Klarinet Archive - Posting 000864.txt from 1997/12

From: Virginia Scarfino <scarfinv@-----.net>
Subj: RE: patches
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 22:40:13 -0500

There was an interesting post that mentioned how the use of a
patch can causing your mouth to feel more open.

I have very sharp teeth, and when I started play a lot of Eb
Clarinet, starting putting something over my teeth all the time.
I used a fairly thick wad of paper at first - but these kept
disintegrating. Eventually I learned about cutting a small
chunk of plastic off a hockey mouthguard, dunking it in boiling
water, and then molding it to my teeth. This has been a cheap
and fantastic solution. I've made a bunch of them and keep them
hidden in a variety of crevices in my clarinet cases and music
bags (since they can be easily lost!).

My favorite one is quite thick - and one of the reasons I like
it is that it really makes me drop my jaw more. If I try to
play without one now, I don't like the sound I make at all.

In the last year I started using a patch, but didn't notice any
difference from it, except that I don't have gouge marks forming
in my mouthpiece any more. But that is probably because I
already have quite an open jaw when I play, and compared to the
difference my tooth guard made to my embouchure the change from
the patch wasn't as great.

Ginny Scarfino
Scarfinv@-----.net
ICQ UIN: 5024871