Conductors Hate Him! Learn how this man made playing clarinet easier with this one simple trick!

Flexing with that circular breathing

Keeping the right hand down over the register was something I learned as a basic technique in middle school. So glad to see that it come up again in more difficult music

Literally screaming rn.. that would have been so helpful for my senior recital...

Thanks Mike holding down the right hand and dropping notes are such important concepts.

Yes! You're a life saver. I've been playing bass 2yrs (started Bb clarinet in 5th grade started bass in 7th grade) and just started highschool band last week! Literally everything me and the other bass clainet person has to play is over the break. I'll have to tell him about this! Thanks!!

Jeez, this is a fun piece. I am in 8th grade and I have been working on it for about 30 minutes and I'm at bar 24. Even playing down tempo is fun.

I find also that breath support is key. Make sure we use gut strength to support the notes like middle b and c. The resistance radically changes when I go from a throat tone, to a note across the break which requires much stronger air support. The size of the length of the bore used, suddenly gets much longer! This requires a firm belly. Practice the middle b and c down to the throat tone (reverse the order). You may find it playing across that break, much easier. Now one can handle, along with keeping the right hand down, going across the break smoothly.

I start teaching my students the right hand down as soon as they learn open G, way before they get to the clarion register. It helps to stabilise the instrument.

This is such good news to me! I play music in a community orchestra, arranged by someone who doesn't play a wind instrument. He often doesn't leave us space to breath in the music! I thought I was being naughty secretly crossing out notes to catch a breath, so I'm really pleased to hear this is a legitimate thing to do! :)

Absolutely the most useful Earspasm video yet, hands down, bravo, well done!

My ATSSB All-State year B technical Etude was this exact piece, it nice to see that you blew the performance out of the water, I found it to be the most difficult piece for any of my all state auditions ever. I learned about the whole right hand down thing because of this exact piece and it was a struggle and a half, I'm super glad you dissected the whole issue in the piece about no rests or breaks and leaving notes out and everything because it's very good advice for a piece like this, especially if you're auditioning on a piece like this. Thank you for putting this out, it surely is gonna help all the small school bass clarinets in Texas in two years and many more for any auditions in the future, Great Video!

Thanks Michael! This etude is the audition piece for high school Region Band auditions in Connecticut in November 2020 and Nov. 2024, so this will be a big help to everyone preparing for that audition. Other etudes in this book are used in Texas and Ohio all-state auditions.

Priceless advice delivered by a wonderfully enthusiastic teacher

Mike, if you'd like to this video to get more views, rename it to: Make going over the break easier with this ONE WEIRD TRICK!!

Thank you! This was very useful

Just went over this "trick" with one of my students. Great sound. You have me excited to start playing bass clarinet. I may have to give this one a try.

I played bass clarinet for a few months in middle school 15 years ago. Wish There were videos like this back then, I'd probably still be playing 😥

I’m also watching from CT! Thanks for the info.

It's so wonderful to hear you play! I started watching your videos before lock down as I was rediscovering Clarinet, one day I'd like to play Bass. Thank you for the Reed buffing kit, I experimented on a spare vandoren 3 and it turned out nicely for my playing ability and its playing like a really nice 2. As a kid, I had no idea you could maximise reeds this way. Thank you again for sharing the music!

I was taught to keep my right hand down for G to Bb to help with intonation when i first started clarinet, so it surprises me that its not standard.

I got really lucky and learned venting on throat tones in my third year, as well as throat-tone B. Very helpful tricks.

Love it! This is particularly good for bass because it has even less effect than on "regular" clarinet. Though I must admit when I first played bass, I was disappointed that my normal resonance fingerings didn't help with the throat tones!

Great tips! Thanks! 😁👍

I have always thought that the basic fingering for the throat tones should be taught with the right hand closing a la german-fingering even with french clarinets. In some cases, depending of the ring closed with the right hand you are also setting up for jumps to the Altissimo/Altississimo ranges and many of those fingerings are also better in tune in the first place across the throat tones.

That's super helpful dude. Thanks.

What a masterpiece 👍

I haven't even gotten to the tutorial portion yet but the playing right at the top is fucking incredible

Thank you! You rock!

Thanks for another great clarinet video. For many years I have taught beginners, or near beginners, to learn going over the “break” (we know there should be no break!) by starting on staff middle line “b”, leaving the RH down, and quickly go down to a throat tone- rather than trying to go up to “b’” from a lower tone. Having all tone holes covered to securely first play the “b”, then going down to a lower note, leaving the RH down, students find it much easier to achieve success.

thank you. thank you. thank you thank you

thanks for the advice.

You just changed the game for me

I haven't played bass clarinet since high school but these videos make me miss it very much. I'd love to buy one for myself but they're so expensive :(

Anyone who loves Dolphy has to be a v nice intelligent person, thank you for all your gr8 advice ( from across the pond) 👍

I don't really understand how you can tell someone is cheating on an instrument. if it sounds good and is not a problem in the learning curve, why not.

