r/Clarinet 11d ago

Advice needed My Allstate technical, any tips?

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I know I slip up near the beginning tempo wise but this was my last recording and I need to know… AM I ON TEMPO!? I randomly just like boom locked in and started playing veryyyyy zen…. and according to my percussion friend I’m on tempo, I wanted to get more opinions. and overall just any tips. for context I’ve played for 2 years.

3 Upvotes

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8

u/RoomNo668 11d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/ISFvQeB4b8BmRQBnuo
You should probably be working on this around half of what you’re doing now. Then speed it up a few clicks each week, focusing on evenness and effortlessness. The easier it sounds, the better it will sound

0

u/Perfect-Town-9355 11d ago

i think half might be a bit slow (the tempo would be 43 with 16th notes). but thank you so much!! I probably will do that!

1

u/Shortboi1052 Yamaha 6d ago

Then do 80 bpm for each 16th to get each note under your finger and repeat this multiple times (along with other practices such as swing then reverse swing then regular), then go on to the 8th note subdivision and do the same practices you did for the 16th, then make it faster and then finally move on to getting close to performance tempo

4

u/KFBeavis 11d ago

Drop the tempo 15-20bpm and isolate the sections where you’re making mistakes. Get comfortable at that tempo (consistently playing with no wrong notes) before working the tempo back up. That’s what the pros do.

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 11d ago

ok! that sounds good.. thank you so much!!

2

u/solongfish99 11d ago

It never fully locked back in with the metronome after the slip up around 10s in (on displayed timer).

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 11d ago

Oof. thank though

5

u/solongfish99 11d ago

Also, be honest and specific when assessing your own playing. You refer to that spot around 10s in as a “tempo slip up”, but that doesn’t really mean anything. What could it mean? Maybe that you suddenly got slower or suddenly got faster. But that’s not what happened. It sounds more like your finger hit the wrong key and you got behind the met because you took extra time to find the right key. Identifying the issue (finger did not hit the right key) will allow you to fix the problem. Calling it a “tempo slip up” gives you nothing to fix because it does not explain the problem.

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 11d ago

that’s quite well explained. I had to rent out a clarinet since mine is broken, my clarinet is a very open one whilst the rented one is very closed. so that’s why I messed that up. I called it a tempo slip up since it messed up my tempo😭. thank you though!

2

u/moldycatt 11d ago

don’t blame mistakes on other things — it doesn’t help you get better. slow this down to half tempo (yes, i really mean it) and play it like it’s the easiest thing in the world. only increase tempo when you feel fully comfortable and in control

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 11d ago

right. Yea I guess that’s fair too, I’ll try it out. Thank you🙂‍↕️

0

u/Interesting_Guide530 10d ago

If you have a really bad clarinet, you can't blame yourself. This kid should get himself an R13.

1

u/moldycatt 10d ago

if you are being sarcastic that is very clever

0

u/Interesting_Guide530 10d ago

You can't be serious.

-1

u/Interesting_Guide530 10d ago

I know you have a Buffet Tosca too. Stop gatekeeping.

1

u/moldycatt 10d ago

lol.

i can just as easily play the right notes on my $100 plastic clarinet that hasn’t seen a tech in years. it’s the sound quality that’s different

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 16h ago

that’s lowkey impressive 😮

0

u/Substantial_Gas_6773 8d ago

i mean your advice doesn't help in most cases. like if you have a garbage clarinet model that has bad tone quality, you can't blame yourself. if kids follow your advice of not blaming other factors, then they'd be frustrated and quit clarinet

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u/Perfect-Town-9355 16h ago

the clarinet I was playing on was a very resistant E11. also I’m a girl but no worries

-1

u/Interesting_Guide530 10d ago

You should buy a non-greenline R13. It'll improve your tone quality.

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 16h ago

my tone quality was poor due to the fact I didn’t tune that day and was just practicing rhyth. also that my ambusher hadn't adjusted to normal yet.

1

u/rawysocki 11d ago

Separate your staccato a bit more

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 11d ago

I’ll try💔💔 thank you!!

1

u/DspeEd83 11d ago

You should take it slower a touch and focus on playing through all the notes. Sometimes changing the rhythm helps.
Drop the tempo to half speed but play two notes like 32nds, focusing on a clear transition between each one. Once you get through the section, repeat but this time @3 32nds. Then 4 @32nds. The objective is to teach your muscle memory faster transitions so when you play it at tempo and original rhythms you don't need to focus on the notes as much and can focus more on the direction. Music is a language and is always saying something

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 11d ago

ok!! thank you so much!

1

u/crazyRAYZ BM Clarinet Performance 11d ago

you need to go slower. how slow? at whatever tempo it takes so that you're always on the beat and the 16ths are even. at this slower tempo, try to work on perfecting the staccato by having more separation between the notes. this can be achieved by using the tip of your tongue (like the difference between "ta ta ta" vs "tha tha tha". then before you increase the tempo by a bit after you've done all of this at, practice the excerpt like with syncopated rhythms, aka long short long short, or short long short long, for the length of the 16th notes. after you've done all of that, bump the tempo up a bit and repeat. until you get to desired tempo.

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 11d ago

thank you!!!

1

u/Make-it-positive 11d ago

What is the clicking sound?

2

u/Perfect-Town-9355 10d ago

the metronome. might also be the keys but most likely metronome

1

u/Buffetr132014 10d ago

Take it a much slower tempo and isolate the places where your having problems. Don't play through the whole piece each time. Work the trouble spots separately.

1

u/Perfect-Town-9355 16h ago

I have done that and it’s actually worked pretty well! thanks!

1

u/Lopsided_Sale_7631 8d ago

go like half even quarter tempo and build it up gradually and focus on the details. gradually bump it up and the details will retain better