Week One: Some useful scale exercises and goal setting!
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Welcome to week one of level up your scale routine in two weeks!
This week we are starting with a few really helpful exercises to help us focus on tone and airflow while we're working on improving our scales. These will be helpful to you no matter where you are in your clarinet journey. I hope you enjoy the video lesson and exercises - I can't wait to hear your recordings and read about your goals for the next two weeks!
How to participate:
- Watch the video
- Follow the instructions for each assignment, either posting text in the forum below or sharing a video of your practicing.
- Cheer on your fellow community members in the comments!
Week One:
Assignment One:
Try to practice and then record the exercises from the first video. I hope you'll feel you can share your recordings with the group - I'll be on hand to help with offering constructive feedback and lots of encouragement!
1. Slow, easy scales in F, G and/or C major - try them using a strong "air" sound, listen for the connection between the notes.
2. Play your scales without actually playing the clarinet, really feeling your fingers on the instrument, try the "petting" motion as you descend.
3. Play the three scales at your biggest forte dynamic! Focus on playing slowly with a great sound, and really feeling the connection with the instrument. Nothing will help your tone more than playing at a loud dynamic, so enjoy the full sound and let your clarinet resonate to its fullest!
Assignment Two:
Describe in the forum your goals for the two weeks. What scale or scale pattern are you going to work on? And what does improvement look like for you: is it improving the fluidity of your sound across different registers? Is there a certain speed you'd like to get up to? Would you just like to feel a little more comfortable with a particularly challenging scale pattern?
Some scale suggestions based on tonebase clarinet levels:
1. 1 8ve major scales in F, G
2-3. 1 8ve major scales in keys with up to two flats and sharps
4-5. 2 8ve major scales in E, F, G, Ab, A; 1 octave chromatic on E
6. 2 8ve chromatic scale starting on E, major scales in 3rds in F, G, C
7. Chromatic scale from E to high C, 1 8ve major scales in keys with up to four flats and sharps
8. Three octave scale from low E, 8ve major scales in all keys
9. Scales in thirds in major keys up to four flats and sharps, minor harmonic scales in keys up to four flats and sharps, chromatic scales up to high G
10-12. Major and minor scales in thirds in all keys, major and minor scales in all keys, chromatic scales up to high A, whole tone scales
Update: someone has pointed out that the PDF is missing - I realized in the process of designing the Two Week Intensive while making the above list that the PDF would end up being 100 pages long if I included pages for every level so I thought I'd just post the list.
If you are looking for some scale books as resources, there are a few good things you can download for free:
* Klosé Clarinet Method (major and minor scales, scales in 3rds etc. appear from page 123)
* Hoffmeister Clarinet Scales (I apologize - this is my scan and it's not a particularly good scan - I don't have the original book anymore but there is a LOT of stuff to work through and be inspired by here! The text is also in German, if anyone is having trouble finding what they want to find just let me know in the comments and I'll help you!)
* If you are in levels 1-3 and want to focus on below-the-break scales, try this handy PDF from Jarrod Butler, which has some challenging scales but everything is in the lower register!
30 replies
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I am excited to get it started today. Where can I find the PDF file mentioned in the video? Thanks
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First of all I loved the breathing and the petting techniques. I must incorporate that into my practice.
I have been working on the minor scales with my instructor, and I've been ok with a, e and b minor, but f# has been giving my fingers trouble for w while now. Especially the natural and melodic forms of the scale. The Harmonic can be a bit funky.
I did, at my practice tonight thought of a fingering pattern that can help me. And after recording myself I can tell I'm either closing my eyes or looking at my fingers (most likely the case) because I'm really focusing on the patterns. My instructor has pointed this out several time and now I've got to focus on that. I think the petting and smoothness will help this out a lot, especially when my finger get all tangled up.
Thoughts?
So mistakes and not my best playing ever etc. aside, I'm going to post because #NoShame
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Hey all! Here's what I've worked on this morning. Also thank you Valina for posting first and being vulnerable. :)
I've noticed in my playing lately that coming up (ascending) through various scales is pretty sloppy. I think I have fingers that tend to come up in pairs so I'm working on separating everything for clear distinctions between notes. I'm finding it helpful to not think about what fingers are coming up, and instead focus on the fingers that are staying down.
I also noticed in recording this video that I tend to rush when I apply more volume, so I'll be keeping an eye on that as well.
My goal for this first week is to get all major scales up to a reasonable speed in the lower register. Then I'll continue them to the second octave. After THAT, I really need to work on minor scales. I've set the metronome at 124 here, and I suppose I'm playing in eighth notes? So that'll be the goal for the other scales too.
(Forgive whatever oddness is happening with my camera mic or Youtube audio processing. I'll see if I can get it better next time!)
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Hi everyone, here is my super awkward scale video! It's slightly out of focus (sorry), but I think the sound seems to be ok. I must go to the 'How to record yourself' tutorial when it comes up!
I didn't use a metronome for the recording, but I use it pretty much every time I practice, but I might use it in the next one.
My goals for these two weeks are to do all the scales major and minor one octave and some of the scales in thirds. I haven't learned any of the minor ones yet, so that will be this weekend's work!
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Hi everyone. I studied clarinet more than 50 years ago. What this means is if you are reading this and a video is attached, I have conquered the technology!
I watched the course on breathing and I am using slow scales for one of the exercises.
I am also using scales to try and get my fingers and tongue working together. Trying to increase speed and dexterity.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eRMHGD4oWxvZJEVp_pKPpldXRV9G68N4/view?usp=drivesdk -
Hi, I am very new to the clarinet (I primarily play piano and saxophone) but wanted to submit a video, all tips welcome. I have played C major across the break, F and G major below the break. I need to get the finger transitions cleaner and improve intonation, this is what I will focus on.
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It's been so great to see all your videos so far, tonebase clarinet team! I'm so impressed with how willing you are to share your work, even though we're all just getting started at tonebase clarinet. I'm so looking forward to meeting those of you that can come to our Zoom session on Tuesday - you'll get an e-mail from me on Sunday with the Zoom link and the video for next week! Have a great weekend of scale practice!!
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Here is my second progress video, working on major scales in thirds. I find memorising anything on clarinet really tricky (but can remember pages and pages on the piano!?!), so any tips on boosting memorisation of clarinet music would be much appreciated.
Also, I've noticed YouTube does something strange with the sound. It's fine on my original recording, then YouTube compresses it in a strange way, so if anyone has anything to help with that, that would be cool :-)