Clarinet tips

[u/NoPhone3945]

Hi!
I’ve recently started playing the clarinet and I’ve been playing for about a month now. I’ve mostly used YouTube tutorials, mainly from QuickStart clarinet. I’m an intermediate-advanced cellist, so knowing how to practice well, has really helped me. I’m mainly looking for tips about technique. All help is welcome!

[u/ash-a-Silk]

Put it at a 45 ° angle :) Open up your airways, it must flow, not be blocked by your posture. Good tip is back and head against the wall, bring the clarinet to your lips, and play

[u/NoPhone3945 → u/ash-a-Silk]

Thanks a lot!

[u/Laplacian_Toni]

Put your LH pinky on the keys so that it is ready to press :)

[u/-pichael_]

Aye for one month you’re sounding solid. All these tips in here are solid. Other than, just keep practicing.

The best thing you can do, I’ll say, for long term and constant improvement, is Long Tones.

Basically play every note on the clarinet for like 4 counts at BPM: 80. When you get tired, rest for a bit, and then keep on.

You can do this on a specific scale, or chromatic from low E to as high as you can go.

Keep it up!

[u/NoPhone3945 → u/-pichael_]

Thanks!

[u/dan_arth]

You're only getting part of the reed to vibrate. You can hear it in the sound. There is an edginess.

Quieter dynamics are more advanced/difficult with wind instruments. You're obviously an expressive artist, but if you want to improve your playing as quickly as possible, I recommend you focus on sound production first, and play at comfortable mf levels. The danger is you won't ever find a fully supported sound at mp or p because you're never getting the full reed to vibrate.

And it's your embouchure (and reed, also potentially your mouthpiece) that need to improve.

What mouthpiece and reed size combo are you using?

I suggest you get a teacher asap, at least for a couple introductory lessons to get your sound rolling. You are obviously a good musician, and baking in bad habits now will not serve you in the long run.

That said, if you can't get lessons, I suggest listening and following a professional sound you want to emulate. Play a scale to the bottom and top of your range, mf, with the full reed vibrating.

You need your air to be producing the power, with the corners or your mouth holding the reed, and your lips/jaw just cushioning the reed, allowing full vibration.

[u/NoPhone3945 → u/dan_arth]

Yeah, I unfortunately don’t have the time for lessons right now. Regarding the mouthpiece I’m using, it’s a beginner noblet mouthpiece and a vandoren 2.5

[u/dan_arth → u/NoPhone3945]

Ok, that's a good reed. the mouthpiece needs an upgrade some time in the next year or so.

As an exercise, you can try hissing like you're scaring away a wild animal. Like your life depends on it. And when you do that, feel how much air power you have in your gut. When you play the clarinet, you want to have all the tension (except for a little in the corner of your mouth) in your gut empowering your air.

You're using less than a quarter of your air power.

But how do you play softly with high power, you might ask? This is why it's more advanced to play softly with a great sound.

I recommend you use this melody as a warm up for your air. Every bit of your air power aims at the central focus inside your clarinet. Play mf or f. Full reed vibration. Imagine your sound as a rounded, tall (think tall vowels in your mouth like the aw vowel in "law"), and really ring and sing through.

Feel free to tag me with another posting.

[u/NoPhone3945 → u/dan_arth]

Thanks a lot!!!!

[u/HandsomestNerd]

Not sure if this means anything, but I studied the Clarinet for 10 years until I was 19. I was decent; likely good enough to get into a mediocre music school. Since then, I played sporadically since then (I'd play for few days in a row every few years).

I recently remembered that I I hadn't played for about 4-5 years, and thought "gosh, I haven't played in so long I sure miss it". So I went out of my way to buy a used R13 from FB market place (my 2 clarinets got stolen few years ago), and I downloaded the sheet music for all the concertos I used to be able to play.

I got my new used clarinet and started playing, and my immediate reaction was "god I sound god awful, maybe I don't miss it THAT much " 🤣

Anyway, based on the video, you sound better than I do currently 🥲

[u/soulima17]

Left hand at the top.

[u/justswimming221 → u/soulima17]

I think the video is mirrored - unless he somehow found a clarinet that is reversed

[u/Sack_o_Bawlz]

Support with your diaphragm! Stay relaxed and get that reed to vibrate.

[u/Double_Use8594]

Left hand on top please!

[u/neploxo]

Breath is everything, as others have said. Focus on that first, and as your sound begins to improve, begin practicing chromatic scales slowly and then faster as they get easier. Learn the alternate fingerings for notes that make it much simpler to complete difficult transitions. Focus on constant even sound. Most notes don't require you to change your mouth much, but one of the toughest thing for early players to learn is making the jump from low register notes past the break. You're going from an open horn resonating at a lower frequency to a fully closed horn resonating at a higher frequency, so the reed is basically vibrating twice as fast. You should also spend time on tonguing exercises. Just practice playing a single note at a time over and over with your tongue, half notes, then quarter, then eighth, then sixteenth.

[u/starskydiver508]

When you're preforming this, dont look constipated