Klarinet Archive - Posting 000446.txt from 1997/02

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Sax/Clar Doubling
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 16:18:05 -0500

On Thu, 13 Feb 1997, Adam Michlin wrote:

> >These players invariably sound like either clarinet players trying to
> >play the saxophone, or saxophone players playing the clarinet.
>
> And, most likely, these players didnt use a good embouchure for either
> instrument.

Absolutely not true. I have heard experienced professional clarinet
players, people with advanced degrees and study with some of the world's
most outstanding clarinet teachers try to play the saxophone with their
clarinet embouchures. One thing I can tell you is that it doesn't work.
The same is true, perhaps moreso, for professional saxophonists,
especially jazz specialists, no matter how advanced technically, who try
to play the clarinet with a saxophone embouchure.

> >As mentioned in a previous post in response to the question which started
> >this thread, the basic formation of the embouchure is similar, but there
> >is a distinct difference in the way that the lip contacts the reed. The
> >saxophone embouchure will have more of a "cushioning" effect.
>
> I'm afraid I'm the one who has to disagree here. "Cushioning" to me
> implies more lip pressure than jaw pressure. This is a bad idea for *any*

"Cushioning" does not mean lip pressure. It means just the opposite. If
there is considerable pressure of the lip against the reed, whether
created by the jaw or the lip itself, the result is a smaller area of
contact between the lip and the reed. This means that there are larger
areas of the reed, both inside and outside the mouth, which will be
vibrating without the player being able to control the degree of
vibration. On the saxophone, the result usually is a thin, pinched sound,
reduced dynamic range, and the exacerbation of the normal intonation
discrepancies of the instrument.

The reason that the clarinet and the saxophone work differently in this
regard is a little difficult to explain, but I'll give it a try. Imagine
a hypothetical single reed instrument. By playing with varying degrees of
embouchure pressure and wind speed, the pitch of any given note can be
varied by an interval ranging anywhere from a semi-tone to a major third
or more. (For the moment, I'm assuming that we can agree that air speed,
air pressure and air volume are interrelated, and directionally
proportional.) Now, if that instrument is no longer hypothetical, but is
a clarinet, most clarinet players will say the the instrument sounds best
when it is played near the top of the range of pitches available for a
given fingering, while saxophonists prefer the sound of their instrument
when it is played nearer the bottom of that range. Let's say that the
spectrum of pitches for that certain fingering is represented by a scale
of 1 - 100. Clarinetists might conceptualize playing at about the point
of 80 on that scale, while saxophonists might prefer to play at about 40,
or even lower.

As we know from the field of acoustics, there are a larger number of
overtones present in the harmonic spectrum a tone played at its nominal
pitch than in the same pitch if played sharp or flat. So, given the
characteristics of embouchure, breath, reed, mouthpiece and instrument
required to produce an in-tune pitch, the tone quality as perceived by
either the player or listener will be dependent on that particular
overtone structure. If the physical characteristics of the sound are
changed due to using an embouchure or breath pressure inappropriate for
that particular setup, the result will not be just a different pitch,
but it will also have a different tonal spectrum.

That's a little about why the clarinet and saxophone are not the same
instrument, and why each one requires a slightly different playing
technique as far as embouchure and breath are concerned.

Ed Lacy
*****************************************************************
Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
*****************************************************************

   
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