Regionals and more trumpet

Saturday was my Regionals audition.  I was on clarinet, of course, but I can only imagine a situation where I had brought another instrument.  I would have made such a fool of myself.  Maybe I can try that for All-States. (I can see the look on the judges' faces now...)

Anyway, I killed it at Regionals.  255 out of 270!  I'm still waiting for the cutoff scores to be released (aka I've been checking the website every other hour since yesterday morning), but I already know they're usually around 170 for Bb clarinets.  At this point, I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself since I don't have private lessons until the 11th of December.  Should I start practicing for All-State auditions in February (for which you are qualified based on your Regionals score - I can already tell I was) or give myself a break for two weeks?

Well, I also have a trumpet to learn.  No rest for the musically adept.  Here's my latest: Merrily We Roll Along.  (Watch out, Louis Armstrong.)

I'm getting better.  Embouchure is still kind of hit-or-miss, but it's getting there.  Playing the clarinet beforehand helps it warm up.  At least I can get out the G and G# in the staff, even if it means putting more pressure on the mouthpiece.  Being able to only play one octave, albeit horribly out of tune, is kind of humbling, considering the clarinet has a range of more than 3 octaves.  I guess that's one of the downsides of being a musician for 8 years before picking up another instrument - I know when I'm out of tune and what I should do to fix it but don't have the experience with the instrument to actually do it.  It drives me crazy.

After all of these discoveries, I've decided to continue the trumpet into December.  I still have to choose a final piece, and I know I'm capable of playing more notes, but doing that means more practicing.  Saxophone should be easy enough for me, so I don't have a problem with playing two instruments at once.  Hopefully I'll get to take one home on Monday.

Second time playing the trumpet, ever.

I practiced the trumpet for the better part of an hour and managed to play the first song every instrumentalist learns: Hot Cross Buns.  It's a good start!

Bass Clarinet & Bb Clarinet Duet

Here's a duet I layered together on the computer.  Keep in mind I couldn't hear the other instrument playing (since I was only playing one at a time), so I'm really impressed at the intonation.  It's pretty awesome for a first attempt!  :)

Bb Clarinet/Bass Clarinet Duet

Trumpet History

A 16th-century German trumpet

Depictions of the earliest trumpet date back to 1350 BC in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.  It started out without holes or keys, so it was more reliant on the harmonics than other instruments.  However, it began to change in the 16th century when its "S" shape became the renowned elongated spiral.  (It had "royal status" since it was used in the courts, and therefore received a lot of design attention.)

After a brief golden period during the mid-18th century, the music of the Baroque period began using the trumpet merely to add weight and emphasize the timpani's rhythms.  Towards the end of the century, the invention of keys allowed it to be played in keys other than the fundamental.  Valves also allowed trumpets to be played in different keys and helped the instrument regain momentum.  By the 1870s, the Bb trumpet had emerged as an alternative to the trumpet in F and was accepted as standard.  Its compass begins at e and ends at d'''.

The Bb trumpet's compass

Today, there are four types of trumpet: Bb, piccolo, Eb, and F.  I'll focus on the Bb trumpet, since it is standard, as well as the instrument I'll be learning.

My Bb trumpet

Bass Clarinet Tips & Tricks

While the bass clarinet is similar to the Bb clarinet in several ways, there are also some key differences.

Embouchure:
The bass clarinet's embouchure has the same foundation as the Bb's, but it's more open.  The bigger mouthpiece takes up more space in your mouth, and a bigger reed needs more room to vibrate.  My embouchure on the Bb clarinet is tight and controlled, so I initially had trouble playing the bass clarinet.  I needed to get used to using more air and dropping my jaw more to get a good sound.

Posture:

I had to stack my case and several
books to get the right height.

Playing an instrument as big as the bass clarinet requires sitting right on the edge of the seat.  You must be able to reach the mouthpiece without tilting the instrument.  This may also involve raising or lowering its height.  Bass clarinets should use a metal peg to adjust the height.  (However, I didn't have a peg, so books worked just fine.)  The mouthpiece should go straight into the mouth, rather than at an angle like other clarinets, and the player shouldn't have to duck down or reach up in order to play.  Playing at the wrong angle will cause the reed to squeak or restrict air flow.

Reeds:
Bass clarinet reeds, like any other reeds, need to be wet in order to play properly.  However, they take a lot longer to get wet than other, smaller reeds since they're so thick.  I learned this within the first few practice sessions.  If a reed is not soaked properly, the tone will sound dry or airy, or some notes will have difficulty speaking.

Care:

The bronze metal shows how much I had
to adjust the length of the bass clarinet.

Big instruments have a way of breaking or leaking without the player realizing it.  I discovered this as soon as I put the clarinet in my mouth.  The instrument was about 25 cents sharp (I have no idea why), and I had to pull the neck out a lot in order for it to get in tune.  There are so many keys on the bass clarinet, and it's such a big instrument, so keep your instrument in good shape and have it serviced every year or so.  Your ensemble (and bass clarinet) will thank you.

