These past two weeks have been pretty intense for me on my clarinet playing. I performed mvts 1-3 of Cinco Bocetos in rep class two weeks ago, which went really well. After that I started to focus on learning mvt 3 of Weber concerto #2, and that Cavallini etude (caprice #6, op. 2).
I tried to push speed a lot on scales these two weeks, and I have to say that improvement has been slow. At some point my fingers begin to tense up a lot when I'm trying to play too fast, so I've been slowly increasing the metronome markings each day.
The cavallini etude is really challeging, but fun to play. I've been trying to push the speed there as well by playing the variations at the marked tempo or at least very close to it. I'm not sure why, but I'm having a somewhat difficult time with my G Major arpeggios on the last variation of this. It's gotten better, but they're still not as clean as I'd like them to be.
The Weber still needs a ton of work, but I've managed to get at least the notes learned for a good bit of it. I'd say I'm about 65-75% there as far as the technique goes (counting the crazy-difficult last page). The goal right now is for me to be able to play everyting at about quarter-note= 100, and after that I might push it up to about 112ish since it's a bit more exciting there (that'll probably be a few more weeks). I haven't quite figured out the articulation I want to use through the entire piece yet, but I've got a good idea for the most part.
I also worked on the 2nd mvt of weber a bit, though not as much as mvt 3. I worked on the Debusy Petite Piece the least, but it's also the easiest bit of all the work I had to do, so it warrented that.
It was weird not having a lesson last week, but I'm actually kind of glad since there was so much new material for me to learn. Hopefully the extra time helped you out some as well with the festival set up.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Week 3
I'm really getting exhausted this week from a lot of work I've had to do over the last few days. I got two exams over the next few days, so the reading is going to be more intense than usual. On the plus side, I'd say this week was really productive for the clarinet.
I did a ton of work on adding a little more brilliance to my tone (the high note sound into the low notes thing). The biggest breakthrough on this was actually after friday when Dr. Burke talked about the mouthpiece only work. I've been doing that a lot and it has really helped me with my voicing and intonation, which in turn is keeping the tone quality more where I want it. Most of this type of work went like this:
I would play a C on the piano, then try to match it with the mouthpiece. Then I'd get my tuner out and see if I could sustain the C in tune for extended periods. I would also bend the pitch up and down and see how quickly and accurately I could get back to the C. After I felt comfortable with that embouchure and tongue position I put the MP back into the clarinet and played a high D, trying to keep it in tune as long as I could. Then I'd move down chromaticaly, keeping each note in tune and with the propper tone, usually going all the way down to the lower register. I'd also go up chromatically up to an Ab at times.
This was usually done in a mf dynamic at first, and then I'd get softer after a few tries and work on that.
I also worked on the Eugene method stuff, usually staying at the softer dynamics. Before playing anything that started on a low note I'd play a high D or C# to get the feel for tone. I didn't get to do a lot of work on the arppeggios for this key this week, but I did a good bit on the other areas.
The Sierra piece is coming alone nicely. I've been starting with this by working on the 5th mvt first, then playing one of the other ones. For the 5th mvt, I'm still learning the technique for it, but it seems that my biggest issue is keeping the sound from spreading on the leaps and keeping the tone quality there on the lower notes (specially at the beginning). For the 2nd mvt, the problems relate a lot to what I'm working on now: how to play softly with good tone.
I also worked a good bit on mvt 1's technique (I tend to rush some of those passages) and on the stuff we talked about for mvt 3 last week. I'd like to perform mvts 1,2, and 3 this week for rep class, but I'll have to see if I feel like the technique is ready for it by friday.
As a side note, I managed to fix a lot of the intonation problems with my clarinet this week with a little bit of handy work. Turns out one of the keys wasn't going down all the way, causing a slight leak on certain fingerings. This was why I couldn't use 1/1 fingerings on the instrument and it somehow made everything a bit more flat than it should have been. Problem solved now I'd say!
