Klarinet Archive - Posting 000285.txt from 1996/07

From: Karl Krelove <KClarinet@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Lips
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 22:44:17 -0400

Roger Shilock wrote:
>>Does anyone play single-lip on the *bass* clarinet? I found the buzz
>>through my teeth was more than I could bear...

I have used both double and single lip embouchres on bass (as well as regular
soprano) clarinet. I tend to use the double to set my single lip position,
which I find works best when I imitate as exactly as I can the double lip
feel after I let my upper lip out from under my top teeth. One thing I have
never been able to do since my teen years, because of that "buzz through my
teeth," is to play single lip without a rubber patch on top of the mouthpiece
where my teeth go (on any instrument including sax). Whenever I have to play
on a student's horn without a patch (some of my students just don't like
them), my upper lip almost instinctlively tucks under. Have you tried putting
a patch on your mouthpiece and playing single lip? It will solve the feeling
that the thing is "falling out of your mouth after a long spell of playing"
while at the same time maybe preventing the buzzing teeth.