see if the piggy bank holds enough yet for an A clari*

Edit: just looked at my Peters ed. which includes part for A clari in which the offending bar has clarion A, D, E. So it looks much easier for the A clari, but as yet I only have a Bflat so I need to know how to get around this knotty bit, please!

Me too later (but not the exam bit)....

Jazzycat: I think your right about that tricky bit.... can't think of an easy alternative off the top o my head.

Thanks Dawn. At least I haven't missed something blindingly obvious!

I think you have to work out which is the smoothest slide. I think (without having my clari out yet to try... That i would use left hand for the G# to C# jump then RH D# (had it been the other way I would have used rh slide from D# to C# - no help in this though.) Without the piece of music in front of me I'm not sure of the rhythms involved so if either C# is a longer note you could possibly change fingers on the note....

I'll dig it out for a little look later. Not played this properly yet. It is one I'd like to do with a capable accompanist sometime though.


Enjoy it Jazzy cat>

You do have to slide somewhere, and neither slide is a terribly nice one. I tend to go left C# as the better of a terrible choice...

Cool!! I must be getting good - I gave the advice Barry gave but before him!!

I'm on the right lines then - thank you both!

Had my first lesson since my exam today and came away with lots of lovely new stuff to annoy the neighbours / hubby / pets with.

Played the Tartini form the Grade 6 book which I didn't like at first but now do after running through it (expect your ears to be tormented with it at a least 2 forum events ). Also got the 1st study from the Bach 21 book and going to start on the Brahms sonata No2 so lots of renewed enthusiasm

Oh and scales - many many many more scales...................

Lois

So far mostly carols and pieces for services. I'm going to do some organ practice later, as I need to decide on which pieces to play for which services in the next month.

Started looking at the Weber Concerto number 1. A new piece given to me by my teacher last night.

Also F# major scale. Not as hard as I first thought. I've also to work on a running scale of F and C - ok going up but got a little confused going down again. My fingers kept going to the note above instead of below at the start of each run.

Challenge from teacher: To be able to do running scale of F# after Christmas

But ..... I rise to a challenge.

What is a running scale when it's at home?

A running scale example:

Start on bottom F (key of F) run up to the f (an octave up) - no holding it - and straight down to bottom F again (straight forward scale so far) and move straight up to the G (hold the G) then run up to and turn on the G back down again up to A - hold, run up and down an octave, note up - hold etc until you reach the F 2 octaves up from where you start (it could easily be 3 octaves if you prefer for this one). Then you do the same process but descending an ocatve, turning on the lower octave and ascending again, then dropping a note to hold before running down and back up the octave etc till you get back to where you started.

It's apparently a favourite of an old - army trained - band director of my teacher's .....

Lots and lots - too much to list here! Had a really good playing session but my lip gave up in the end, so I had to stop!!

I've been playing the Baermann Tarantella from the Grade 5 book, the Mendelssohn Song Without Words and Frensham Pond but unfortunately my top G is a bit ropey!

I'm definitely better with the top forefingers down, rather than left hand middle and first two right hand fingers with 7R but are there any other alternatives I should try? Found the second fingering I describe here very uncomfortable and it wasn't a good note!

BTW Dawn, that just sounds cruel!!

Aha I see, thank you. I suppose the tricky bit is in going from G to G but in the key of F rather than switching into a G scale. I'll have a go next time I practice. Sadly that wont be tomorrow as I'm double booked for other things all day, boo.

Two hours playing carols in Shopping Arcade.
That might count as clarinet practice for today.

* Bach Sonata in F major (BWV 1031) - more often seen as Eb for flute but out there in F major for recorder too!
* A piece by Tolou from 150 Classical Studies - a book of pieces taken from a collection of studies for flute, transposed for recorder
* Marcello sonata in F major (Op 2, sonata 1) - cos I'm thinking of doing some of this at the St Albans playing thingy

The first two are great, even more fun is that my teacher is much more accustomed to doing these on flute (indeed, the Classical Studies book he'd never seen in the recorder version, but now he likes it). So he knows them all to play/teach well, but on a different instrument and in a different key so he'll go at them with gusto and then get thrown by e.g. a top F# mid-piece which they put in to keep the recorderist on their toes.

Frensham Pond only goes up to top E ...... I'm not sure what fingerings you are describing here either..... sound like G in the second fingering but what exactly are you using as the alternative?

Confused....

Sorry Dawn - I had it in my head that I would need a top G, so had only played to bar 16. Having looked at it again, I realise that I have all the notes I need to play it already!

I've also been working on my F# and G. My G sounds best (and feels more comfortable with right and left hand forefingers down. The other fingering I had tried was middle finger left hand down and forefinger and middle finger right hand down with 7R (or what I call the D# key). Hope that makes more sense!

They are the 2 fingerings I use for G. But the One and one fingering can be a bit sharp. Better tuning is by fingering is as you describe, though that's even sharper on my clari and we've realised that top F plus the two right hand fingers works better on my instrument. Others use little finger on C or C# key on some of the altissimo notes to improve tuning. Depends a lot on the instrument. ToP G can also be achieved in fast passages by overblowing altissimo C and with altissimo F# (minus the G# key works best I think) plus the Bb trill key- Good for chromatic passages.