DISCLAIMER: The quality of equipment (instrument, reed, mouthpiece, ligature) has a very big impact on intonation. If the equipment is not in working order, the information and techniques on this webpage will not be as effective.
Embouchure Check!Your embouchure formation can either help or hurt your pitch accuracy. Here is a brief reminder about how you should form your embouchure:
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Mouthpiece Alone |
How To Tune the Bass Clarinet
Once you have reviewed and practiced your embouchure formation, tune your bass clarinet using the procedure listed below:
1) Play your bass clarinet for a few minutes to warm up your embouchure muscles and the instrument.
How To Adjust Pitch While Playing the Bass Clarinet
Even after tuning our instrument, there will still be notes that are naturally out-of-tune for various reasons. This makes it necessary for us to adjust, or manipulate, the pitch while playing. Here are some simple ways to adjust pitch:
Embouchure Tension
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Alternate Fingerings/Resonance Fingerings
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Other Factors Effecting Bass Clarinet Pitch
Breath Support and Posture
Dynamics
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Pads and Keys
Temperature
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The Reed
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Pitch Tendencies
Every instrument has notes that are naturally out of tune. Here is a list of common naturally out-of-tune notes for the bass clarinet. These notes are the written notes for the instrument, not the sounding concert pitches:
Alternate Fingerings
Listed below are alternate fingerings for many of the naturally out-of-tune notes on the bass clarinet. The alternate fingerings listed on the clarinet page can also be used on the bass clarinet. This is not a complete list, however, these fingerings will be helpful.
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Common Fingering |
Alternate Fingering |
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Clarinet Intonation Videos
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