Klarinet Archive - Posting 000213.txt from 1994/07

From: HardReed@-----.COM
Subj: Re: Double lip embouchure.
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 21:00:29 -0400

Keith Stein advocates the use of double lip embouchure as a remedial
technique in the "The Art of Clarinet Playing" book.

I find a mouthpiece "patch" to be very helpful(!) in both damping the
vibrations from the mouthpiece (which go right through the skull!), not to
mention the added security from slip-sliding around the surface of the
mouthpiece with one's teeth. Actually, after over twenty years of doing so,
I find it v-e-r-y difficult to play without one (as in "auditioning"
mouthpieces, for instance)!

If you want to be really technical, a good single lip embouchure is really
utilizing both lips--only the upper isn't tucked over the teeth. I use the
lower lip/teeth/jaw as a sort of fulcrum for the mouthpiece/reed to rest
upon, while my upper lip is what closes and seals around the mouthpiece and
makes the minute adjustments in voicing, etc. Essentially what we have then
IS a double lip embouchure! It's imperative to use the ENTIRE lip muscle
(the lip, technically, is only one circular muscle, I believe).

Kissing is more effective with "both" lips--so is clarinet playing!

Larry Liberson
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
<Hard Reed@-----.com>