August Practice: Week 4
Welcome to the final week of the August Practice calendar! Hopefully you're feeling confident about your E-flat clarinet playing now, and are ready to dive into the concert season!
Week 4 Practice Concepts
Full Warm-up
Play through a full warm up session, focusing on all parts of playing, just as if you were working on fundamentals on Bb/A clarinet. This should include tone/breathing, finger exercises, articulations, scales, and anything else you regularly include in a warm up session. Has parts of your E-flat clarinet playing improved since week 1? Use this time to assess how far your playing has progressed, and what you can focus on in the future.
Think about teaching methods
How would you teach E-flat clarinet? Teaching someone else can be really insightful for the teacher! There are some good articles in professional journals as well, so head to the library (or join an organization) for access to journals such as The Instrumentalist and The Clarinet.
Try an integrated practice session
We tend to practice each clarinet in separate practice sessions, but most often we have to switch between instruments fairly quickly. Try a session with all of your clarinets out, an item to practice for each instrument, and a timer. The more you practice this way, the more comfortable you’ll be during those fast clarinet changes in orchestra! For more ideas about integrated practice, check out this post: Practicing with Auxiliaries
Research performers
Listen to several performers, ideally from different backgrounds and playing schools. While some clarinetists do have recordings of solo E-flat clarinet music, you are more likely to find a good variety of players by listening to orchestras. Use an excerpt list to find pieces with exposed E-flat clarinet parts, such as Rite of Spring, Bolero, and Shostakovich Symphonies.
Try a new excerpt
Try a few new excerpts. Identify the main goal - what are you demonstrating when performing this excerpt for an audition? Prepare as if you were going to play with an orchestra.
Record yourself
If you’ve never recorded yourself, it can feel a bit uncomfortable! Recording yourself playing through something can be a great way to practice getting over nerves, and provides instant feedback. While fancy microphones and recording programs can be helpful, you don’t need a bunch of super expensive equipment to benefit from recording. (Try to listen back using headphones though - you’ll get a better idea of the sound than through phone or laptop speakers).
Share your progress with us on Facebook and Instagram! @eflatclarinetproject