That piece you were playing at the beginning of the video was nice. I played the same piece for my all state audition but not at that tempo

I'm just excited about the magnet on the pencil. :P

I sometimes leave the ring finger down on the left hand when making these leaps. Not sure if will work on bass clarinet, but on Bb clarinet keeping the right finger down on the upper section helps stabilize the pinkie on the keys if those notes are next in line to be played. I have not found that keeping this finger down affects the throat tones. Again, I am not sure if it would work on bass clarinet at all. I have not played a low C bass clarinet in over 25 years. Great video, by the way. Thank you.

I learned how to do this by accident. I rarely do this even though I knew it was a thing. I probably should start now I guess. Oh and I played that piece and it is super fun 100% recommend to anybody who plays clarinet.

Can you please make a video that talks about all the register keys and side keys on the bass clarinet and the scales they coordinate to? I'm a true beginner at bass clarinet and I only know the top register key, but I don't know how to produce notes higher than open G (on a staff, the notes above the 2nd line).

Going over the break has gotten so much easier

Fantastic advice! I figured this out on my own back in high school, but had my band director get mad at me for "cheating". Didn't stop me from doing it! Same director hated the fact I didn't play the same Yamaha's that the rest of the band played either.

"Mike, we need a gif of 6:23 - 6:27 that we can play in class about twenty times a day." - Every band director and private teacher ever

i knew this, but for some reason only thought it applied to clarinet and not bass 😭

A few weeks ago you offered up a duet by “Bugs” Bower. Just thought you’d get a kick out of knowing Maurice “Bugs” Bower was a very prolific song writer. He wrote for Big Bands, the likes of Bing Crosby and Perry Como; created pop hits like “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yelllow Polkadot Bikini” and later worked with Kool & The Gang.

Its really hard on my contrabass can u do a video on how to do it on contra?

I'm sorry if you've answerd this question before but what set-up and hardware do you use for making music and/or what hardware do you suggest for someone for getting in to making music on the internet?

The og bass clarinet player and that’s on baby

Wow, a plateau bass clarinet- never seen one. What's the brand? Just got a Hanson plateau standard Bb and it's a jewel.

Can you do a video on high school etudes for 2020-2021

Surely he knew Kroepsch. Check out Kroepsch #26. They lived almost exactly the same time. I think Kroepsch also quoted Carmen in one of his exercises.

Where's that black bass?

How amazing, this small thing helped stabilise my clarinet especially when playing A. I thought it was wrong to do it, but no one will notice🫣

I really wish I had learned this, I squeak every time I go over the break and back lol

tl:dr, you can go from throat notes to above the break by keeping the right hand down while playing throat toned

When crossing the break, even with my right hand fingers down, my left hand index finger touches the Ab, and the thumb goes out of position. Do you have any exercise so I can avoid this?

Wait are you Circular Breathing? Or are you just Breathing so fast that you can't tell a break in the Music?(I have a region audition coming up in December, (Highschool All Region), one of the audition pieces is Weissenborns Advanced Studies Etude #3) I'm finding it kinda difficult to keep going in the piece when there's so few breath breaks, when I do breath there's gaps in the music, is there anyway to close those gaps and still get an efficient breath?(I know this is a comment section of a video posted a year ago, but I figured since I play Contralto Clarinet, it couldn't hurt to ask)

this is the only way I'm able to competently cross the break

fucking sick

On German clarinet, this is totally common. Most players learn it in a really young age

I'm 1 minute into the video and you are showing us STACCATOS bridge crossings... Can you show us legatos, untongued bridge crossings 🙂

Is the key same with Clarinet?

I don't even play clarinet why am I here and why did I watch the whole thing

What was the first piece called?

So im new to sax i can do a 20 second long tone on low d, was feeling good about it lol.....yes I know this is a bass clarinet lol

What the heck is a throat tone? I’m learning saxophone by ear and through experimentation and I naturally do this a lot for a lot of notes because it’s easier. It’s an interesting question when to lift fingers off of keys because for the pinky keys (G# for example) it can take a lot of power and energy to hold them down but if that’s the note that’s diatonic to the key a G may be uncommon.

i want to get a clarinet. i have been playing sax for 6 years now and im pretty good at it. i want to learn clarinet for doubling parts like pit, and i also think its a cool instrument. does anyone have any model recommendations, new/used, for around $200? thanks! in a few months when i can convince my teacher im good enough i am going to try to pick up a used R13.

I play clarinet with German system and this is something very basic for us „Germans“ to survive in music

I play trumpet, break, what is that?

Never thought about it and idk why...but can't you do 1 and 1 for low Eb?

Can you make a video about singing and playing at the same time I've been trying to figure out how to do for awhile

I want to try this on the sax! Anybody knows how well this works on the sax?

Is there a way to get this song for free?

Why aren't you using the black bass?

It's not downloading

Mark it with... A PENCIL!!! aaaaaaaaaahhhh

Hey I'm kinda new to your channel but if you get the time to read this you should get a mendini clarinet and abs clarinet , a wood clarinet ( mct-40) and a $95 clarinet

Over the break on a bass clarinet is obviously a hair raising experience.

First :)

I passed out just from watching this.