songblog

Not quite clarinet lesson #12

Consider the following:

I am calling this brief set of notes not quite a lesson because I haven't quite had another lesson yet, due to vacations, work - all that stuff that gets in the way of playing music. Still, I wanted to pass on a bit of info since I have been in contact with Kirt, who of course wrote out these exercises.
The break, must be the thing that drives all aspiring (perhaps perspiring in my case) clarient players. Certainly I know its a pain for me. I liken it to when you are playing guitar to learning barre chords - killer when you first do it, but absolutely indespenceable.
If I may quote Kirt's instructions to me:
"Playing fluently up and down over the break is the next piece. Here are some exercises to work on. Fluent, smooth and slow. You'll know they're coming along when this requires little more effort than any other exercise. Keeping breath support consistent is key here. We want to limp into the break (been there) but steady breath and accurate fingers (maybe some of that throat control we've worked on) will make these exercises smoooooooth."
I should note that I have been playing these with the right hand fingers down as much as possilbe, in order to concentrate on making a smooth transition and hey why not since it sounds good, eh?
As always, I play these with the metronome, but if I am having trouble with a particular passage, I will stop the click and just play the troublesome notes. I am quite thankful to be playing the Buffet, since the A sounds so much better on here than on my Noblet. It just easier to play too.
Nothing to add to this, so have at it if you need it - and you know who you are, ha!