When selecting students for clarinet, start a conversation with the student and watch their mouth and chin. Many students will have a naturally flat and pointed chin when they talk or smile. These students tend to approach the clarinet more naturally.
All students should know the parts of the clarinet prior to handling the instrument. Give them a verbal and written assessment to make sure they understand the parts of the instrument.
All students should know the parts of the clarinet prior to handling the instrument. Give them a verbal and written assessment to make sure they understand the parts of the instrument.
Exercises for Tone Development on Clarinet
- Long Tones – start with MP & barrel on exercises before going to the assembled instrument
- Use a metronome at a slow setting
- Use a chromatic study so as to work each note on the instrument
- Know what a characteristic sound on clarinet sounds like before you start. Use a reference recording if necessary.
- Make each note sound the same
- Take time to listen and redo undesirable sounds.
- Begin every practice with long tones
- Register Slurs
- The clarinet is pitched in the key of Bb and sounds a major second lower than the written concert pitch.
- In order to slur from one register to another and keep the same fingering; the register key is added. However, unlike other woodwind instruments, the resulting pitch change is an octave and a fourth higher (12th), rather than an octave.
- Register slurs help to develop the proper voicing and embouchure for each register on the instrument
- The registers are:
- Chalumeau – low E (3 ledger lines below the staff) to 1st space F#
- Throat tones – 2nd line G to 3rd line Bb
- Clarion – 3rd line B to 2nd ledger line above the staff C
- Altissimo – 2nd ledger line above the staff C# - 5th ledger line above the staff C
- The clarinet is pitched in the key of Bb and sounds a major second lower than the written concert pitch.
- Practical Range
- Low E (below the staff) to high G (4 ledger lines above the staff)
- This would be the working range for the end of the beginner year through high school
- Dynamics
- Use a long tone study with crescendos and decrescendos
- Students must learn to control the velocity of air that passes across the reed with the embouchure.
- Maintaining a constant pitch/intonation throughout a crescendo or decrescendo will help students develop breath control
- Learning to play dynamics can be a difficult concept for young clarinetists. Spend quality time working on soft and loud dynamics.
- Pitch flattens on the clarinet in louder volumes
- Pitch sharpens on the clarinet in softer volumes
- For louder dynamics, allow more fast air to pass across the reed.
- For softer dynamics, less volume of fast air must pass across the reed.
- Let the embouchure do the work here – support the mouthpiece and reed more actively to facilitate the volume and speed of air entering the instrument.
- Remember, the reed must keep vibrating in order to produce a sound.
- Use a long tone study with crescendos and decrescendos
- Flat Tendencies
- 1st line Eb & E
- 1st space F & F#
- 4th space E
- 5th line F & F#
- G on top of the staff
- Sharp Tendencies
- Below the staff G, G#, A, Bb, B, & C
- B, C & C# above the staff
- All throat tones
- Tuning notes
- First tune first space E for the barrel
- Then, tune 3rd space C for the middle joint
- Use a ‘THEH’ syllable
- Just like the flute, the “H” serves to propel the air through the articulation and creates resonance
- Release the air with the “THEH”
- The tongue should touch the sharp edge of the reed just past the tip of the tongue
- Strive for one tiny row of ‘taste buds’ on the reed
- Note length is determined by how long the reed vibrates
- Legato – fast, late, light motion
- Staccato – either the air stops abruptly or the tongue restricts the vibration of the reed by staying on the reed longer. This does not mean to tongue stop the note.
- Strength of articulation is determined by the energy of the air at the front of the note
- Too heavy or a ‘pop’ sound
- Generally too much pressure from the tongue
- Too much tongue on the reed
- Use one tiny row of taste buds on the sharp edge of the reed
- The reed could be too old or soft
- Sluggish tongue
- Make sure the reed is not too hard
- Student may be moving the back of the tongue – keep the motion limited to the front part of the tongue
- Pecky tonguing
- Not following through with air
- Just interrupt the air or reed vibration with the tongue
- Not following through with air
- Anchor Tonguing
- This is when a student anchors the tip of the tongue against the bottom teeth and uses the ‘thick’ part of the tongue past the tip to articulate
- This is a reason why specific articulation syllables should be used and monitored.
- This is when a student anchors the tip of the tongue against the bottom teeth and uses the ‘thick’ part of the tongue past the tip to articulate
- Developing finger/tongue technique is important for all instruments, however, we all know that flutists and clarinetists get the bulk of the work!
- Start early with ‘finger wiggles’
- Simple exercises that go back and forth between 2 or 3 notes within the range of the students
- Start slow and gradually speed up the exercises establishing a good habit slow to fast
- Finger Rolls
- This is to develop the technique of moving to and from the A key in the left hand
- This is a rolling motion without removing the fingers from ‘home’ position
- Use scales to develop speed
- Remember that hand position is extremely important and can keep a student from progressing
- Watch for finger height (low to the keys), but don’t get too close to the key rings, as that may alter the pitch
- Begin with tetra-chords then one octave scales, two octaves, and so on. Careful not to overwhelm the students.
- Fingerings in the Altissimo register can confusing and hard to remember – isolate portions of the scales in the upper register and work on the coordination of the fingers moving back and forth between the notes.
- Use method books for further development
- Rubank Series
- “Melodious and Progressive Studies”, Belwin Mills
- “Celebrated Method for Clarinet”, H Klose’, Carl Fisher
- “40 Studies for Clarinet”, C. Rose, Carl Fisher
- “Selected Studies for Clarinet”, H. Voxman, Hal Leonard
- Start early with ‘finger wiggles’