A year into Covid I can honestly say that my clarinet chops are feeling quite ok as I have been faithfully practicing 5 days per week.
To make things easier on my wallet (without gigs to fund supplies) I purchased 5 Legere European Cut (3.50) to save on my usual Vandoren V12's.
The Legeres work for my practicing needs.
With time to think/analyze/ponder about my playing I have revisited some of my past method books: Kell Staccato studies plus two kinda odd-ball ones that I have found invaluable:
and
The Kell book is for obvious reasons.
The Chesky book is from my sax-learning days and is delightfully odd. The intervals (aside from the 4th/5th) get a bit "out there" and are a challenge to play technically at moderate/brisk tempos but more so staying in tune. (I find this more useful than standard maj/min triadic patterns in most clarinet methods.)
The Taffenal book was borrowed from my flute-learning days.
I especially like to use pgs: 2-9. I use these exercises to speed up my fingers (all slurred). I do all of the exercises in more than one octave (an example: on pg 2; the first four staves are done in two octaves while staves 5-6 are done in 3 octaves).
In doing these exercises in octaves I have work different parts of my technique; right hand, left hand, break, the upper break, etc.
All of the above is an attempt to emerge from the Covid break "in a better place" clarinet-wise.
To make things easier on my wallet (without gigs to fund supplies) I purchased 5 Legere European Cut (3.50) to save on my usual Vandoren V12's.
The Legeres work for my practicing needs.
With time to think/analyze/ponder about my playing I have revisited some of my past method books: Kell Staccato studies plus two kinda odd-ball ones that I have found invaluable:
and
Buy 17 Daily Exercises (17 Grands Exercises Journaliers de Mecanisme) (w/Gaubert) Online at $32.99 - Flute World
Buy 17 Daily Exercises (17 Grands Exercises Journaliers de Mecanisme) (w/Gaubert) online only at $32.99 from Flute World. Visit our website for more information.
www.fluteworld.com
The Chesky book is from my sax-learning days and is delightfully odd. The intervals (aside from the 4th/5th) get a bit "out there" and are a challenge to play technically at moderate/brisk tempos but more so staying in tune. (I find this more useful than standard maj/min triadic patterns in most clarinet methods.)
The Taffenal book was borrowed from my flute-learning days.
I especially like to use pgs: 2-9. I use these exercises to speed up my fingers (all slurred). I do all of the exercises in more than one octave (an example: on pg 2; the first four staves are done in two octaves while staves 5-6 are done in 3 octaves).
In doing these exercises in octaves I have work different parts of my technique; right hand, left hand, break, the upper break, etc.
All of the above is an attempt to emerge from the Covid break "in a better place" clarinet-wise.