Looking good Sir and Thank You for the videos!

Thanks William. I will be incorporating long note practice from now on.

I play alto saxophone not clarinet but your advice is very helpful. I notice when I play every day for a few hours I get better, as there's aspects of embouchure that rest in short-term muscles/ memory. A few days off (not been busking since before Xmas until today) and I notice two things: tone is relaxed and refreshed but that didn't last more than an hour. I'd lost something in not playing a lot in 6 days.

Thanks for the in-depth discussion on this topic. Would it be possible to provide a link to download the referenced exercises and information that was shown during this video?

Excellent video! I would be very interested in another topic: tonguing, articulation, staccato, etc.

@billyboy647

9 жыл бұрын

I avoid those topics because I find most people (not all) who say they have tonguing problems don't. They have an every-thing-else problem. Once they deal with basic tone production techniques and master reed finishing so they have well-balanced reeds all the time, much of their tonguing issues vanish.

Please would you explain how to snug with the thumb. I've never heard that expression before. Thank you.

Excellent summary. An actual demonstration of proper long-tone playing technique would also be helpful.

@juliolondono7786

9 жыл бұрын

With all respect from the video-poster I agree that a video would be of so much help.

@billyboy647

9 жыл бұрын

It is enormously difficult to imagine that anyone interested enough in the clarinets to view this blog needs to have a long tone demonstrated. Go take your clarinet, assemble it, put your reed on your mouthpiece, inhale deeply, exhale into the clarinet and keep doing so for at least 30 seconds, trying to keep the result of your exhale to a steady pitch and volume level. Congratulations, you've played your first long tone.

@RossiniSoprano

9 жыл бұрын

Steven Samuel Besides holding notes out and making the same good sound the entire time, you can also do long crescendos, or decrescendos, or both on the same breath. Another thing to do with long tone practice is to do scales as long tones, using whole notes for each note, or half notes, or any length. I have an exercise I call 'scale turnarounds', where I play major scales in 8th notes, going up an octave and then turning around on the 1st note past the octave note, and then going back down, not all the way, but almost all the way back down, to the octave lower note from where you just went. For instance, if I'm playing a C scale, I would play low C to one note past middle C, which is D, then I would go back down to the D right above low C, and then start back up again. This time, I will go up to the F above middle C, turn around and go back down an octave to F, then up again to A above middle C, turnaround and go back down to the octave lower A, and then finally go on up to high C, and hold it. I repeat the process upside down, starting with high C, going DOWN an octave and one note to the B below middle C, then back up an octave to high B, then back down another octave to G, and up to G, then down to E, up to E, and finally ending the entire sequence on low C, sustained. As I play the scales this way, I am concentrating on the air speed staying consistent so the tone is consistently good, and also crossing the break multiple times on the way up and the way down, keeping the air pressure equalized between the lower clarion and upper chalumeau registers.

@DelawareValleyWindSymphony

9 жыл бұрын

Elise Curran Thanks very much for the detailed reply. That was what I was hoping for when I originally posted. Despite playing for many years, no one had every explained to me the proper way to play long tones, let alone explained WHY, and what to concentrate on. I have fortunately found an excellent teacher in the past year, who has filled in a lot of the blanks in my "clarinet knowledge base" left by previous teachers!

Mr. Ridenour, thank you for providing these wonderful videos! Your snugging technique for double-lip is really wonderful but (as you point out) it's essential not to allow the embouchure to collapse inwards. Should I snug with my thumb only as much as I can maintain my embouchure? Is it an isometric relationship that will grow as my embouchure becomes stronger? Also, do you advocate practicing double lip standing up? Thank you in advance!

@billyboy647

9 жыл бұрын

I don't stand and play. Neither did Harold Wright. I saw him play the Mozart concerto twice with the Boston Symphony, and he sat and read it both times.Regarding the snugging; sound determines the degree of snugging. Listen for the point of greatest focus and highest pitch. Falling short of that or going beyond that point will harm both the quality of the tone and your control over it.

@barnabypalmer1

9 жыл бұрын

William Ridenour That's very helpful, thank you! I wonder if you might illuminate any differences between Wright's (or in fact McLane's) double-lip technique and your own? Also if you felt as though Wright's double-lip technique changed between his years at the NSO and later in Boston, and your opinion on the reason why. My question regarding snugging had less to do with how much mouthpiece and more in regards to the amount of embouchure resistance vs. thumb/snugging pressure. For instance, should I stop snugging as soon as my embouchure engages to prevent the inward collapse? Or continue snugging and utilize a stronger embouchure? Finally, I wonder if you could speak on the soft palette and throat; do you leave them out of the equation, or try to open up at all? My question in regards to standing while playing double-lip was prompted by the McLane article. All advice and guidance is very much appreciated, thanks for being so generous with your time.

What's that clarinet quartet(?) song at the beginning?

what is snugging? does this apply to playing the saxophone?

@avarmadillo

7 жыл бұрын

Watch my videos on learning to play double lip embouchure. There you'll learn what snugging is and how it is used to control the tone.

Why is double lip not the standard?