Bass Clarinet History

Bb clarinet and bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is much more than a Bb clarinet that's one octave lower.  It really is a separate instrument, so it should be treated that way.

The bass clarinet was invented in the 1790s, but its significant debut was in Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots in the 1830s. It's tuned in Bb and is one octave lower than the Bb clarinet. It even has the same fingerings, although additional key mechanisms compensate for its larger holes and further-reaching keys. (For example, the bass clarinet needs key pads to cover holes, while the Bb clarinet's holes can be covered with the finger pads alone.)

The bass clarinet has a slightly different compass to the Bb clarinet: Bb to bb'''. It can't play as high, but has a extra key at the base that allows it to play several notes lower than its soprano cousin.

The Bb clarinet has four keys near the bell, whereas
the bass clarinet has five, including an additional
key on the bottom right.

The bass clarinet's compass

Bass Clarinet Chromatic Scale

Hopefully Blogger will eventually let me embed the files so I don't have to link to the recordings...

Bass Clarinet Chromatic Scale

Double time:

Bass Clarinet Chromatic Scale (Double Time)

Clarinet Tips & Tricks

Embouchure

Clarinet embouchure

One of the most important factors of a good tone on the clarinet is the embouchure.  Say "Whee", then keep the teeth and tongue formation and say "Too" with your lips.  The chin should be flat with the jaw slightly dropped to prevent bunching up the chin and corners of the mouth.  This is clarinet embouchure.

Clarinet embouchure varies slightly depending on the notes you are playing.  The chalumeau range requires a formation similar to saying "ou".  As you move through the throat tones and clarion range, it changes to "oo".  Finally, the altissimo requires "hee", a formation similar to hissing.  A bad tone often results from "saying 'ah'" when playing, or not properly adjusting the embouchure when playing over the full compass.

Altissimo

Correct posture

Atissimo (above the instrument's written b''') is the hardest range on the clarinet.  (Clarinetists don't learn altissimo until they have been exposed to the rest of the compass.)  It's hard to resist tightening the embouchure to get the notes out, but it makes them sound cut off or out of tune.  Keep the jaw dropped slightly and, if necessary, apply pressure on the embouchure by pulling the clarinet upwards.  It helps to play with a tuner in order to figure out where the embouchure needs to be to play in tune.  Eventually, muscle memory will replace working to find the pitch.  The instrument sounds very different when you're the one playing it, especially the highest notes.  They may sound squeaky and harsh to me, but in-tune to a listener.  Recording myself helps me solve this problem.

Posture
Good posture involves sitting up straight with feet flat on the floor.  The arms shouldn't be "pinned" close to the body since it creates tension, which can restrict hand movement and affect sound.  I've also fallen into the habit of scrunching up my right hand against the trill keys.  This usually starts when the player is young and their small hands can't quite support the clarinet properly, so they use the trill keys for support on their right hand.  This habit can later restrict hand movement.

My clarinet reeds ($23 for
a box of 10, but I never
use anything else.)

Reeds
Reeds come in a variety of brands (some better than others) and strengths.  Strengths range from 1 to 5 and have increments of .5.  Beginners usually start on a 1.5 and move up as their air and embouchure become stronger.  Reed size depends on the player and what they're comfortable with; you won't get a quality sound if your reed is too easy or too hard to play.

The final tip is how to place your reed on the mouthpiece.  Never put the reed on the mouthpiece before the ligature.  Ever.  It runs the risk of chipping the reed (there's nothing worse than ruining a good reed), no matter how carefully you maneuver the ligature.  Always put the ligature on first, then slide the reed in from the top.

Clarinet History

Here's some information on the instrument I play now: the Bb (B-flat) clarinet.

A chalumeau

The clarinet is derived from the chalumeau, a instrument from the Baroque era.  Its creation was sparked when a single reed was added to the recorder in order to increase its volume.  However, it still had a limited, low range.  (Thus, the lowest section of the clarinet's range is still referred to as the "chalumeau".)  The introduction of the "speaker key" began turning the chalumeau into the clarinet, and the "first clarinet" was built by Johann Christoph Denner of Nuremberg in 1700.

The modern clarinet's register key is
similar to a chalumeau's speaker key 

The "modern" clarinet was developed by Hyacinthe Eléonore Klosé and L.-A. Buffet. It introduced keys that followed the Boehm key system (which was based on principles for the flute) and helped cover or uncover holes and change the pitch. It was a regular part of the symphony orchestra by the 19th century and the jazz band by the first part of the 20th century.

The clarinet's compass is the largest of all common woodwind instruments, extending from D' to c'''' (for more information, see Helmholtz pitch notation). It is divided into four sections (chalumeau, throat tones, clarion, and altissimo), each of which has its own distinct sound.

The Bb clarinet's compass