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How to Improve Transition from Lower to Upper Register on Bb Clarinet.

10K views 21 replies 11 participants last post by  Serpent 
#1 ·
Hello,

I am a long time sax player adding Bb clarinet to my world. Not too long ago I bought out an old school district repair shop and had over 500 clarinets! Test playing them all has given me an in, and a taste for the amazing tone they have, and I kept a metal Regent Soloist model, (Much like a King) and a Paul Dupre wood model. I know neither one is stellar, but they serve my needs at this time well. Being so used to the saxes octave key, the clarinets' register key is a real stumbling block for me. ANyone have any suggestions as to how I can make the transition smoother, (other than just "practice practice")?

Thanks,

Peter.
 
#2 ·
Peter: For me, it was trying to cleanly play the "throat tones" rather than merely dealing with the register key . . . In other words, playing through the "break" (meaning from the middle G, into and through the A, Bb, and B, and to the middle C). Claude Lakey (the mouthpiece maker, RIP) showed me a simple excercise that helped me develop muscle and embouchure memory for this difficult part of clarinet.

He told me to continually play chromatic runs from G up to C and back, over and over, until I became familiar with the fingering and accompanying embouchure changes. That worked for me.

It also MAY help to put down any or all of your right tone-hole fingers when entering the throat tones, not only for physical stability of the horn but also as a sound enhancement. I've found that individual clarinets respond differently depending one which right finger is used this way. Experiment on yours to find what works best. Hope that helps. DAVE
 
#4 ·
I'll double what Dave and Martin stated.

One of the major stumbling block of sax players is that they may open then hands/fingers too much. Thus you have to move them a lot to play clarinet. This is especially true around the throat keys. If you can make sure your fingers are close to all the keys (without affecting tone of any open holes) then this makes transitions even easier/faster/smoother.

In one of my study guides from decades ago the exercises essentially worked up and down and around the break.
There is no easy way other than practice.

This also assumes the clarinet is in perfect working order. A leak of any type can make this transition problematic.
 
#6 ·
Holy crap, Peter... 500 clarinets?! Isn't there some kind of law/ordinance against such a thing? ;-)
Curious, what did you do with the other 498 of them (and everything else)?

Also, welcome to the forum. Good to see another WI guy here!

John

-Oh, and "serpent" because of the serpent on the octave keys of your Vito's!
 
#17 ·
Holy crap is right! And thanks for the welcome John, even if many months have passed! As to the clarinets, they are all sold but 2-3. I bought out the Mpls school district repair shop after they closed. It was mostly student stuff but there was some real gems mixed in. Serpent: I was born in the year of the snake, and I think the medieval instrument of the same name is a distant ancestor of the sax.
 
#7 ·
Relatively speaking, a sax is a very easy instrument - no particularly demanding issues like one encounters with the rest of the woodwind. A clarinet needs a lot more effort/practice to master even mediocrity. Just do that practice! No short cuts!
 
#8 ·
Yes chromatics definitely.

Then set about practising your arpeggios in all 12 keys, bottom to top and down again. Then step them, e.g., on an F7 chord, going up from the bottom: F, A F, C A, Eb C, F Eb, A F, C A, which takes you from the chalumeau register, through the throat register and into the clarion. Keep going, all the way up to your top note, in this case F, then step your way down to the bottom again. Go through the 12 keys in the order of the Circle of Fifths, i.e., Eb Ab Db Gb B E A D G C F Bb Eb. Do this every day. It should take about half an hour. When you're comfortable with the 7ths, do the 6ths, major 7ths, minors, etc. It's an excellent way of getting comfortable playing through the break.
 
#9 ·
A flip side to serious time spent on exercises:

My playing experience is as a woodwind multi-instrumentalist, averaging 5 shows per year for 30 years. For this type of playing my practice consisted of not exercises but going through each album repeatedly and working on what needed my attention until I could play those pieces at a standard that convinced the audience that I was an accomplished musiciann on each instrument. If there was a problematic part "over the break", or anywhere else for that matter, I practised that part as many times as it took to play that part up to standard.

