How do I play smoothly on the clarinet/saxophone without squeaking?

Answer 1

This is a great question, and I want to start by saying that squeaks happen even to professional players performing on stage. They are a part of playing clarinet and saxophone. As others have mentioned, sometimes (especially on clarinet), the squeak can come from a pad or tone hole that is not entirely pressed down or covered by your fingers. Be aware of any sensation of air leaking by your finger tips to determine if this is the cause.

I like to think of squeaks as real notes, because they are! Using a skill called "voicing" we can learn to create controlled squeaks. Voicing is the skill of shifting your tongue, mouth, and throat to shape your air for each pitch. Generally, lower notes are most resonant with a low tongue position, and higher notes with a higher tongue position. Allow for flexibility with your voicing, and let your ears guide you.

On clarinet, the first step for developing voicing skills is to start with an "open G" (second line of the staff G) and add the register key, resulting in the High D above the staff. Use the register key to get used to playing that interval. Next, use the register key to get up to the High D, then release the key once you have the pitch and use your voicing, with a high tongue position "Eeeeeee" shape to sustain the pitch. Do this as many times as it takes to become comfortable, and be aware of the feeling of that voicing. Then, begin with that voicing and play the High D without the register key, using the voicing to guide the pitch. Once this technique is comfortable on the Open G, you can practice this on all of the lower register notes going down from there, all the way to Low E below the staff.

This same technique works on saxophone, too, although the interval is an octave instead of a 12th.

I find that thinking about squeaking as the result of this voicing technique helps me maintain a curiosity and sense of humor about squeaks. They are just another type of sound that I can make, and when they happen by accident in an orchestra rehearsal or concert, they provide comic relief for me and the rest of the orchestra.

Answer 2

Squeaks happen in a variety of ways. So many times it comes from over blowing, under blowing, loose or tight emboucher....

Fingering -

One of the biggest factor I think is in fingering. If you don't plant your fingers properly at the very start of a note the horn may start on a different pitch than you intended, then you tend to over compensate by blowing differently - squeezing the keys differently - flicking your fingers a little bit. Practice to solidly plant every finger for a given note at the time you sound the note. It gets tricky when you have a big difference in fingering combinations - like going from C to the octave D (one to seven fingers for instance); make sure all the fingers are placed at the exact same time.

Answer 3

In my years of clarinet experience, I’ve found that there are a surprising amount of factors that contribute to playing smoothly across all ranges of the clarinet without squeaks: consistency of air speed and air support, proper embouchure development according to what range you’re playing in, basic foundation knowledge about the different partials of the clarinet, and proper hand-to-tongue technique are all key factors that help develop an ease of playing.

Regarding air speed and support, the analogy above fantastically demonstrates this concept; in practice, a good way to achieve this consistency of air is through the classic paper-on-the-wall exercise. All you do is simply put a piece of paper on the wall, step back one to two feet, and imagine a small target at the center of the paper. Simply blow condensed and fast air using deep breaths from your lower lungs into this target with the goal of keeping the paper on the wall using only your air.

To put this more into practice, try using this same air to blow into the clarinet. A steady and consistent tone should follow. You can also take any passage of any piece of music you’d like to, and simply imagine moving your fingers along to the melody while in real time only playing the first note of the passage (using the air previously described). That also immensely helps with air speed and support, and enables you to play freely and smoothly into the clarinet.

There’s whole discussions and pages one could write over this material; this is just but a small fraction. If you’d like to learn more, feel free to check out my profile or send me a message for a private lesson! I am always here to help in however is best for you.

Answer 4

Great question (and answer above)! The clarinet is in general, a bit more finicky when it comes to embouchure and fingerings than the saxophone but a lot of the same principles apply. The clarinet requires a much firmer embouchure than the saxophone to produce a sound, and often takes more air (or back pressure) to get a resonate sound. That being said, they are very similar embouchure and many clarinetist’s double on sax and vise versa. Andrew has given a great way to think about your fundamentals of air and forming your embouchure above. As you progress past the initial phase of producing a sound, the reed and mouthpiece choice is very important. Make sure you have a reed that allows you to blow freely but have enough resistance to produce a full tone. Generally, you will need to make sure you are playing at a strength around a 2 1/2, and there are no chips or deformities on the reed. The same is true for the mouthpiece, and making sure your mouthpiece is made of a good material, (hard rubber vs. plastic) this will greatly improve your tone and accuracy on the instrument. And on clarinet specifically, make sure your fingers are always covering the holes completely! I would advise taking passages very slow to work on your muscle memory between fingerings, especially across the break, which is often the culprit of squeaking.

Answer 5

Playing with a smooth and connected sound, called legato in musical vocabulary, is one of the things that all students often struggle with on the clarinet and saxophone. Particularly in new students, this lack of legato also leads to squeaks, grunts, and chirps. All of which are startling and frustrating to the new student. Essentially, there are two big ideas to focus on here which over time can improve legato and reduce squeaking.

Legato and Air Stream: With new students, I often use the analogy of a stream of water leaving the end of a hose. When we watch water coming out of the end of a hose, it is escaping the nozzle in a consistent way, with a constant amount of pressure, and even amount of flow. This is exactly what we want to do with our air stream while playing the clarinet or saxophone. We want our air stream to be consistent in pressure and amount ALWAYS! And when we change notes, we simply add or subtract fingers, but the air stays the same, it does not change! We don't want to kink the hose and have the water come out slower or faster. In turn, this constant air stream, coupled with relaxed finger technique will help to improve legato and reduce squeaking.

Embouchure: For new students, embouchure is a fancy word that just means the shape of your lips, teeth, and mouth around the mouthpiece of the clarinet or saxophone. This is the nozzle of our hose, and has lots of control over the sounds we make on the instrument. A good way to think about the perfect embouchure is to think of drawing a perfect circle around your lips, and trying to make that shape with the mouthpiece in your mouth. The goal is to put equal pressure on all sides of the mouthpiece with the lips. Do not let the circle become an oval by adding pressure from the top and bottom, because this is sure to cause more squeaks. Keep the embouchure even all the way around, and keep the air constant! This is sure to put you on the right track towards developing more smooth connected legato playing and getting rid of the squeaks.

If you are interested in learning more about this, please consider heading on over to my tutoring page and signing up for a free trial private lesson with me! There, we will be able to sit down and address your specific individual needs to make large improvements on your instrument!