**This blog has been edited to include proper credits for where information was obtained.
Scales, broken chords, thirds, fourths, and sixths. These are all examples of technique that musicians practice on a regular basis,...hopefully. A few specific books tend to pop into the minds of many clarinetists: Rubank, Klosé, and Baermann to name a few. The problem with these methods, and any written method for any instrument, is that they present technique in a very linear manner. For example, Baermann presents scales using the full range of the instrument, but they're written out in sixteenths. Klosé also presents the scales in sixteenths. They each present them in different ways, but they are all in a particular pattern and should be played as such, or should they?
Technique does not have to be this linear and you can, and should, spice things up a bit. These ways to practice your technique will increase your musicality as well as your facility, allowing you to become comfortable in every key. However, they’re not meant to be seen as linear like the other methods. They are meant to be seen as a starting point. Take the ideas and mess with them. If you see something you like, take it and change a little or a lot. Get your creative juices flowing!
1. Practice chromatically - I published an example of this under the resources page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1doX9liMJZJWyY4enCkxFphIhxOqpMtAd/view?usp=sharing. This exercise was taught to me, albeit in a slightly different form, by my teacher, but it was never written down. She learned it from her teacher and students were expected to just know it because it follows a certain pattern. Essentially, you ascend in an E major scale (EM) and descend in a F major scale (FM) continuing the pattern. This is a much more interesting way of working on scales and I encourage you to get creative with this. You can do this with minor scales, major and minor thirds, and major and minor broken chords as well. You can start in the highest register and descend first, then ascend (i.e. descend in E major, ascend in E-flat major).
2. Change the written rhythm - Just because the written rhythm might be sixteenths, does not mean that you have to only play sixteenths. For example, changing it to triplets or quintuplets will allow you to feel the pattern in new ways. Often we think we know a pattern only to become flustered when presented with it in a new way. Get creative with it and change things up a bit!
3. Change the starting note - Starting on an E for an E major scale every time isn’t necessary, or all that helpful. If you’re playing B-flat major for example, keep the rhythms the same, but make the first note either a C, D, E-flat, or F. This is just an example, but you can really play around with this. Test yourself and see if you can keep the scale even and steady by not starting on the tonic.
4. If you find a pattern in a piece you’re working on, build your facility by playing it in different keys. If it’s in D major, what would it sound like in D-flat major? What would it sound like in a minor key?
These are just a few ways to play around with technique, but the objective here is to see technique as a means of playing around. Make it fun and get creative with it. Come up with your own ways of playing around with your technique. If you do, you might have an easier time with playing your scales.
To practice, come up with you own creative way of practicing technique and post it in the comments down below!