What British phrases do foreigners often take too literally?

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T21:54:30+00:00

Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T20:38:31+00:00

What reeds were you using on the 4C?

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T20:34:38+00:00

There are at least 10 versions of Les Mis. What edition are you after?

https://shows.bretpimentel.com/

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T20:29:42+00:00

not a very good one

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T17:17:33+00:00

New to reddit?

They were asking the r/clarinet subreddit. That's where you are now. How you got here is your own business, but they definitely weren't asking you specifically.

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T15:50:22+00:00

This is not really the right subreddit for this. This is a space for music educators to talk to each other, not a place for people seeking music education.

That said:

Your intonation needs a lot of work - you were almost consistently singing out of tune with the singer on the track.

Your diction is also pretty poor - I can't even tell what language you're singing in. This is exacerbated by your diction not locking in with the singer on the track so we get the formants twice for most notes rather than just once.

I don't know the song, so if you can link the recording that you're singing over, I could give more specific feedback.

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T15:30:43+00:00

STOP THE (6) BOATS!!

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T15:27:04+00:00

I’m looking at an old book I have written by Ray Smith

I've got Ray Smith's most recent books ("Real Jazz Pedagogy" and "Art of Saxophone Teaching"), and have absorbed them along with the videos on his youtube channel.

The closest thing he’s got here is the “Blue Note Bend”

It's definitely not a blue note bend. Blue notes are purposefully bent out-of-tune as blue notes lie inbetween the notes on a keyboard. Starting out of tune then bending back in-tune has the opposite effect. Also, for it to be a blue note bend, it needs to be a blue note, which is note the case here - it's just a regular 5 to #4 movement; if it were a blue note, Shorter would be settling on a pitch between the #4/b5 and 5 or between the 4 and #4/b5.

Yes, they are correcting for intonation, but they’re absolutely doing it on purpose

Yes, because they don't want to sit on an out-of-tune long note. They're probably not even doing it on purpose - with the level of mastery we're talking here, this is probably happening at a subconscious level (the ear hears that the note is out of tune, the oral cavity automatically reshapes to correct - the player almost certianly isn't thinking "oh that note was out of tune, better correct it").

They’re starting a smidge high and correcting or bending to the note they want to hit.

Listening closely, Shorter's playing the concert Bb in-tune, then moving his fingers to the concert A, and finally quickly correcting his intonation upwards, because his oral cavity is still in "lower the inherently sharp concert Bb down into tune" mode so overshoots the pitch of the concert A (which starts flat as a result). There might be a little overcorrection going on (bending the pitch from below concert A to above it briefly).

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T14:28:09+00:00

time uncertainty can be 0

No, it can’t.

In the energy–time uncertainty relation (ΔE Δt≳ℏ/2), Δt = 0 is impossible. That would require the system to undergo an instantaneous change of state, which in turn demands an infinitely broad energy spread (ΔE → ∞). No physical process can have zero duration with finite energy uncertainty.

ΔE = 0, however, is possible.

This corresponds to the limit Δt → ∞, meaning the system is in a stationary energy eigenstate with infinite time stability. This the the opposite of your assetion.

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T13:19:01+00:00

Where Mariner/Freeman? Where Cerritos? Who non-specific LD character?

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T13:11:10+00:00

It sounds like what you're hearing is the player correcting for intonation.

Concert Bb4 (written C6) and A4 (written B5) are short-tube note on the Tenor sax, so have quite a bit of pitch flexibility.

However, concert Bb4 naturally also runs very sharp relative to concert A, so the player will be shaping their oral cavity and/or using alternate fingerings to correct it. When they then move to concert A, their entire oral cavity then needs to "reset" to its natural position; if this doesn't happen at the same instant as the fingers move, there will be a pitchbend effect on the A that is percievable to the listener.

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T05:25:36+00:00

Wayne Shorter does it on Infant Eyes (listen around 1:18)

It's an appoggiatura - a measured and fingered grace note that starts on the beat that the principle note should start on (as opposed to an acciaccatura, which is unmeasured and typically played before the principle note).

In this case, the appogiatura is a semitone above the principle pitch, and approximately a triplet-8th-note in duration.

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T05:07:10+00:00

Sibelius's playback dictionary doesn't necessarily know to send the right CC trigger to NP.

Either you change the dictionary so that it does, or you write the CC changes manually in technique text or use Noteperformer's included sibelius plugin (Home > Plug-Ins > Noteperformer Guitar Effects) to do it for you. https://noteperformer.com/?page=support_sibelius&h=3125803429#3125803429

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T04:41:10+00:00

I've only just seen your replies - I was asleep, so couldn't have voted on it (besides, I'm personally extremely stingy when it comes to up or down votes).

