Buzzing Reed- Classical Music & Clarinet Culture

Suspension Support

Image Credit:
Pedro Moura Pinheiro

As some readers may already know, I introduced the Flow Breathing technique a few weeks ago on Marion Harrington’s blog (which I highly recommend).

Flow Breathing is a new way to learn and control breath support.

Note: If you use Twitter, you can follow Flow Breathing discussions using #Legato

The refined basic Flow Breathing technique is published with a short introductory video here on Buzzing Reed at: Flow Breathing Technique.

Using the natural motions in Flow Breathing you can achieve high level breath support leading to subtle control of tone, intonation and articulation.

Suspension Support is one of the primary techniques I developed using Flow Breathing.

Suspension Support refers to controlling the top of the inhale by slowing it down and eventually “suspending” the flow from inhale to exhale.

The following simple series of steps introduces Suspension Support in its simplest form.

• Slow down the top turn of the breath – Breathe very open through your mouth and nose. While keeping in mind the flowing motions from inhale to exhale, slow down the breath at that “turn” of the breath from inhale to exhale. Keep the air moving. Just slow down the top turn.
• “Fogging the Mirror” – If you can do that without tensing neck, shoulders or back, slow the motion even more at the top of the inhale, so the exhale becomes a slow, whispered sigh, like fogging a mirror. Notice the open and lifted feeling in the rib cavity floating up and out on inhale and gently floating down and in on exhale.

Note: In order to “practice” (meaning repeat to improve) this exercise, you may need to allow an occasional pause at the end of the exhale to regain the natural flowing motions. If you become too focused on controlling the flow you may lose the flow. Allow the pause at the end of the breath occasionally to prevent any unnecessary tension.

• Lean to Return to the Suspended Inhale – Next, at the top turn of the breath, allow only a little “fogging of the mirror” before returning to the top of the inhale. Despite controlling the breath more, remember to keep the turns smooth. Allow the inhale to return a bit faster than the exhaled “fogging”. Do this a few times.

The suspended point of uplifted and full air will become your “home base”, the point to which you return after playing a note. This position at the top of the breath encourages a light support “from above” the note, called Suspension Support.

• “Ha-ing” a note – Now I’ll ask you take your instrument. Using only air attacks, not tongue, play a note, perhaps an open g on clarinet. (For any other wind instrument, play any easy note.) Using an air attack, such as a single laugh, “Ha”, play an open g. As soon as you “ha” the note, return to the full uplifted (suspended) position.
• Ha-Ha some more! – Next, play a simple scale on octave, using air, “ha”-ing each note 4 times. Use only a puff of air for each note, returning immediately to the “suspended” full up position.

These exercises may feel a bit odd at first, but I assure you that you have just begun to explore the wonderful possibilities of Flow Breathing and Suspension Support.

Next Monday I’ll present a video of the exercise I describe above plus a few more.

Would you like to share practice ideas with other musicians? Please consider joining the Musician Practice Café.

Whether performer, teacher, composer, conductor or lover of classical music, three basic principals come into play-

1. #Fermata focuses patience. #Fermata sustains us under duress. #Fermata is the strength of determination. It is the optimistic energy passed from teacher to student, student to professional, evolving professional, to the professional learning to sustain or recover from injury, and all variations.
2. #Legato sustains. #Legato is control of the breath, which affords control of the self and control of playing. #Legato Flow Breathing can control stress. #Legato feeds #Fermata patience as well.
3. #Rubato sparks our creative fire; from composers to performers to teachers, #rubato expresses our higher selves, the part of us which makes our unique mark in our world and in the lives of others. #Rubato learns from the past to create the future.

Marion Harrington

Hello- Please go over to my friend Marion Harrington’s blog to see the second post in my guest post series on Flow Breathing and a Path to Peak Mastery.

This part details the Alexander Technique, a tool for developing self-awareness.

Several easy steps allow you to start becoming more aware, as you play, or walk, or talk.

Though the Alexander Technique is best learned through private lessons, I believe that a new breathing awareness technique which I call Flow Breathing, will enable you to monitor the quality of your self-awareness through your breath.

