Klarinet Archive - Posting 001052.txt from 1998/05

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Help-embouchure!?!?
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 19:24:38 -0400

In addition, his problem is not so much that the embouchure changes w/ the
register as much as it changes with each articulation--clearly a no-no. His
brain has linked movement of the jaw (that he doesn't want) to movement of
the tongue (which you need when, well, tonguing).

The recipe I would use is the exercise to keep tongue pressure down. While
playing a long tone, touch the tongue to the tip of the reed just enough to
muffle the tone BUT NOT STOP IT. It feels a bit like licking a 9 volt
battery--"kind of tingly" is the most common response. The amount of tongue
pressure needed to articulate is only a tiny bit more than that. After
buzzing for a while, the student then slowly articulates the music at
hand--remembering to keep the pressure as light as possible. In Alain's
case, he needs to concentrate on moving the tongue and not the jaw.

The operative word, of course, is S L O W. You can't unlearn bad
articulation habits and develop new muscle memory by hashing through the
Mozart concerto. We're talking quarter notes at 60.

kjf

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Garrett [mailto:rgarrett@-----.edu]
Subject: Re: [kl] Help-embouchure!?!?

On Mon, 18 May 1998 Gary_VanCott@-----.com wrote:

> Alain Codera wrote . . . And my embouchure keeps changing from the low
> register to the high. I know IT SHOULDN'T. . . .
>
> ****
> Didn't we have one of those WWIII arguments about two years ago on this
> subject. I think the sides were:
>
> 1. The embouchure doesn't/shouldn't change.
> 2. The embouchure has to change (even if it is ever so slightly) because
> the reed vibrates differently as you go up or down.

I don't recall a discussion...but it might have been before I got on the
list. I can see how one person's idea of very slight movement could be
interpreted by someone else as too much......but the post Gary has quoted
above implied quite a bit of dramatic movement.......which I would think
we might agree would be the wrong kind of adjustment/movement.

Roger Garrett
IWU

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