Klarinet Archive - Posting 000848.txt from 1997/10

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: excess saliva
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 22:04:22 -0400

I have had several students go through this phase....and it is directly
related to the braces. Because your student is avoiding the amount of
pressure from the corners and upper/lower lips necessary to keep excess
saliva from entering the air stream, it gets in between the reed and
causes the movie "A River Runs Through It" to make an appearance every
time she plays. She will need to find a way to keep equal pressure around
the mouthpiece....you also might see if she is taking too much mouthpiece
into her mouth. Another option might be to move to softer reeds....often
this resolves a great deal of the problem.

Good luck....I am sure others will have suggestions as well.

Roger Garrett

On Tue, 21 Oct 1997, Caryn Siegel wrote:

> Hi. I've been watching this list for a while and want to thank all of
> you for some useful information. I am a MS band director and clarinet
> player/private instructor. I am hoping someone can help. I have a
> beginning student (has been playing about 4 mos) who is having a MAJOR
> problem with excess saliva. From my view, her embrouchure looks pretty
> and the tone is developing nicely. She is using a Vandoren B45
> mouthpiece and Vandoren reeds (2.5). Has anyone else had this problem
> with a student before? Any suggestions? btw, she does wear braces
> (although I have many students who do)
>
> Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance...
> Caryn
>