I did a ton of work on adding a little more brilliance to my tone (the high note sound into the low notes thing). The biggest breakthrough on this was actually after friday when Dr. Burke talked about the mouthpiece only work. I've been doing that a lot and it has really helped me with my voicing and intonation, which in turn is keeping the tone quality more where I want it. Most of this type of work went like this:
I would play a C on the piano, then try to match it with the mouthpiece. Then I'd get my tuner out and see if I could sustain the C in tune for extended periods. I would also bend the pitch up and down and see how quickly and accurately I could get back to the C. After I felt comfortable with that embouchure and tongue position I put the MP back into the clarinet and played a high D, trying to keep it in tune as long as I could. Then I'd move down chromaticaly, keeping each note in tune and with the propper tone, usually going all the way down to the lower register. I'd also go up chromatically up to an Ab at times.
This was usually done in a mf dynamic at first, and then I'd get softer after a few tries and work on that.
I also worked on the Eugene method stuff, usually staying at the softer dynamics. Before playing anything that started on a low note I'd play a high D or C# to get the feel for tone. I didn't get to do a lot of work on the arppeggios for this key this week, but I did a good bit on the other areas.
The Sierra piece is coming alone nicely. I've been starting with this by working on the 5th mvt first, then playing one of the other ones. For the 5th mvt, I'm still learning the technique for it, but it seems that my biggest issue is keeping the sound from spreading on the leaps and keeping the tone quality there on the lower notes (specially at the beginning). For the 2nd mvt, the problems relate a lot to what I'm working on now: how to play softly with good tone.
I also worked a good bit on mvt 1's technique (I tend to rush some of those passages) and on the stuff we talked about for mvt 3 last week. I'd like to perform mvts 1,2, and 3 this week for rep class, but I'll have to see if I feel like the technique is ready for it by friday.
As a side note, I managed to fix a lot of the intonation problems with my clarinet this week with a little bit of handy work. Turns out one of the keys wasn't going down all the way, causing a slight leak on certain fingerings. This was why I couldn't use 1/1 fingerings on the instrument and it somehow made everything a bit more flat than it should have been. Problem solved now I'd say!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Week 2
Well, this week has been a mix of really good things and not so good things. I managed to get sick enough to where I didn't even touch my instrument on friday, only finger practiced saturday, and only did about half the usual time on sunday. The days I did practice, though, went rather well.
I don't feel like I managed to make too much improvement on the air intensity thing since I lost so many days of practice, so I'll need some more time before I get that settled.
The high B-C# interval gives me trouble still (I comes out easily, just not as smooth as I want it to be). I don't know if it's a finger thing or voicing.
I worked some more on articulation, but didn't really focus on it. I should be ok on that, though/
The Sierra is going rather well I'd say. There are small things in mvt's 1-3 that still give me trouble, but I feel like I could perform this much for rep class soon. In fact, I'm cosidering next week and just not doing the Cavallinni then since I wouldn't need a pianist and I just like this piece a lot more (plus I feel that it represents where I am in my playing better).
Side note: I'm not feeling 100% healed yet as I write this, so hopefully I'll be feeling better for the lesson tomorrow. I'll try for some extra sleep or something.
I don't feel like I managed to make too much improvement on the air intensity thing since I lost so many days of practice, so I'll need some more time before I get that settled.
The high B-C# interval gives me trouble still (I comes out easily, just not as smooth as I want it to be). I don't know if it's a finger thing or voicing.
I worked some more on articulation, but didn't really focus on it. I should be ok on that, though/
The Sierra is going rather well I'd say. There are small things in mvt's 1-3 that still give me trouble, but I feel like I could perform this much for rep class soon. In fact, I'm cosidering next week and just not doing the Cavallinni then since I wouldn't need a pianist and I just like this piece a lot more (plus I feel that it represents where I am in my playing better).
Side note: I'm not feeling 100% healed yet as I write this, so hopefully I'll be feeling better for the lesson tomorrow. I'll try for some extra sleep or something.
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