Crossing The Break

If you’ve got this far, you can already probably play across the break. However, crossing the break on the bass clarinet is more complicated than on the clarinet because of the voicings.

The notes just above the break on the bass clarinet are quite resistant, and can sound squeaky and thin. The following exercises will help you cross the break with elegance and a rounded tone.

 
 

1) Crossing The Break: This first exercise focuses on B - C - D.

What to do:

  • This is to be played in free time, without a metronome. We are focusing on embouchure and voicing here - no need to worry about speed.

  • For the first two lines - play each bar (measure) a minimum of 3 times.

  • As you go across the break, you need solid air support, and an open throat.

  • If you slightly increase your air pressure to ‘bridge the gap’ when going higher, it helps to create a smoother transition between notes.

  • You need to think about opening your throat more when going higher.

  • Think about your tongue position - even when you are slurring! When you are tonguing higher up, your tongue needs to have a slightly higher position within your mouth hitting the reed a slightly different angle. When you are slurring and going higher - you should feel your tongue move slightly higher and further back within your oral cavity (mouth) - to give the notes room to sing clearly.

 
 
 

2) Crossing the Break: Going Higher Using 12th Jumps

Being built in 12ths means that if you play a low G, the same fingering + the register key (aka. octave key in UK) produces a high D. The low F fingering + the register key produces a high C… and so on. This can be useful for helping us to access the higher register.

What to do:

  • The bottom notes in this exercise go up chromatically and then jump up a 12th. Use these bottom notes to ‘bounce off’.

  • By keeping the embouchure the same, altering your tongue position (higher and further back in the mouth), slightly increasing your air pressure and making sure your throat says nice and open - you should be able to achieve a clean 12th slur!

  • Remember that even slightly raising your eyebrows - helps to get the higher notes to speak (it seems ridiculous but I promise it works).

  • Don’t worry if you can’t reach the top notes yet - use this exercise to build up to top C.

The bass clarinet (and clarinet) are built in 12ths - saxophone and flute are built in octaves.

 
 

3) How Do You Tongue High Notes?

Tonguing above the break on bass clarinet can be quite difficult - often resulting in squeaks and split notes. There’s a really simple way to resolve this:

  • Your tongue position: this needs to be higher in your mouth, and slightly further back. The higher the note, the higher your tongue position. For the first few notes across the break (B, C, D) you shouldn’t need to really change your tongue position from the lower octave. However, when you get higher up (F-C) it’s necessary to create a clean tongued note.

  • Tongue more gently: if we are struggling to tongue these notes, it’s generally because we are tonguing with too much force. If you ‘whack’ your tongue onto the reed here you’ll split the note.

  • Throat shape: as always - we need to maintain a nice open throat (remember the ‘ooohhh’ sound. We can tend to constrict our throat as we go higher without realising.

  • Air pressure/speed: our strong diaphragm air support needs to be there, with a good consistent strong air speed/pressure.