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Clarinet A and Bb notes.

I'm teaching myself Clarinet again after a long layoff. I have been meticulously going through an "Essential Lessions" instruction book and have been making reasonable progress reading and playing in the lower register the past several weeks.

Today I pick the clarinet up to practice a simple piece that emphasizes the A and Bb, looking to improve on these notes as they play thin and always seem on the edge of just breaking up. Today, they break pretty badly for me.

Squeek! Squeek! - all over the place trying to do anything with the notes. I finally figured out that my embouchure had gone out as I had practiced my sax the day before. My angle was good, but the sides of my mouth were applying the wrong pressure. After fixing it, I was playing better.

are these notes typically problematic?
 
They're generally considered "stuffy." That is, if you're talking :TrebleClef::Space2: and :TrebleClef::Line3:

Does make me wonder if the A isn't adjusted properly or you have a leak/crack near there, particularly if you don't have a problem with anything else.
 
Ah yes, the dreaded throat notes. As Pete indicated they are a challenge for all players. Mostly time on the instrument will help. But you will learn to hate and curse those notes even more as time goes on. They are part of the challenge that makes one respect a good player all the more. Least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
 
You can improve the tone (and possibly intonation) by covering various combinations of holes when playing those throat tones. For Bb the best fingering is A key plus the 2nd from the top of the RH trill keys (I call them the "ladder" keys). I use this all the time, and at times abuse the fingering as it is difficult to go from that Bb to a note requiring the RH. But, it turns the worst note on the instrument into one of the nicest.
 
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