Klarinet Archive - Posting 000282.txt from 1996/10

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Embouchure position in clarinet playing
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 11:33:50 -0400

With all the discussion about this subject of late, I thought it might be
useful to inject a bit of new information.

(All of this is discussed in great detail in the wonderful work by Arthur
Benade, for those of you interested in more reading.)

The reed's resonant frequencies can be adjusted by an experienced player
over a range of roughly 2,000 to 3,000 Hz.

One of the major elements of "centering" your sound, and producing a
"clear", "free blowing" sound is properly aligning the reed resonance with
one of the strong resonance peeks of the air column.

Consider playing a clarion E (frequency 587 Hz). There is only one way to
"center" this note. The reed resonance must be aligned at 4 x 587 or 2,348
Hz. This is the fourth harmonic of the note, and will help to stabilize
(i.e. "center") and strengthen the sound production. Any non-harmonic
alignment of the reed frequency proves detrimental to the sound producing
either a "pinched" or "out of focus" sound. Furthermore, the third
harmonic is 3 x 587 = 1761 Hz which is below the comfortable resonance
range of the reed, and the fifth harmonic 5 x 587 = 2935 Hz is at the very
to top of the range.

Now there are only two variables (assuming a fixed mouthpiece, reed and
ligature) that we can control to effect reed resonance. Those two
variables are amount of pressure and PLACEMENT of pressure. And they
accomplish different things (so you cannot substitute one for the other).

Certainly, it is possible to find an optimal average placement of the
pressure on a reed. And this is of course what we should refer to in
teaching students a nice "stable" embouchure.

Equally as certain, however, is that without some adjustments to the
PLACEMENT, in addition to the amount, of pressure one CANNOT achieve
optimal sound production on all notes of the clarinet.

Is learning this optimal placement difficult? No more so than any other
advanced technique on the clarinet. I wouldn't teach it to a beginner, but
certainly any advanced high school student or above should begin to learn
it.

Can it somehow be detrimental to your playing? Like any new technique, at
first students have difficulty executing and controlling it properly. But
once learned, it enhances your control of sound production immensely
(especially in the areas of legato playing, soft playing, high register
playing, and overall clear sound production).

Is it possible to play the clarinet "well" without moving the pressure
points? Sure, depending on your definition of "well". Certainly, one
cannot achieve the same levels of control (as described above) without it.

However, to those who would advocate this position, I would ask:

What is your reason for limiting your playing capability?
And remember the answer "Well, when I move my embouchure, I have
difficulties," is not a valid answer, as that is a blanket
statement that is true of any new technique being learned.

Same goes for vibrato, circular breathing, double tongueing, ...but that's
a whole other set of discussions.

-----------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net