Klarinet Archive - Posting 000302.txt from 1996/10

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Embouchure position in clarinet playing
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 20:41:27 -0400

On Fri, 11 Oct 1996, Jonathan Cohler wrote:

> 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.

John follows the above statement with further scientific data concerning
nodes and pitch frequencies and resonance cutoff points and such. I've not
seen any responses to his recent posts which engaged him specifically in
terms of his technical discourse -- most likely because very few of us
really understand how the data relate to our desire to improve as players.
Physicists and acousticians on the list may very well be nodding their heads
in favorable observation of scientific principles being used to explain
phsyical phenomena -- and indeed, it is invaluable for those with a desire
to understand *why* nodes and frequencies and resonance cutoff points affect
our playing. But when talking about improving one's abilities as a
clarinetist, I suspect more interest is directed toward clarinet-specific
experience and terminology, offering understanding of *how* to play better,
as opposed to why it works in narrow scientific terms.

For those clarinetists on the list who also understand wave theory and the
physics of sound production, John's comments probably make perfect sense
and might even help a few of them answer questions about their own playing.
But for the rest of us, John, can you offer us information based more on your
personal experiences...how experience of your own growth process and
physical sensations informed you in the direction of arriving at your
present level of playing excellence? Or did you really learn clarinet by
consciously applying physical scientific principles to your daily
practice regimen as a student? We want to tap into your knowledge and
experience, but we also want to understand what you're saying. Help!

> 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).

I won't attempt to contest this statement, because I can neither prove
nor disprove its validity. I simply don't know enough about the physics
(or the relevance, for that matter) of "reed resonance" to digest what
has been written above. I'll just assume it is correct and try to
add something more to it. My own experience of achieving optimum reed
response and clarinet tone -- and thus, flexibility in all areas of tone
production -- involves determining on a per-reed basis the lowest
possible contact point between the reed and my lower lip which will
still allow me to produce a controllable tone. As I stated in a recent
post, emphasis on the embouchure as some kind of device for *producing*
tone is a mistake (John does not say this, but he also makes no mention
of certain other highly germane elements of tone production). I believe,
based on my own personal results, that formation and conditioning of the
embouchure should be undertaken contingent upon allowing a focused air
stream to initiate and manipulate the quality of tone. The embouchure
muscles need to be conditioned and well-developed, without question,
because their primary function is to facilitate, via the air stream, free
vibration of the reed. Where many students perceive the embouchure
muscles as things which press inward upon the reed and mouthpiece, I
suggest that merely the lips and sides of the mouth should exert any
pressure, and the surrounding facial muscles -- and jaw bone -- should be
conditioned to relax, allowing the air stream to do the "work". Much
like conditioning the diaphragm muscle to push downward and outward when
playing -- which is in direct opposition to how it is designed to naturally
*contract* -- one should endeavor to condition the facial muscles to
relax rather than push purposefully inward against the mouthpiece and
reed. Once the muscles have been toned and conditioned to relax,
attention should focus on the delicate vibratory sensations detectable
(very acutely) by the lips alone, in combination with manipulating the *air
stream* when attempting to manipulate tone and response.

How does one bring all of this mumbo-jumbo to fruition? Drop the jaw --
open the mouth with the embouchure intact on the mouthpiece -- as far as
you possibly can. In fact, even before involving the embouchure, start by
opening your mouth as wide as you possibly can, in an "ahhhh" formation,
as if you had just won the lottery and were registering the surprise on
your face (no need to open the eyes wide, in this case). With your jaw
fully extended downward like this, one of the first things you notice is
that the sides of the mouth are automatically pulled taut and inward toward
the center. What you also notice, if you're looking in a mirror, is that the
chin is wonderfully, perfectly flat -- and if you merely curled the lower
lip inward a little bit while keeping your mouth wide open, you would
have a picture-perfect lower half of your embouchure. In other words,
make an "oh" with your lips while your mouth is still wide open.

Having performed the above, close your mouth again and relax a little.
Breathe perfectly normally throughout the following exercise, through
your nose when necessary. Now, with your clarinet assembled and your
mouthpiece attached (including a reed), do the following: Open your mouth
-- not all the way this time, but enough that you can insert the mouthpiece
without making any contact with your lips. Now insert the tip of the
mouthpiece into your mouth normally -- as if you were about to play -- and
simply enclose the mouthpiece with your lips *without_exerting_ANY_muscular_
_pressure_whatsoever* from the lips, the facial muscles, or the jaw. Your
whole face should be completely relaxed, such that the lips are merely in
contact with the mouthpiece, enclosing it with a light seal. In this
configuration, now drop the jaw like you did before -- as open as you
possibly can -- while keeping the embouchure on the mouthpiece. With the
mouthpiece in the mouth, and the jaw dropped all the way, form an "oh" or
an "ooh" -- with the LIPS. Remember, no tension or flexion of the facial
muscles at any point -- just the lips. You may find, when you drop the
jaw, that the lower lip comes off of the mouthpiece. What this tells you
is something you already knew: the jaw is able to drop to such an extent
that the lower lip can be pulled _completely_off_of_the_reed by dropping
the jaw. This piece of information is important because it demonstrates
that the embouchure can be in contact with the reed without any pressure
from the jaw whatsoever. This is what you're shooting for. The way to
achieve it is just like I explained: Form the embouchure and then drop the
jaw as far as you can, to the point immediately before the lower lip
comes off of the reed. Now say "oh" with the lips while still pushing the
jaw downward, and voila: you've achieved the perfect embouchure. What's
left is conditioning and strengthening the facial muscles in this
position, in addition to learning how to create and sustain a focused air
stream. Then you have to combine the two elements, which is an even
greater challenge.

