62

The Advanced Harmonics Exercise

There are numerous applications of harmonics in advanced playing.
The example below is typical of an awkward slur, which becomes even more of a
problem at speed. There are many pieces that use this interval in this octave and
musically it is not always easy to make this slur as legato as we would like.
In the Mozart Clarinet Quintet first movement in the second arpeggio this is the slur
written at the top of the arpeggio. In Mozart s day the clarinet was much more
primitive in design and the use of an overblown G to obtain high D would have been
normal  I even suspect Mozart knew this to be possible, after all his best friend was a
clarinettist.
The D is not perfectly in tune as an overblown note, but if used in
conjunction with the register key the overblown G on certain
clarinets can be almost perfectly in tune.
I use this D frequently to enhance legato. Another example of where
to use this is in the Brahms Eb Sonata where the first arpeggio to
high D appears. As an overblown note it will sound a little flat, but
if you can master the rotation of the thumb to add the register key
to the overblown G it makes a beautifully smooth , in tune D and finishes the phrase
without the awful bump one often hears at this point.
Another useful
fingering based on
harmonics - High
Eb - above thumb
C in the clarinet
The thumb
register. Finger C
rotates
and then slur to
upwards to
Eb by adding the
play the thumb
A key - this gives a
key to obtain a
smooth slur and is
high overblown
useful at speed.
D.
Thumb C -
register key
open plus
back thumb
hole (closed).



These are just two examples of harmonics that can be very useful.
With experimentation you will find many harmonic fingerings that are useful in
performing slurs more smoothly. There is almost enough scope in this subject for me to
write another book, the number of applications for the use of harmonics is so great.

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