Klarinet Archive - Posting 000262.txt from 1996/10

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: odd comments (acoustics)
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 18:12:53 -0400

On Thu, 10 Oct 1996, Weisink E.J. wrote:

> Now the Question: I find that I need to lower my lower jaw when playing
> altissimo notes. Would that mean that this should be the embouchure for all
> notes in all registers, or has each note its own embouchure ?
> My teacher maintains that one should not change the embouchure when playing
> high notes, but I think he means that high notes should not be "forced".

The most common yet subtle obstacle, for players of all levels, in trying
to achieve consistently clean attacks, immediate response, crisp staccati,
full ringing tone, and so many other basic areas of clarinet technique --
is pinching the reed via too much pressure from the jaw. It really is a
deficiency which cuts across all boundaries of age and experience because
the root of the problem is a human one rather than based on narrower
factors.

The essence of making the clarinet do what you want it to do,
when referring to any area dealing with tone production, is facilitate
vibration of the reed via a focused air column. Psychologically, too
many players perceive their embouchures as a device which is supposed to
do some kind of "work", some kind of "job" relative to *compelling* the reed
to vibrate to its ultimate potential. In reality, the embouchure should
be as uninvolved as possible in the process, simply acting as a stable
aperture through which the focused air stream is allowed to pass uninhibited.
In order for this to happen, it must be determined what embouchure
configuration is conducive to consummate vibration of the reed.

My experience tells me that the less upward pressure from the jaw with
which one can play is the optimum point from which to begin shaping and
conditioning the embouchure. It is a gradual process and is much like an
athlete training for a 100-mile ultramarathon (I use this analogy because
my father is an ultramarathoner). The muscles in the embouchure are like
any other powerful muscle in the body and are subject to exercise and
fatigue when playing the clarinet. You would be surprised at how large
and powerful the muscles are in the face, particularly those outlining
the jaw. Conditioning one's facial muscles to *relax* those jaw muscles,
while using the other peripheral muscles to support the embouchure and
air stream, is indeed a great challenge and takes much consistent practice.
And it mandates using the much-referred-to focused air stream to sustain
and substantiate the tone, rather than using any pressure from the jaw to
bring the tone into focus or up to pitch.

The reason I say that this pinching problem is a "human" problem, which
cuts across boundaries of age and experience, is that it pertains to the
umbrella concept of physical relaxation. One can only achieve higher
levels of physical relaxation by invoking the power of the air supply.
If you allow the AIR to do the work of creating and sustaining the tone,
relegating the embouchure to its proper supporting role, then all other
areas of technique are also allowed to operate at their optimum
capacity. Using the air as the primary facilitator, ALL other areas
become subordinate. You are free then to work on tone quality, knowing
that the reed is vibrating at its optimum capacity (taking into account
limitations/shortcomings in the particular reed on which you're
playing). You are free to relax your jaw, your arms, legs, and...your
tongue. Dave Neuman of the San Francisco Symphony can single-tongue
faster than 160. He once made the statement that he believed people
are born either gifted or not gifted with fast tongues. There's no way
to prove this, and true or not, I strongly believe that ANYbody can
increase the speed of their articulation by increasing their ability to
invoke physical relaxation while playing. Use the air, relax the tongue,
explore the possibilities.

Back to air and embouchure. Weisink asked if one should lower the jaw as
a rule for playing in all registers. I say yes. If you fashion your
embouchure and overall playing technique in such a manner that the jaw is
always away from the reed, it is a physical sensation which can be relied
upon every time you play. What remains is to condition the muscles in
the upper lip, in the sides of the mouth, in the lower lip, and in the
chin to exert the minimum pressure needed to create and sustain the
tone using a well-supported and focused air stream. Always put the
emphasis on the air stream, because that is how the sound is initiated
and that is how the sound is controlled and manipulated. One reason the
virtues of double-lip embouchure are so frequently extolled is that it
is practically impossible to pinch the reed when playing that way. The
air is free to flow, and the reed is free to vibrate without inhibition
via upward pressure from the jaw. It's those bottom teeth, pushing their
hard surface into the lower lip, up against the reed, which create such
myriad problems for players of all ages and levels. Many complain that
double-lip embouchure feels unstable, as if the mouthpiece could slip out
of the mouth at any moment. In their negative surprise, they generally
fail to notice another, more objective quality about the sensation. It
is much as if the mouthpiece were *floating* within the embouchure. The
reason it feels so unstable is that the muscles have not been conditioned
to support the physical dimensions of the mouthpiece. Once such conditioning
has taken place using a double-lip embouchure, one is once again free to
allow the air to do all of work and relax all other areas of the body,
thus allowing them as well to operate at their optimum capacities.

I bring up double-lip embouchure not in advocacy, but in illustration of
the "floating" quality to which I referred in the above paragraph. In
double-lip, the upper lip muscles take an equal part in supporting and
cradling the mouthpiece within the physical aperture of the embouchure,
thereby allowing the lower lip muscles to relax and drop. If that
relaxation can be duplicated using single lip, where the lower lip
muscles have been conditioned to relax and drop -- by dropping the
jaw -- the same "floating" quality can be achieved. This is when the
focused air stream is allowed to assume its primary role. This is not to
say the embouchure assumes a mushy quality. What I'm getting at is the
difference between tension versus FIRMNESS. That's where conditioning
comes in. Using the muscles instead of the jaw requires that they be
firm enough, but not tense. It is physically impossible for just the
muscle tissue itself to exert the kind of pressure which would inhibit
vibration of the reed -- unless you play with only the first millimeter
of the tip in your mouth. Beyond that, no amount of pressing inward --
from the upper lip, the sides, or exclusively the lower lip...will result
in the reed being pinched off. Only the jaw does that, because those jaw
muscles, in combination with that hard surface of the lower teeth, can exert
that kind of pressure on the mouthpiece and reed. Again, no amount of pressure
from the lips or sides of the mouth is capable of pinching off the reed.
That's why it's so valuable to condition them to support the mouthpiece,
reed, and air column, rather than invoking jaw pressure in any degree
whatsoever to serve the aforementioned function.

Okay, I've blathered on for long enough. Quesions, flames, and all such
dialectic...come forth. I greet thee with open embouchure.

Neil

   
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