Think of the facial muscles and embouchure in analogous terms to how you
should also understand use of the air supply: It doesn't take very much air
at all to initiate vibration of the reed. Beginning students, who have no
concept whatsoever of what it means to support or focus an air stream, equate
volume of sound with the volume of air being released into the mouthpiece. An
advanced player capitalizes on the power of the diaphragm -- NOT by using this
powerful muscle to force more air into the mouthpiece, but by sustaining
abdominal pressure which, in turn, sustains a continuously forward-directed
air stream from the lungs, through the wind pipe, into the oral cavity,
and across the reed into the clarinet. By developing the diaphragm's
strength and ability to sustain and support an air stream, one is able to
use an increasingly *smaller* quantity of air to produce *greater* volume
for longer periods of time. How? If the air is produced under constant
pressure from the diaphragm, there must be another way to regulate its
velocity, such that it can be used to manipulate reed vibration and
response. When you run water through a garden hose, diminishing the
opening of the hose with the tip of your finger causes the water to rush out
faster, while less of it seems to be escaping at the same time. You can
do that with your air as well, by manipulating the throat, tongue, and oral
cavity such that the air which does escape is focused prior to reaching
the embouchure. That's the key to using the diaphragm as a SUPPORT
device, rather than using it as a FORCE device. You use it only to
pressurize the air, while using other "body parts" to manipulate the
otherwise unfocused (but supported) air stream before it reaches the
embouchure.

This idea of support vs. force applies to the embouchure itself. If you
use the concepts from the previous paragraph analogously, you can equate
the lips with the air stream, and the surrounding facial muscles with the
diaphragm. The lips are the only part of the face which are in any
contact with the reed and mouthpiece. Again, no upward pressure from the
jaw pushing the lower teeth into the lower lip. The jaw is pushed
downward as far away from the reed as possible without actually
disengaging the lower lip. "But then how does the embouchure support the
air stream and vibration of the reed?" The lips themselves aren't very
strong. But those surrounding muscles -- in the sides of the mouth,
above the upper lips, and *especially* in the chin and outlining the jaw --
are quite strong. Think again about the air. If just the lungs and chest
are used to blow air into the mouthpiece, it's a feeble stream of air at best.
But by invoking the power of the diaphragm, you are able to bolster the
force and velocity of the air stream dramatically without any additional
strain on the chest or lungs (beyond breathing deeply and filling them up
with air, of course). While the lips are not powerful, you can use the
surrounding musculature to lend the necessary support in order to support
the air stream and reed vibration. And it takes practice. You have to
practice *using* those muscles, invoking them by making yourself refrain
from using the jaw, making sure that only the lips are exerting pressure
on the mouthpiece. As I said in a previous post, there is absolutely no
way the lips, by themselves, can exert the kind of pressure which could
possibly inhibit vibration of the reed. And something I failed to
mentioned earlier in the exercise concerning opening your mouth wide: it
obviously increases the volume of your oral cavity. This gives the
tongue room to position itself for optimum articulation, and for optimum
flexibility when focusing the air stream.

> 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. >

I partially disagree with this notion and, in essence, I believe I also
disagree with its fundamental assertion. Something I stated earlier in
this post was with respect to placement of the lower lip on the reed. My
very successful practice has been to determine, on a per-reed basis, the
lowest possible contact point between my lower lip and the reed, which
will still enable me to produce a controllable tone in all registers, given
my ability to manipulate the air stream and the very subtle pressure
modulations from my embouchure. I take in a commensurate amount of
mouthpiece in order to accomodate how low on the reed I go. Regardless
of mouthpiece and ligature considerations, it is a very simple matter to
determine how much reed can be taken into the mouth before it is
impossible not to squeak -- assuming the reed is not prone to squeaking
as a design flaw. I look for that point and then place the lower lip
just above it on the reed. I've effectively discovered the lowest
fulcrum point, where the greatest possible amount of reed is vibrating,
subject now simply to minute adjustments of embouchure pressure and air
stream focus in order to manipulate the sound and make music. Any
adjustments of embouchure are with respect to pressure only (and are of
the smallest and most delicate degree), for I do not modulate the contact
point between my lower lip and the reed in question. When I take a
breath during performance, I've already memorized how much mouthpiece to
take in and know exactly where to replace my lower lip. If you were to
watch my embouchure during peformance, you would see practically no
movement whatsoever, and certainly no adjustment of placement on the reed.

> However, to those who would advocate this position, I would ask:
>
> What is your reason for limiting your playing capability?

What I've discovered is that by determining a given reed's greatest
potential for vibration prior to uncontrollabe squeaking, I've
effectively eliminated the reed as a variable and have made it part of
the "control" in the grand clarinet playing "experiment" each time I
play. I achieve the greatest possible range in dynamics and expression for
that given reed by giving it the greatest opportunity to produce sound within
its potential. The rest of the adjustments come from me, where my ability to
adjust air stream focus, velocity, and volume -- in addition to infinitesimal
modulations of pressure from my lips -- facilitate every manner of
expressive capacity on the instrument.

> 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.

I used to adjust position on the reed, and then I discovered how powerful
and flexible my air could be...and the embouchure eventually just became a
fixed yet facile aperture which allowed the air to do the work almost
entirely by itself.

Neil