Bandmasters Review - December 2019

Texas Bandmasters Association Bandmasters Review • December 2019 12 Once the basic fundamentals (hand position, embouchure, tone production, articulation) have been introduced and the students can demonstrate them with acceptable proficiency, there are other fundamentals that should also be taught during the first year. Other Important Clarinet Fundamentals Register Key – Introduce the register key by having the students play a low C and then YOU, not the student, add the register key. If all the previous tone production fundamentals (embouchure, anchoring, vowel sound, etc.) are established correctly, the students should not need to change the embouchure or air to produce a centered and focused sound in the upper register on their first try. If the mouthpiece is not anchored to the top teeth correctly or the vowel sound (“eee”) is not correct, the upper note may not respond, be spread or flat in pitch. Have the students then add the register key themselves while playing the C. Once they can produce the C to G correctly, add fingers in the right hand one at a time while playing the lower note first and then adding the register key. See Warm Up #3 on the TBA website for exercises to use. Only play the first two notes of lines 1-6 at first. You can probably introduce #1-3 the first day and then add #4-6 one line at a time as the students are ready. Once they can play the first two notes of each line successfully and with a good sound, then you can add the remainder of the lines. Conquering the break – The first finger in the left hand is the most important finger while learning to play the clarinet and must move correctly in order to be able to play across the break smoothly. This finger should move side to side at the large knuckle like a windshield wiper. Students should hit near the bottom of the A key with the side of finger one at the first joint. To practice this, have the students slur from first finger F# to A and there should not be a G between the two notes. Another good exercise is to finger T123 + left pinky and then roll the first finger to the A key while keeping the other fingers down. This is not a real fingering and produces a sound like an “old timey” ambulance siren. This exercise teaches the fingers how to stay in place while rolling to the A key, so that later the fingers will stay in position as they hover over the holes. If the students are not voicing correctly, they may squeak when hitting the A key, so this exercise is also a good way to check voicing. In addition, teaching the students to play G, G# and A with the right hand down will make playing across the break much easier. During the first year of playing, clarinets should learn to play from low E to high E (above the staff), both right and left fingerings for the pinkies and chromatic fingerings (F# - first finger and thumb + bottom 2 side keys; B natural/ top line F# - middle finger and 4 + ring key; Eb – T12 + bottom side key). Other Important Saxophone Fundamentals Palm Keys – Try to keep the correct left-hand shape as much as possible when using the palm keys to facilitate better technique in the future. The first palm key is depressed by collapsing the palm slightly. The second palm key is depressed with the second finger and the third palm key is depressed with the third finger. Single Reed Success ( Part 2 ) 8 count airstream – no tongue to start Air first – no tongue to start, then add articulation Visual articulation examples - One continuous airstream and same sound (shape) throughout the airstream regardless of whether the students are tonguing or not.