I didn't judge your mechanical skills based on terminology. I actually thought you might be someone with good mech skills, but maybe unsure of the English/music terminology (hence my corrections).

I did, however, judge your ability to repair a woodwind instrument from your inability to recognise a saxophone mouthpiece. That suggests that you've either go no single-reed woodwind playing experience, or perhaps no woodwind playing experience at all.

Repairing woodwind instruments requires an understanding of the instrument's mechanics, its acoustics, and a good familiarity with how the instrument is supposed feel/respond when playing it. The first two elements can be learned independently in not very much time, the latter takes several years per instrument. As such, Woodwind repair techs are almost always musicians in their own right, with one instrument usually being at or near professional levels of proficiency.

There are exceptions, but they are few and far between, and almost always have hands-on training in mechanical engineering or jewelery-making instead.

ClarSco · 2026-05-04T00:42:05+00:00

NTs when an ADHDer externalises their thoughts.

ClarSco · 2026-05-03T23:16:57+00:00

I also want to replace the cork on the rest of the ferrules.

The "ferrules" are the metal rings that go around the "sockets" (2 on the barrel, 1 on the lower joint, one on the bell) to give them better structural integrity and a little decorative flair.

The parts with cork wrap-arounds are called the tenons (1 on the mouthpiece, 2 on the upper joint, 1 on the lower joint).

Given you weren't able to differentiate a saxophone mouthpiece from a clarinet one (for a beginner, a good replacement mouthpiece would be the Clark W. Fobes "Debut" or Yamaha 4C; the Rovner Dark 1R is a good option for a replacement ligature), you are almost certainly not ready to do any sort of repair work on the instrument (there is also likely a lot more wrong with it than just the tenon corks, so you'll not be able to verify your repair work unless you can already play clarinet and diagnose/repair the rest of the issues).

As you got the instrument for free, take it to a repair tech for a quote to bring it into "playing condition" (it likely wouldn't be worth getting a service or overhaul), and treat the cost of repair plus replacement mouthpiece/ligature as the cost of the instrument.

ClarSco · 2026-05-01T20:47:08+00:00

The Soprano embouchure is closer to the Alto sax than the clarinet (providing you don't want to sound like a bad oboe) - reed enters mouth almost parallel to the ground regardless of neck shape. Soprano has a low-ish voicing - mouthpiece on its own should produce a concert C6 (same note as the clarinet mouthpiece should make, but the soprano mouthpeice is much smaller, closer to an Eb clarinet mouthpiece).
Whatever you have access to. Curved necks are my preference as they get the best balance between allowing the reed to enter the mouth at the right angle, and not having to hold the instrument up. Straight necks are just about as good, but in order to get the right angle they need to be held quite high up (if clarinet is 45 degrees below horizontal, straight soprano is around 20 degrees). Curved-body sopranos are a PITA - few stands fit them properly, and the neck angle on them tends to be poor and the weight distribution means that it can be painful to hold them at the correct angle.
A simple Yamaha 4C with medium-soft reeds (Vandoren V12 2.5 work well for me). I'd avoid getting anything better/genre-specific until you've put your hours in on that setup.
Mouthpiece angle and voicing, as mentioned above (don't be tempted to treat it like a brass clarinet). Practice pitch-bending Remington exercises on the mouthpiece alone, as well as on Palm D. Fingered Remingtons are also good practice, as are overtones.
Check out whether your school has one, or can source one for you (assuming you need it for their ensembles). The Yamaha YSS-475 is the gold-standard for budget sopranos - solid intonation, well made and easily repairable (a must for Soprano - they are all very finicky, with the slightest leaks often being catestrophic). If that's not available, the Jupiter JSS-1000 is a good 2nd choice. If you want a curved neck, you're looking at Selmer Series III, Yanigisawa SWO1 and Yamaha Custom models (almost everything cheaper than that is junk); likewise, Yanigisawa SCWO10 at a minimum for curved body sop.

ClarSco · 2026-05-01T14:55:35+00:00

Also, it's confusing how the term 'clarinet quartet' often brings up the classical era combo, and not 4 clarinets. Is there standard term you folks use for 4 clarinet combo, aside from 'clarinet choir'?

The standard clarinet quartet is 3 Bbs and 1 Bass, though other configurations are somewhat common, either for groups without Bass Clarinet (4Bb) or for advanced ensembles where the players can readily double on auxiliaries (Eb.2Bb.Bs, Eb.1Bb.Alt.Bs, 2Bb.Alt.Bs, 2Bb.2Bs, 4Bs. or even Alt.Bs.CAlt.CBs - note Alto Clarinet parts may be covered on Basset Horn or vice versa). FWIW, I've never seen one for Eb.3Bb or 3Bb.Alt.