My practice never consisted of repeating anything badly. That would only constitute getting better at playing it badly.

This perfectionist attitude led to my success, but did not equip me for sight reading music involving a challenging aspect of technique that had not been covered in the music I had already played.
 
#10 ·
I know the following is Woodwind 101, but it's worth going over again to try and understand why the clarinet "break" is a problem for saxophonists who come late to the clarinet.

Looking at a clarinet from a saxophonist's point of view, we have an instrument with a bottom register, which, although its notes are named as if it were a Bb instrument, mirrors exactly the bottom register of an Eb alto sax. However its middle register, being pitched a twelfth higher (instead of an octave), is the same as the middle register of a Bb soprano sax. To join these two registers together, J.C. Denner, inventer of the clarinet, put in between them a short bridging "throat" register, going from E or Eb concert (depending on fingering system) to Ab concert.

The throat register of itself causes no problems. Where the problems occur is in bypassing the throat register, to jump from bottom register to middle register, which requires not just the addition or subtraction of the register key, but also a radical change of fingering, just like going from Eb to Bb and back.

The arpeggiated exercises I referred to above, were given to me when I was starting out on clarinet as a young teenager and were designed to make playing through the register change an automatic mechanical process, with particular application for improvisation, rather than for reading scores.
 
#12 ·
Might sound silly, but I look at playing clarinet in the following way:
Think about playing/shooting darts. With alto/tenor saxophone, the bullseye is about 2 inches radius. You still have to be focused and pay attention to things, but there is some room for error. With clarinet, the bullseye shrinks to about 1/2 inch radius. Far less room for error and you have to be much more aware of fingers and embouchure.....basically, a much smaller area you must aim for. It's not rocket science, but you must treat clarinet quite differently from saxophone. You'll be forgiven with a certain amount of "error" regarding saxophone. Clarinet, not so much.
 
#13 ·
I think the most valuable exercises when I was trying to nail that transition was the Jeanjean Vade-mecum. Starting with Bb to Ab and Gb and then filing in all the tones in different rhythms and keys was great. It didn't take me long to benefit from the intense technique practice when I was just playing tunes. I can't remember what it is but Jack Brymer also has some good advice on the break in his small book on the clarinet. That's a testament to my ageing memory rather than the quality of Brymer's tips.
 
#15 ·
I agree... good analogy.

"Serpent", have you considered the resonance fingerings. There are many variations depending on the acoustic design of the model, but examples are (for my Yamaha):

For throat G# & A: add middle and ring fingers of left hand, and index and middle fingers of right hand.
For throat Bb: sams as above but also add ring finger of right hand.
Then these fingers are already depressed for the lower notes in the second register. (And the tone of Bb is improved!)
I am only a good amateur but these have become habit for the note changes that are made easier.
 
#18 ·
Thanks for all the great input here. I am moving slowly but surely with the clarinet trying out the various suggestions. Admittedly I've been a bit obsessed with my new French Vito saxes and loving how amazing they are. I just picked up a low a bari to add to my alto and tenor and I'm smitten.
 
#19 ·
BTW, in case it has not been said, if the F/C and E/B pads do not seal completely with very light finger pressure, the transition to the second register will always be problematic. Poor sealing here is the most common adjustment issue with clarinets, and on some calarinets can be precarious at the best of times. It also requires close to zero play in the associated pivots..
 
#21 ·
BTW, in case it has not been said, if the F/C pad and E/B pads do not seal completely with very light finger pressure, the transition to the second register will always be problematic. Poor sealing here is the most common adjustment issue with clarinets, and on some calarinets can be precarious at the best of times. It also requires close to zero play in the associated pivots..
Thanks Gordon. I do need to have this checked. I have been playing on an old instrument that came to me as is, and I know it's not quite right but has been "good enough".
 
#22 ·
Excellent advice! Thanks. Greetings to Rochester.... the home of my Aunt and Uncle for most of their lives.
 
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