Next week’s post will introduce the method of Flow Breathing.

The Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano (or orchestra) has been in my repertoire since I was 16 years old. I won two concerto competitions in High School with it, and performed it with the National Symphony and Baltimore Symphony.

I have also performed the Rhapsodie with the Columbus Symphony, and am a featured artist playing the it on the CD “CSO Showcase”.

Yet the music, however deeply ingrained in my psyche and body, still thrills and challenges. A friend of mine in the Columbus Symphony said to me after playing it, “Wow, it’s a wonderful piece of music. I was reminded of “Afternoon of a Faun”.

I have had several chances to play it the past few weeks, and will have two more in the next week. (4 total) It’s quite a luxury to have so many live performances of a solo piece, especially for an orchestral musician.

And it’s also a luxury to play it with good pianists. The piano part is notoriously difficult. “It’s all flats!” one pianist exclaimed.

Written in 1910 as a competition test piece for clarinetists seeking to graduate from the Paris Conservatory, Debussy composed the piece with piano first, and orchestrated it a year later.

Though the full “Boehm” inspired key system had been around for decades when Debussy composed this piece, I am still impressed at Debussy’s facility in writing to the edge of the instrument’s technical abilities.

Much of the piece requires great facility “over the break” meaning where the clarinet moves from one register to another. Fingerings in this area can be awkward.

Also, near the end of the piece, the composers writes a passage which uses all seven key choices for the pinky fingers of both hands. It’s sort of a finger “tongue twister”. Here is that passage:

technical flourish using all pinky keys

French culture emphasizes and expresses subtlety more than most cultures, and it’s not surprising that Debussy aimed to test more than just the technical note possibilities. He writes numerous extremely soft and high notes in liquid lines, demanding absolute breath and tone control. In order to really play the dynamics he notates, the player must have all his technical and tonal facilities at full steam.

Beyond the notes, the Debussy Rhapsodie is deceptively challenging. To achieve the vast variety of colors, musical characters and development, the player must astutely pace the music so that it builds in layers to its final bluesy climax.

In about 9 minutes, Debussy presents several thematic “nuggets” and develops them rhapsodically (freely) toward a vastly different modd in the end.

The opening bars create a floating, enigmatic mood, with the clarinet stating a 3 note idea, which then leaves the listener hanging. The next few bars allow this little idea to continue into something only slightly more substantial.

3 note idea used throughout

3 note theme w chromatic tail, developed later

Seeing the beginning in images, I imaging a little wood sprite poking up her head from the lilting softness of a fern forest. Then she retreats. Again, she emerges, showing more of herself. Next she prances out and does her little dance.

3 note idea w chrom tail, playfully repeated

Then the scene transitions and opens up into the next theme, which is built on the exact same first three notes, but playing in reverse, and much slower. This theme becomes the main lyrical melody of the piece, and it appears in several different guises, eventually returning in the coda to lead the listener beyond and into the final exciting dance.

Main theme, and Soaring theme at key change

The music begins to rise rhapsodically toward yet another theme, one with great skips in it, reaching low and then soaring high in its arching shape. This theme becomes the piece’s favorite, and also creates the most challenging sections for tone and breath control. By transposing the theme ever higher each time it appears, the player must rise to control it ever more, maintaining the effortless fluidity it demands to be musically effective.

The next section speeds up the pace a bit, using a slightly altered version of the first three note theme. Here Debussy expertly creates subtle variation using specific and varied articulations. The impish mood quickly returns to the second theme, an octave higher, and greater challenge, before moving to the next section, a mini “storm” of only a few bars and lots of notes, before returning again to yet another version of the first three note theme.

3 note idea impishly developed

Again, this music organically evolves into a development section, advancing the little “themelet” to express outward joy and exuberance. I see the little wood sprite dancing in a sunlit open field.