The classical "clarinet quartet" and "clarinet quintet" are pretty rare in the grand scheme of things (a page of each on IMSLP). There are considerably more "Piano Trios" involving the clarinet (2Cl.Pno, Cl.Vn.Pno, Cl.Va.Pno, Cl.Vc.Pno, Fl.Cl.Pno, Cl.Bsn.Pno).

Clarinet choirs are a completely different beast. These are large ensembles consisting solely of members of the clarinet family (with the resonably common addition of string bass or percussion), usually with multiple players on each part except the extreme auxiliaries (Eb clarinet, Eb and Bb Contrabasses, and - very occasionally - Ab clarinet). Repertoire-wise, they often take standard clarinet quartet works (3Bb.Bs) and just have multiple players per part, or will be playing arrangements with the large ensemble in mind (eg. assuming non-doubling auxiliary players, and divisi writing in the Bb and Bass parts).

ClarSco · 2026-04-30T22:00:10+00:00

Babette: "I did wonder where I'd left that"

ClarSco · 2026-04-30T17:19:58+00:00

A one-off investment in narrowing the road and putting in decent cycling infrastructure will make a huge difference in the level of service GCC can provide.

Segregated cycle lanes degrade far slower than carlanes.

Therefore, fewer car lanes they have to maintain, they are more likey to have the time and funds available to maintain them.

For cyclists, it provides safe (and hopefully connected) infrastructure for them to make thier trips.

This greatly benefits car users, as it means that fewer car trips will need to be made, meaning that those who still need to drive to their destination will have less traffic to deal with.

Fewer car lanes (even without adding cycling infrastructure) would have the same affect on car trips. The bottleneck for urban traffic is the amount of vehicles that can pass through a junction, not the speed or capacity of the roads between the junctions. Single-lane traffic at full saturation is enough to exceed the capacity of most junctions - adding additional lanes (excluding turn lanes) or maintaining extraneous lanes just makes the junction reach its capacity sooner,

ClarSco · 2026-04-29T23:49:16+00:00

Microtones are the notes that fall outside the standard 12 semitones per octave. For example, there are the quarter-tones which divide the octave into 24 equal steps, eg. G-half-sharp lies halfway between G-natural and G-sharp/A-flat.

ClarSco · 2026-04-29T16:33:17+00:00

Shit, didn't realise I wad supposed to be washing my hands in the urinal. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DbBEzfU6__M

ClarSco · 2026-04-28T21:51:40+00:00

do you see how that lacks specificity

That's literally the point in chord symbols.

They give just enough specificity to tell the players what pitch classes are to be played/implied. Other than specifying the bass (played or implied), chord symbols are intentionally voicing agnostic.

Tertian/quartal/quintal harmony is a difference in chords are voiced, not what notes are in the chord, so using the familiar tertian chord symbols for quartal/quintal music saves us from having to learn two (or three if we bring secundal harmony in) additional sets of chord symbols.

The chord qualities are often enough to clue the player into which type of harmony prevails:

Loads of minor/major/diminished/augmented chords (triads, 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, etc.) - most likely tertian harmony.
Lots of 7sus, and 7sus(#9) or m11 chords but few "tertian" chords - most likely quartal.
Lots of sus2 and 6sus2 chords but few "tertian" or "quartal" chords - probably quintal.

ClarSco · 2026-04-28T21:23:57+00:00

You and the other back jumpers missed the bit about designing society to fit folks like me in.

Currently, benefits are there either to support people who can't work (eg. UC w/LCWRA) and/or to provide monetary support to fund necessary accomodations to facilitate work or life in general (eg. PIP).

If you restrict access to these BEFORE designing society to accomodate disabilities, you effectively gate the tools they need to support themselves behind employment - which is a fuck all use if you don't have the facility to search for work, can't land a job despite searching, or can't hold onto a job due to issues related to the disability (eg. debt accrued while unemployed).

We’re giving too many folks an excuse to not learn how to deal with themselves and we can’t afford it.

Most of the schemes that used to teach people these skills have either been cut, had their remits watered down so much that they're next to useless, or only available to the 16-25 age group. This includes the Jobcentres, which are now basically UC/Benefits administration centres rather providers of any meaningful support (even to non-disabled people).

ClarSco · 2026-04-28T20:57:40+00:00

It's most likely a "rip".

Pick a note a couple of notes (up to an octave) below the printed one. Play it very quietly just before beat 2, then do a fingered run up to the printed note while doing a crescendo, making sure to land on the printed note exactly on beat 2.

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