The trick to playing fast, large leaps on Bass Clarinet

Squeaking a lot when playing up around the clarion register? (The one over the break). Well, you know about voicing, but here's an advanced trick to keep those squeaks at bay.

[@davelabonte7806]

In awe at that playing in the beginning of the video. This dude is a fantastic content creator and player.

[@ChadwellJ]

I love a video that covers further down in the depths of the iceberg of wind instruments! Your succinctness and active demonstrations greatly improve the value of your instructions from a pedagogical standpoint. Great as always!

[@ralphyarl7346]

Just made my towns local honor band because of this video! Thanks so much

[@jyehcondor]

Excellent, Mike! Thanks for this clear and succinct explanation of a basic but sophisticated concept.

[@Lxnorius]

You are literally the best.

[@heatherdavis5757]

Great video, thank you! I will be forwarding this to my Bass Clarinet students! And so fun to hear Polatschek on Bass!!

[@joeppeeters6222]

At the moment, I play baritone sax and this video is reeaaly helpful. I just started a few months ago and it is different from alto, because of the intonation and voicing.

[@mikesaxclar]

OMG! Thank You! Been struggling with this since I've gotten back into performing after a long time off ( decades!)

[@jeremyzerbe3152]

Composer here! This is so helpful, thanks!.

[@Lxnorius]

Mr. Michael, could you plz do a duet where you play clarinet and the watcher plays bass? that would be fun

[@kfray8455]

These are great thoughts, thank you! Sometimes I “average” the voicing between two notes-will have to pay more attention!

[@AmericanMusicCo]

OMG! That is seriously incredible!

[@spapeztheoctopus3249]

I play Bb clarinet and this was also really useful, great video and now I have a good understanding of voicing

[@Musix4me-Clarinet]

Me Like. 😎 Good stuff covered and certainly works for soprano clarinet as well, especially in the upper clarion to altissimo.

[@joeyburgos_]

Super informative! Thank you:)

[@lushsoundscape]

what happened to the black bass clarinet?

[@javierquesada798]

tremendo maestro salud

[@jerrykorten664]

Excellent. Thank you!

[@tonythompson4022]

Your so good! Keep up the great work!

[@camillelenoble6251]

Hey I love your past two albums , they're very groovy. To help to build a groove on clarinet /bass clarinet would you say that building a line similar to a funk bass line is a good training ? Would you have tips to underline a chord progression ? Cheers from France ! Thanks for your music 🤙🎶

[@Patrock404]

Where'd the ninja clarinet go?

[@meralynbrimer4862]

I would like to hear him play Sonata in G minor by H. Eccles and explain how to do the faster parts of the music so I can better understand it

[@DenmarkStBigBand]

Always great articles Mike.... I am trying to find the you tube video showing an app to work on evenness in scales.... finger technique etc... how do i find... if you or anyone can help.. be very grateful... kindest thanks,

[@fabiourr]

Thanks for talking about voicing, so important and so often overlooked! Lately I have noticed that on my bass clarinet the high A (two fingers) has a very different resistance from G and B unless I radically change the vowel with which I get the best response on the G. I checked and there are no air leaks... is it possible that a single isolated note could require such an important tongue position change? The problem is more noticeable when I have to play very softly. My instrument is a Buffet Prestige BC1193. Thank you very much!

[@aboveaveragebayleaf9216]

It could be a key height issue.

[@fabiourr]

@@aboveaveragebayleaf9216 Thanks for your advise, I'll check!

[@zerodeaths2343]

@@fabiourr mine is the same

[@csmaqua4570]

I have the same thing! It a Yamaha student model

[@zerodeaths2343]

What about switching octaves? If i keep the high voicing, then the low note won’t work. But if i voice the low note, the high note won’t come out.

[@obod2001]

Dear do yuo have a fingering chart for the high notes of the bass clarinet?. thanks

[@TRAVELERinANantiqueLAND]

Hi, I am a high schooler who plays on a Yamaha model 221II. I am wandering what would be a good mouthpiece to fit this right now it has a Yamaha 4c. Best Regards -Nathan Berger

[@francissadleir9805]

Whatever works best for you. It's such a highly personal thing that no one will ever be able to give you one good answer. If you can go to a music store and try out a bunch. Get someone else to listen for an extra set of ears. Good luck!

[@TRAVELERinANantiqueLAND]

@@francissadleir9805 Thanks for the advice👍

[@ChadwellJ]

If you're currently on a 4C, it'd be difficult, without trying, to get a mouthpiece that doesn't perform as well or better. A guaranteed improvement that won't break the bank would be the Clark fobes debut bass clarinet mouthpiece, but if you have the opportunity to go to a music store and try a variety of mouthpieces from brands like Vandoren or Selmer Paris, you will be able to determine what feels best for you, even if what feels best costs $200.

[@nerdandrew]

I'm not Michael but he usually suggests the vandoren b50. Personally, as someone who's not even remotely as qualified, I really like the vandoren bd5 bass mouthpiece

[@TRAVELERinANantiqueLAND]

@@ChadwellJ ok thank you for the advice👍