Strategies for Speed

Errata: the TV golf instructor who says “If you keep doin’ what you’ve been doin’, you’ll keep gettin’ what you’ve been gettin’” is Martin Hall. My subconscious somehow instead pulled up the name of late great PSO Associate Principal Horn Martin Smith.
While woodshedding the end of Mahler 5 getting ready for tour, it occurred to me that some may appreciate suggestions regarding what to do if you're looking down the barrel of an awkward lick that goes really fast and you have to be able to land it under adverse conditions.
I'm not saying I'm fast or playing this brilliantly. Lots of people have more technique than me. But I have plenty of experience in situations where a piece takes all the technique I've got, and maybe a bit more, so if there's a lick that has always gotten the better of you, this video may help.
If you're interested in music at Duquesne University or Carnegie Mellon University, go to www.duq.edu/ac... or www.cmu.edu/cf... and search my name for contact info.

[@philipperoche7746]

Thank you very much for your inspiring videos. I am french and i spent two years in Boston with a fantastic teacher Tom Hill. I appreciate deeply the american pedagogy for learning the instrument: with your guidance, your thoughts, your kindness towards students they can truly reach confidence and reach very high level.

[@jackhowell8708]

Thank you for a very nice and encouraging comment, Philippe! Many of us American clarinetists think of ourselves as having French blood, thanks to Bonade.

[@KierynKilminster]

Thanks so much Jack. I recognise myself so much in this video as a 'just in time' player, one note at a time! I had started to independently find the thread of the idea to look ahead to anticipate fingering but you've crystallised it for me. Thinking about lining up note sequences is going to be my next practice focus! 🤓

[@jackhowell8708]

Thank you, Kieryn, glad you find it helpful. From saying “just in time” I presume you already found “Bulletproof Peter and the Wolf with Hand Position” and “The Wisdom of Robert Marcellus.” Everything connects to everything else.

[@KierynKilminster]

I've definitely watched the wisdom of Marcellus previously, but I'm not sure if I have seen the Bulletproof vid (I'll take a look later). I think it's more an example of the right piece of info at the right time. Recently, I've been working hard to improve my sight-reading and rhythm (not so much speed nor evenness), and from this video I recognise that at least part of my issues come from the one note at a time thinking. Thanks again.

[@QuickStartClarinet]

Fantastic advice! So many ideas that really resonate with me when I am trying to play fast and that I am constantly trying to ingrain into my students, and you said it in really clear ways with some awesome analogies that I am going to have to steal!

[@jackhowell8708]

Thanks! With proper credit it’s not theft. : )

[@elperroflauta16]

Thank you very much for sharing your wisdom. I think that a lot of clarinetists appreciate it!!

[@jackhowell8708]

Thank you for commenting.

[@marcosala87]

If I could like this video twice, I would! Great advice.

[@jackhowell8708]

Thanks! By commenting, you actually did, algorithmically.

[@marcosala87]

That's right! By the way, in one of your previous videos there was this Callas' quote along the lines of "we serve what we adore": how was it again? I can't find it anymore... Is it from a book? Thanks!

[@jackhowell8708]

@@marcosala87 In an interview at the end on a box set, The Complete Callas or something like that, the interviewer asked her how she prepared a new role. After her long, detailed answer, which she began by saying, “I believe it is my duty as an artist to dominate the material technically. I want to sing it like Heifetz would play it,” the interviewer said “That sounds like a terrible amount of work.” Callas replied, “It’s not work, you serve that which you adore.” She said the same thing in a TV interview in the 70’s, want to say David Frost, I know that’s on RUclips. I think I referred to the quote in “The Wisdom of Tomo Fujita.”

[@marcosala87]

@@jackhowell8708 Thanks for the infos!

[@classicaloracle]

Excellent advice. In these videos you articulate so well what many advanced players find so difficult to communicate to their students. With finger position on the A key in mind I wonder if you've ever heard reference to the 'diagonals'? With our arms correctly positioned we allow the fingers to lie on or near the keys in a diagonal attitude. If the clarinet is held too close to the body we see the fingers at almost 90 degrees to the instrument. Bearing in mind embouchure, moving the instrument away allows the diagonal shape to emerge in both hands and also in the left hand thumb approach to the register key at the back. Imagining a line down through both arms we create an 'X' around the middle of the instrument.
This is something that was taught in the English school of clarinet playing through Frederick Thurston and to his successors. Thanks again for these excellent videos - they keep getting better. Good luck on tour with Mahler 5!

[@jackhowell8708]

Thanks for that, no, I’ve never heard of the diagonals, I’ll have to pay attention to it.

[@allanjmcpherson]

This video came at an excellent time for me. I've been invited to play in a local ensemble, and we have some devilishly difficult music planned. There's one piece in particular that I've got a few licks I still haven't nailed down. As with so much of your advice, I find I've done some of it, but not all of it. These are some good reminders of what I should work on over the next week.

[@jackhowell8708]

As my friend Sue Heineman used to say, you can do anything in a week.

[@emjay2045]

👏🏼 👏🏼 good stuff

[@jackhowell8708]

Thanks for commenting, EmJay, I appreciate it.

[@micahfriesen453]

"It is irrational to expect any passage to be better than the underlying fundamental technique" -- I'm want to remember this for myself, and to use it with students.