I am a massive advocate for musicality. I spend literally hours a day not only fixing my own playing in this capacity but also, drilling the importance of dynamics, phrasing, tonal colour and articulation as equally important aspects of playing into my students.
However, all this can only come from a secure technique and this is something that is overlooked when many teachers begin with a learner clarinet player. There are too many cases, unfortunately, of clarinet players (self taught or otherwise) will begin teaching beginner clarinet players for a few extra bucks but will overlook the basics of technique in order to take on a more 'instant results' view to their student's playing. This is extremely frustrating, particularly for myself who has been required to take on several students who have arrived from another teacher and have obtained poor habits that are difficult to undo. These habits have arrived through both a lack of experience by the teacher and a careless, lazy approach to teaching. I was devastated to hear that a very new student of mine who has poor technique from the previous 10 years of appalling teaching - she suffers from a weak embouchure, poor air support (or a lack thereof), heavy slopping tonguing technique, poor sight reading skills and extremely slow note reading ability - has been 'employed' by her school to teach beginner clarinet students in the junior school. I wanted to cry. This wouldn't happen in a driving school - just because you can drive doesn't mean you can teach it.
A complete beginner clarinet student will, in the first few months, undertake a complex collection of instructions from the basics of breathing, posture, embouchure and hand positions to the more complex applications of note reading, rhythmic recognition and co-ordination of these aspects into one action.
Technique is the primary foundation of teaching an instrument - a student who is technically advanced or proficient may be free to play everything with musical expression. However, a technically limited student, whilst they may learn and understand the concepts of phrasing, dynamic control, tonal colour, stylistic interpretation and other expressive means of paying, their technical limitations may harbour their ability to put these concepts into practice.
On the clarinet, there are fundamental technical issues that cause concern for a beginner; aspects that a teacher should concentrate on solidifying as early as possible in order to prevent habits that would require a remedy in the future. It is much more difficult to undo mistakes once solidified in a student's brain. These aspects include, but are not limited to, breath control, posture, embouchure, articulation, crossing the 'break', scales (in turn linked to rhythm and tempo) and tone production.
Breath control is an extremely important aspects of any wind instrument as it enables the player to overcome hurdles in intonation, tone production, tonguing, sustained passages and 'break-crossing' (the point between the throat note area and the 'all fingers down' long B) or large intervallic leaps. If not taught correctly (and often combined with poor posture), a student may develop shallow 'high breaths' from the upper chest which will limit their ability to play a long phrase or support an upper register. This is in addition to the linked technical difficulties arising from poor air support. Breathing from the shoulders causes muscles in the arms, hands and fingers to stiffen. As a result, the body becomes tense and the tone of the instrument suffers as a result of the inflexibility in their embouchure, throat and fingers. Shallow breathing and poor air support also decreases a student's ability to play long phrases, make large fluctuations in dynamic range and to articulate with clarity which, in turn, harbours their ability to play phrases with musicality and expression.
To a lesser degree, correct breathing opens the possibility for good phrasing to be taught to a student in that a teacher can instruct a student to breathe where the phrase ends. This not only teaches them the concept of phrases but gives the student the opportunity to decide for themselves where to breath where the musical sentence concludes.
Poor tone is very difficult to fix as many factors are involved in a student's tone production problems. Frederick Thurston once said 'There are only two kinds of sound on a clarinet. Good tone and bad. Good embouchure, posture, hand position and air support....are foundations of technique. Practicing long notes provides good tone and facility over the break, hence opening the possibilities for expression' (Porter, Maurice. The Embouchure, London: Boosey and Hawkes, 1967 p.1).
Teaching the importance of clear, comfortable tonguing can improve a student's tone and in turn, increase their ability to play with expression. Tonguing is very important as a beginning step in a clarinet student's development - the worse the tongue, the fuzzier and harsher the tone, the inability to play rapid passages, the 'honkier' the sound and the worse the phrasing. Breath support and articulation go hand in hand and without a solid air support behind the tongue, the tone on articulated passages can suffer, dynamics will sound weak and ineffective and therefore, the expression suffers.
The quicker tone production is developed in a student, the easier the student will understand and be able to apply the more complicated procedures of varying tone colours which can only be controlled by technique. The varying of tone colour, according to Maurice Porter, is an important part of expression, almost inseparable from dynamic variation. This includes the use of vibrato, brightening or darkening the sound (a difficult and complicated process to demonstrate), adding or removing fingers as vent keys to colour the sound, throat manipulation and other 'tricks'. Therefore, the basics of articulation, air support, embouchure and posture are essential parts of a student's development of their playing into musical expression.
Scales and rhythmical exercises are invaluable tools in enabling a student to consolidate technique to such an extent that musicality can be approached without any technical hitches to harbour its development. The tendency to rush a complicated or difficult passage is a common situation that teachers will find their students in. Metronome work in scales combined with good breath support and finger consolidation can help a student not only recognise a passage in any piece that they play and will increase note recognition but also will enable them to control the tempo of a piece in a way that follows the contours of the phrases and is stylistically true to the composer's wishes. Rushing or 'panicking' can not only become a build up of technical problems but destroys the musicality and can sound uncomfortable to a listener. Keith Stein said 'Good phrase driving is closely associated with rhythm in that there is an almost self-perpetuating surge that gives an energetic boost to the music. He goes on to say that when the amateur student attempts to introduce musical expression, he risks upsetting note smoothness and evenness, especially in rapid tempos. (The Art Of Clarinet Playing, Illinois: Summy-Birchard, 1958, p55).
Scales, therefore, are fundamental technical exercises that enable the student to practice evenness and note smoothness, particularly in crossing the break where there are obvious hiccups in the flow. This is to ensure that phrasing, when necessary, can be as seamless and naturally contoured as possible. Pamela Weston mentions that descending scales are good with a counteracting crescendo and vice versa in order to practice evenness of tone and volume that can be applied to pieces that require long phrases and musical flexibility (The Clarinetists Companion, London: Fentone Music, 1982, p91).
Musicality, as a general rule, I believe, should be taught as arly as possible. A student's awareness of phrasing, dynamic variation, melodic sensitivity and stylistic interpretation is important to their development as musicians, regardless of how early their progress is. However, without a solid basis in the fundamentals of technique on their instrument, the learning of the expressive side of music can be an uphill battle as they could be possibly fighting against their own poor technique. The importance of solidifying these basics as early as possible and giving the student a thorough grounding in these elements is influential on a student's future as a musical performer and will give them the freedom to interpret music in their own unique way.
