Klarinet Archive - Posting 000085.txt from 1997/08

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: throat Bb
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 04:33:27 -0400

J. Cohler is probably the chap for this sort of thing. I find it difficult
to analyse what I do myself on this respect - it's a bit like the
centipede working out how to walk. The rule of thumb is "think smile"
to put the pitch up and the converse to bring it down - preferably without
changing the pressure on the reed significantly. If you try to modify pith
by changing perceived pressure on the rees, the tone tends to get nasty
and the end point is that you use a different embouchure for every note.
This may seem desirable if it means you're making the sound you want at

the right pitch for each note, but it's not very practical. As others have
mentioned, you can also use other fingers to change the pitch and tone -
they also come in handy when playing up and down across the break.
No doubt some teacherly person will now shoot all this up..
Roger Shilcock

On Sat, 2 Aug 1997, C Henderson wrote:

> Date: Sat, 02 Aug 97 13:17:26 PDT
> From: C Henderson <chenderson@-----.au>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.us
> To: klarinet digest <klarinet@-----.us>
> Subject: throat Bb
>
>
> Roger wrote:
> > Fortunately, there is a lot you can do with the mouth cavity
> > to change the pitch. I've always thought that if there is *no way* you can
> > produce a reasonable sound on this note, then you should throw away the
> > reed.
>
> Thanks, Roger, you just attacked (by inference) my best and favourite reed! :-) But tell me, could you please elaborate on your other statement about the mouth cavity? What changes can one make, and which changes make the pitch sharper and which make it flatter?
> TIA
> Clare <chenderson@-----.au>
>
>
>