How Do You Really Practice Clarinet?
Welcome to the first series of clarinet practice tips! Today, we will introduce long tones into your practice time.
Playing long tones will warm-up your body, mindset, and airstream. What exactly are long tones? For those who know what they are, do not underestimate how impactful they will be down the road. For those who don't know, you choose any set of notes you want (scales, exercises, solo pieces etc.) and start holding them for 3 seconds at a time.
Well, that sounds easy, doesn't it? It is easy to hold some notes and get straight into the pieces you enjoy. But, you will be wasting your time. Instead, have a tone in mind that you really love and visualize it with every note you play. With that in mind, slowly pull the clarinet towards or away from you until you figure out where you sound the best. Taking in more or less of your mouthpiece could also help adjust your tone.
To make sure you are using the right amount of air, always breathe from your stomach. These breaths will allow you to gather a deeper and fuller breath to properly support your playing. Think about that time when you wanted to put your head underwater and swim. Before submerging, I bet you took a nice and deep breath to have the longest experience being a fish. I want you to take that same breath from your stomach every time. This way, your tone will be in tune and fresh to the listeners’ ears.
Another important aspect to be aware of is how the notes sound in relation to each other. You might ask, “Don’t higher notes naturally sound louder?” Yes, they are. But, when practicing long tones you want to play each note with the same volume, no matter how high or low it is. This will teach your ears to become more sensitive and create flexibility in how you use your air.
Finally, another exercise that helps is: at the end of each note you want to breathe after, try your best to slowly diminish your sound until there is none left. This will help improve your control in softer passages and keep the core of your tone intact. After you diminish and breathe, start from nothing and slowly grow to a comfortable mezzo-forte and continue your long tones!
It seems like a lot to do, but if you just spend 5 minutes each day, just 5 minutes, it will build a very solid foundation for additional skills in the future. In the beginning, you do not have to do all of these exercises every day. But as you get more in shape, you should try to incorporate it all into your practice time. Playing these simple exercises will make you more confident in your ability to produce something beautiful and share it with others. Have fun with it!
- Written by Aaron Wong | September 1st, 2020