Klarinet Archive - Posting 000928.txt from 1999/09

From: CmdrHerel@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] sore lips
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 23:52:13 -0400

In a message dated 9/26/99 8:12:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
dlipton@-----.net writes:

<< Don't bite so hard. >>

Hmm... Many flippant answers to a serious question. (At least I'm assuming
these are tongue in cheek.)

Some embouchure styles *require* a lot of pressure, so "don't bite so hard"
is hardly worthwhile advice. Nor is "pain is good."

I've recently increased my practice time as well as switching to a new
mouthpiece that requires more pressure top to bottom. Here's the best piece
of advice I can give you. (Passed on to me through my instructing history.
I tried to avoid it, but dang it, it works where nothing else does.)

Two minutes on, two minutes off.

Yup, play two minutes, do something else two minutes. For practicing,
obviously, not for rehearsals and performances. In this way you can practice
all day long, more or less. I also take longer breaks, say every twenty
minutes to a half hour. At first this is frustrating and you think you're
getting nothing done, but it sure beats the alternative - ruining your
embouchure for the rest of the day, and possibly the next day as well.

The key to it for me was to literally use an egg timer... otherwise two or
three minutes easily gets stretched into five. I couldn't figure out why
this method didn't work untill I actually popped the egg timer on my stand,
and voila! it worked. Go figure...

I've since learned to use the "off" time wisely - great for working on reeds,
reading the "want" ads in the paper (one two-minute break covers this)
clipping pinky nails, and so on.

Try it and let me know if it helps. I also use a wax stuff sometimes over my
teeth called "lip-ease."

Teri Herel

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