Middle section developing 3 note theme playfully

Only a few bars later, this miniaturized tone poem moves to yet another familiar scene, the soaring theme with great skips across the instrument. This time it’s at the high end of the clarinet’s “altissimo” range. Marked pianissimo, this is the rhapsodic peak of this first half of the piece. The music continues beyond the arching theme to extend the magical floating mood even further. Debussy suggests “Plus retenu” “even slower”. Time seems to stop.

Soaring theme in upper register, pianissimo

The transition to the next “impish” section and theme is accomplished by yet again playing with the very first three note shape.

This next section, impish in character, asks the player to demonstrate a perky and light staccato, and to be able to control that articulation in the high register. The theme itself, I believe, is an extension of the first wood sprite’s theme, the short chromatic descent seen in the 4th bar of the piece.

Scherzo theme based on 3 note chromatic tail

Debussy continues to develop this idea for another 20 bars, before returning briefly to the soaring theme. Then the whole scene comes unraveled as the music returns to the first theme, ultra placid, especially after all the excitement of the intervening music. However the music takes yet another turn, building with great dynamic and harmonic tension (and the most difficult part for the pianist) to another virtuosic flourish of riffs for the clarinet before entering the final impish dance which builds with bacchanalian fervor to a final “bluesy” statement of the very first three note theme before coming to a crashing close.

Return to main theme w buildup to ending

Technical flourishes transitioning to ending dance

Bluesy ending using 3 note idea

All in all, a miniature music masterpiece, well written to challenge any clarinetist’s technique. Gotta love it.

Historic Music Tuning Problem, just intonation, pure harmony.

The 2 types of tuning used currently are equal tuning, which means each half tone is equal to the next, or, in the cases of strings, winds and voices who are not performing with set pitched instruments, just (natural) tuning, where each note is tuned according to its harmonic neeeds.

Of course, clarinets, and other woodwinds, are both fixed and flexible in tuning; fixed because they must be tunes as equally as possible in design to be adaptable to any type of music, and flexible since the pitch can be altered by fingerings, embouchure and air control.

Though the article linked above and quoted below is a website which sells software to adjust “midi” players to reflect well-tempered scales, it offers some interesting musical perspective on the power of certain chords to “shock” the listener in Monteverdi and Mozart, and the relative loss of that psychological power with equal intonation beginning with Beethoven.

“The patented Justonic innovations not only restore to music the lost harmonies of Monteverdi, Bach, and Mozart, but open up a whole new world of tonal possibilities for modern musicians.”

When Claudio Monteverdi introduced the dominant seventh chord, its dissonance was more sharply felt than it is today (with equal temperament). When a modern, tempered orchestra plays Monteverdi, the contrast between true consonance and dissonance is obscured. Inversions, modulations, and other compositional resources have also been dulled by temperament.

In 1685, the year that Bach was born, Andreas Werckmeister applied mathematics to the problem and came up with the entirely contrived equal tempered scale, eventually adopted by piano makers. Bach, however, wrote for meantone and “well” temperament in which the thirds and fifths were sweet and pure in the “near” keys and became more out of tune in the “distant” keys. When played in equal temperament the full radiance of Bach harmony is compromised. Likewise, a Mozart vocal harmony was written to be sung in tune. A tempered version is still music, but it isn’t what the composer intended, and it does not reveal the full genius behind the harmony.

Radio Shack Sound Meter

I bought a Radio Shack sound meter a few weeks ago. It cost about $50.

Richard Hawkins (Oberlin) mentioned he uses it to teach his students air and tone control. I also read about it in a recent issue of Clarinet magazine, in an article by Larry Guy (Vassar).

If you want to get one, be sure to get the digital version, as shown in the photo at left. It also has analog readout.

I have been working extensively with it, and I have to say, it’s quite challenging to do longtones with it.

As suggested in Larry Guys article, I set the reader to 80, fast response, C weighting, for the lowest notes on the clarinet, from low E up to C.

With the reader set at 80 Db, it reads from 70-90. Below 70, it measures “lo” and above 90 it just blinks.

I began a long tone on a low E, trying to register only 70 before attempting to crescendo up to 71, then 72, remaining on each decibel for a few seconds.

