This was the second lesson where I have been able to record the entire thing, and I am still quite pleased I have done this, since there is always something I would certainly have fogotten otherwise.
There is another benefit as well, once I didn't think about till I was listening back to everything. Instead of skipping over the parts where I play, so that I can get to the discussion with Kirt, this time I just listened to everything. What this does is give me a lot of feedback on my playing. In some sections, this can be a bit brutal, but it is instructive. In particular, what I am striving for is to be able to play all the notes at the same volume and tone, wherever they land on the horn. The real challenge for me in this is to not over emphasize any notes, which is quite easy to do when say going over the break, and not having the B pop out over the other notes.
Speaking of going over the break: this is getting much easier for me now, but I have had a couple of other insights on this. You may want to refer to Not quite clarinet lesson #12 and look in particular at exercise #3. Try this one and see if you can hold the third and the second fingers of the left hand down at all times. The idea here is to keep your left hand as close as possible to the horn and reduce unnecessary movement. As I have spoken of before, holding a slip of paper between your left thumb and index finger while doing this will also force your hand to stay close. Notice how you can rock between the A and Ab since you have curved your first finger around them both. When I was first doing these studies it was pretty much impossible to keep the paper between my fingers, now its not nearly so hard, and I am working less to accomplish the same end. Why do more work then you have to?
In this same fashion you can also just practice the A - Ab combination by itself. Make sure as with every time you pick up the horn that you place your fingers in the ideal position before you start to play. I always have to check, but it is getting closer all the time. Working on this, you could imagine that its almost as if the horn was being turned as the fingers stay stationary.
The last new thing now is that I have some chromatic scales to work on. The docuemnt is too large for me to upload here, but there are tons of these available on the net. There are a few things to think about. First you need a decent fingering chart or whatever chart you have to hand that makes sense to you. As Kirt explained, there are a few rules for classical technique for certain positions, that we will get to in my next lesson. For now, however, I will quote Kirt:
There are only three chromatic fingerings used (five if you count both registers):
-First space F# is fingered as F w/ the bottom two side keys.
-Low Bb to B and top line F to F# is fingered Bb (or F) and then the third finger presses the chromatic key between the 2nd and 3rd rings (right hand).
-Left hand D to Eb and high A to Bb is played with the third finger key between the 2nd and third holes (left hand).
Now, the pinky keys could go two different ways, and there's no harm practicing both. However, low E and third line B are generally played with the left pinky, and therefore low F and third space C would be played with the right pinky.
The only other thing to keep in mind is that if you can play any series of notes with only one hand, that is generally the way to do it, as always in the interest of minimal movement of your fingers.
One last thing to mention here is that I have been suffering from tendonitis in my right hand. I spoke to my doctor about it, and he suggested I stop playing the clarinet for awhile, since it certainly is coming from that. Of course, that is simply not feasible for me. What I have started to do is what Kirt does all the time, and that is resting the bell of the horn gently between the thighs, to take the weight off the right hand. I have considered getting a neck strap, but I want to avoid this, I just can't see my using one, too dorky.
A sidelight to this is that I am really trying to not crush the horn with my right hand, which is much easier said than done. I will let you know if I figure anything else out about this, since it kills me when my right arm makes it hard to play.
Sigh - it truly is a bitch growing old.
My next lesson won't be till first of December, so until then as always, keep playing, its good for the soul.