Finger Dexterity Challenge - Week One!

Head of Clarinet
Heather
updated 6 days ago
21replies

Welcome to July's Finger Dexterity Challenge!

I explain the challenge in the video above, but essentially we're going to be using the Kroepsch studies to work on our dexterity, and challenging ourselves to learn and record as many of them per week as possible. I'm suggesting you aim for 4 per week and I'll be giving you tips and tricks for four studies per week starting at the beginning! You can download all of volume one on IMSLP.

Unless you've decided to work through a different section of the 417 studies (in case you've already learned the ones in C major), this week we're going to be working on Studies 1-4.

You should have received from me a downloadable PDF of all of Book 1, but if you didn't receive that (maybe you didn't sign up originally) just post below and I'll send it to you!

Objectives for the Week

1. Watch the lesson above (it's a bit long this week because there's a lot of general advice) and let us know your plan for the week: are you going to aim to learn all four studies?

2. Practice your four studies using your metronome and maybe using a timer to work through drilled repetitions (set your timer for 5 minutes and do as many repetitions you can, then sit for 30 seconds in silence)

3. Upload a video to your favourite platform (i.e., YouTube or Vimeo) and post it here by Sunday to share your progress

4. Cheer on your fellow clarinetists as they learn their studies!

- Teri
- 5 days ago
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Good Morning ! I did not receive the downloadable PDF of Book 1
- Head of Clarinet
  
  Heather
  
  5 days ago
  
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  Teri! So sorry, I forgot to attach it out I've put a link for you to download it from IMSLP in the main text here.
- nancy
- yesterday
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Between these studies and the advice on how to learn tricky passages, I'm starting to feel more confident about technique. Thank you!
- Luke
  
  17 hrs ago
  
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  I envy your fluidity and tempo!
- nancy
  
  15 hrs ago
  
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  Thank you! It's always a work in progress....
- Patricia
  
  14 hrs ago
  
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  What a breath, it feels like you’re never breathing !
- Head of Clarinet
  
  Heather
  
  13 hrs ago
  
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  This is great Nancy! Your sound is really just so good here (still doing your long tones?), and the technique is really nice as Luke says - so even with the metronome! How do you feel about the speed you’re getting on all of these? Did that feel quite achievable? Did you feel you were pushing yourself?
- nancy
  
  12 hrs ago
  
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  Long tones, YES. They are like daily vitamins. I did feel like I was pushing myself but the technique you shared last week that invites fiddling around and making mistakes was fun to try on this and I'm going to try for more speed next week.
- Luke
- 17 hrs ago
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Okay it's Saturday so I'd better post a video. Due to my time constraints and slow reading I just focused on the first study. This video contains four attempts, two with mistakes, and two without, although I think I like version three the best. Consistency of tone, tempo, etc.

My chosen setup (very wide mouthpiece, soft reed) makes control of the upper clarion and altissimo challenging so I appreciate study one. Helps me to focus embouchure, fingers, and air. As always, appreciate any tips.
- nancy
  
  15 hrs ago
  
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  I envy your controlled fingers and posture.
- Patricia
  
  14 hrs ago
  
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  I like the sound of the last note, it sounds very jazzy with a special vibrato
- Head of Clarinet
  
  Heather
  
  13 hrs ago
  
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  Luke’s vibrato is a wonderful thing, I agree :)
- Head of Clarinet
  
  Heather
  
  13 hrs ago
  
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  I know what you mean about the soft reeds and open mouthpiece - I’ve been experimenting with a similar setup lately just to see what it’s like. It’s hard to tell from here (maybe you could do next week’s video from the side?) but I do wonder if posture is playing a bit of a role? I also have a tendency to do this so it’s definitely a “do what I say not what I do” scenario but I always say that slightly pushing up with the right hand thumb so that the head is nice and high, and then pushing down a bit to counteract that with the top lip can really help increase stability of the embouchure and assists with the higher registers… sometimes resistance is good (especially if you’re not getting it from your reed/mouthpiece). If I were in the room with you I’d ask you to play and push my hand against your shoulder while asking you to push back against me, that’s another fun thing to try if you have a colleague or friend handy
- Luke
  
  11 hrs ago
  
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  I just sat down and tried with a slightly stronger reed and the thumb/lip feedback and it did seem to make a difference. More consistently able to get through the whole study without odd overtones/partials sneaking in.
- Patricia
- 15 hrs ago
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https://youtube.com/shorts/i9gs7S_eb9k?si=KMKZBWhL_GFYlYDG
- Patricia
- 15 hrs ago
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https://youtube.com/shorts/009nJYhPrbs?si=8rRZReXbZ7fiNhV7
- Patricia
- 15 hrs ago
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https://youtube.com/shorts/poFEuyWiFQ0?si=eP1ZslejVbNDq9n_
- Patricia
- 15 hrs ago
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https://youtube.com/shorts/n3MfoLtXr24?si=gM0ksJhOMhskGoOE
- Patricia
- 15 hrs ago
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Hi, here are my attempts for this 4 first studies. I use a mouthpiece B45 and a reed 3.

Nice to see you playing !
- nancy
  
  15 hrs ago
  
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  Nice sound!
- Head of Clarinet
  
  Heather
  
  13 hrs ago
  
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  Hi - thank you for posting your videos (and for the first time! Yay!) - I also like the sound you’re getting here and I think the tempo is really solid, very consistent. Since we don’t really know each other yet, are there particular clarinet things you’d like to improve with this challenge? Areas where I might give you some help over the next few weeks?
  
  One thing I thought was interesting was that after the first video I thought I would mention to you your hand position, because I can see your fingers getting quite far away from the clarinet (and actually keeping them close really helps with technique because of course they don’t have so far to travel) - but actually by the time we get to the third study they are much closer. I wonder why that is, if these studies both require a different kind of concentration, what do you think?
  
  (If you haven’t seen it already, however, Kim Luevano’s tonebase course on hand position is wonderful and I would recommend it a lot)