In addition to the numbered digital read out, there is an analog type meter under the numbers. I found this quite useful. Watching the analog meter, I can see it bouncing around at the low end, and it give clues as to how controlled the tone is. It also helps me gauge the progress better than the numbers, because it anticipates the digital readout slightly.

I usually run out of breath by the time I get from 70 to 75, if I get that far. (this all became easier with time) So I breathe and attempt to begin exactly at 75, from which I increase to 80, then breathe, etc, until I reach 90. The start at 90 and diminuendo in stages until I am back at 70.

As recommended by Larry Guy, I also suggest moving the meter to 90 starting around low C and up, since those notes are automatically louder and it’s almost impossible to control them at 70 Db.

Another variation is to begin the longtone at 75 (or 85 when using 90 as the setting), and crescendoing to 85 (or 95). This is plenty difficult, and will allow you do practice more longtone notes.

It’s interesting how much more “crescendo” seems necessary to increase volume at the higher decibels. This is not only because it takes more air speed and strength to play up to 90 Db. It’s also due to the way Dbs are measured. Below is a rough description of how much increase in power it takes to increase 10 Db. (here is the source of this information.)

On the decibel scale, the smallest audible sound (near total silence) is 0 dB. A sound 10 times more powerful is 10 dB. A sound 100 times more powerful than near total silence is 20 dB. A sound 1,000 times more powerful than near total silence is 30 dB. Here are some common sounds and their decibel ratings:

* Near total silence – 0 dB
* A whisper – 15 dB
* Normal conversation – 60 dB
* A lawnmower – 90 dB
* A car horn – 110 dB
* A rock concert or a jet engine – 120 dB
* A gunshot or firecracker – 140 dB

You know from your own experience that distance affects the intensity of sound — if you are far away, the power is greatly diminished. All of the ratings above are taken while standing near the sound.

Any sound above 85 dB can cause hearing loss, and the loss is related both to the power of the sound as well as the length of exposure. You know that you are listening to an 85-dB sound if you have to raise your voice to be heard by somebody else. Eight hours of 90-dB sound can cause damage to your ears; any exposure to 140-dB sound causes immediate damage (and causes actual pain).

Distance from the meter is another critical factor in how it reads. If it seems ridiculously sensitive, I move a few inches further away and try again. Just a small increase in distance will change how “loud” the sound is to the meter. Another factor to consider is what acoustical backdrop is behind the meter. (The meter points away from you, since it was designed to be used by someone to measure other sounds, not your own. But this doesn’t affect its usefulness for longtones.) I place it on a music stand, almost at eye level, so I can read the meter without compromising my posture for playing.

Now we get to critical factors in how to control your tone.

1) It is important to remain relaxed and poised as you focus on controlling the air and tone. Try to find a position that you could stay in comfortably for awhile, without slouching. I prefer to stand while practicing. But even while sitting, feet should be “calmly” flat on the floor, knees and hips relaxed, head floating forward and up, neck free, back ribs relaxed and open to air.

2) When “taking” a breath, think of “letting” the air in, especially if you have squeezed the last bit of air out in your longtone.

3) Let the air in while keeping your neck, back and shoulders relaxed. Too often we try to suck air in while straining the neck and back. (and throat!) A good full breath will feel like it fills the space from your seat to to the base of your neck.

4) To control the release of air, think of holding the air with a “full tank” as if you are inhaling a little more, sort of an “open” feeling the air. Then release ever so slowly, pretending to fog a mirror one molecule of air at a time. It really feels like one molecule at a time, especially when you see how little air it takes to make 70 Db of sound!

Remember to keep your neck, shoulders and back relaxed throughout all this “control”. What you are controlling is the motions of breathing, not stopping the air.

We are lucky to have such valuable technological tools to help us master the clarinet. Use them!

If you are interested in learning more about the science of measuring sound in Decibels, see THIS article.

Last week the Columbus Symphony performed Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, which has been a staple of the orchestral repertoire since it was premiered on December 1, 1944 in Boston Symphony Hall by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky.

Also on the program was Johannes Brahms 1st Piano Concerto with Peter Serkin soloing, and Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture. Stephan Sanderling conducted. His interpretation of the Bartok was appropriately vivid and dramatic.

I have played the Bartok many times in my orchestral career. However, it never fails to amaze me musically, orchestrally and technically. (If you are interested in another woodwind player’s perspective on the same music, check my colleague Betsy Sturdevant’s post Bassoon Blog- Mozart, Brahms and Bartok.)

To prepare for the concert, I began by refreshing my memory of the piece by listening to a classic performance of it by the Chicago Symphony under Fritz Reiner. Though recorded in the 50′s, Reiner’s version is still considered definitive.

Musically, I was again struck by the piece’s “modern” sound. I wrote on Facebook, “It’s alternately depressing, sardonic, mocking, terrifying and frenetic with occasional grandeur, albeit a bit sardonic grandeur. To keep it in perspective, I remember it was written in the throes of WWII, 1943.”

At the end of our rehearsals of the piece with Maestro Sanderling, he recounted a story I had never heard, which he had learned from Bartok’s son, Peter. Sanderling told us that, in 1943, Bartok and his wife arranged for their 19 year old 2nd son, Peter, to travel alone by ship to the US.

According to Sanderling’s story, the Bartoks heard news that the ship had sunk, and presumed their son dead. It was during this period that Concerto for Orchestra was composed. The bitter despair the composer must have felt may have colored the piece even more than the chaos of the World War II. The story ends somewhat happily; after the Bartoks traveled to NYC, the son and father met by accident on the subway. Unfortunately, Bela Bartok died a year later of leukemia.

Technically, even though I’ve heard and played the piece many times, it never gets any easier to count the part or the rests. Bartok composed using apparently random rhythms and phrases. Even the rests are hard to count! In the excerpt photo below of the 2nd movement, you can see how the rests are nearly always 1 + ? measures, which can easily be confused, especially which swabbing out or changing clarinets.

(Remember, you can click on the photo to enlarge it in another window.)

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra Movt. 2

The next excerpt shows the deceptively tricky ending of the 2nd movement, when the 1st clarinet plays a high d, with 16th notes in a dramatic diminuendo. I used an alternate fingering for this, which I rarely do, and it worked quite well. It allows you to bite a bit to ensure control and diminuendo, though it was a bit resistant for the articulation. You can see the fingering marked below the excerpt.

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Movt. 2 end

The next excerpt shows a solo in the first movement which has incorrect rhythms in the parts. A recent edition, published by Peter Bartok after he finally regained the rights over his fathers music, has corrections, some of which did not make it into older publications of the orchestral parts. As the clarinet line descends, note the change from quarter/eighth to eighth/quarter.

This solo is also an example of the uneasy, pleading lyricism found through out this piece.

Bartok Concert for orchestra, clarinet part Mvt 1

In the haunting third movement, there is one excerpt which I play on the Bb rather than A as it was written, since it’s much easier on Bb.

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, clarinet, 3rd mvt.

Now we have the famous clarinet solo in the section of the 4th movement which mocks Shostakovich’s 7th symphony main theme. Bartok may have been depressed, but not without bitter humor. The difficulty of this solo is many fold. First the apparently simple 4/4 rhythm in the first measure is not so simple. The player must know the uneven rhythm accompanying in the strings to be able to fit in with the orchestra. Then there is the difficult triplets descending over the break, in a rapid accelerando. Finally, the quintuplet articulated descending chromatic scale, which must be played at about 120, no easy task for the single tonguing clarinetist. I was able to double tongue the 2nd and 3rd beats, though even that coordination was quite difficult.

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, clarinet, mvt 4

Finally, a an excerpt from the rowdy last movement, showing some of the more difficult 16th note passages. The first excerpt on the page must be played with extremely rhythmic fingers, since the awkward changes in direction can easily cause confusion among the other parts playing along.

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, clarinet, 5th mvt.

All in all, a fun and challenging week.