Klarinet Archive - Posting 000978.txt from 1999/10

From: David Glenn <notestaff@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] should the embouchure move?
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 15:01:07 -0400

LeliaLoban@-----.com schrieb:

> I very much do not want to stand in the crossfire between the big daddy and
> big mama professional dragons who are no doubt chewing up charcoal and
> drinking lighter fluid right now -- Tony, I sure hope you remembered to wear
> the armor with the asbestos lining today -- but FWIW coming from an amateur,
> while I don't do a lot of wobbling around with my jaw, I do try to "color"
> notes with embouchure changes. Aside from the whole issue of coloring the
> notes, though, I also loosen the tension on the lowest notes. I think of it
> this way instead of thinking of tightening on high notes because for me, the
> difference comes mainly from written G below the staff, on down. Especially
> when playing a long sustained note, I think I hear a broader range of low
> partials (richer tone, "warmer" tone, etc.) with a looser embouchure.
>
> Someone asked if sax is different. It may vary from one brand of instrument
> to another. My saxes were all built in the 1920s and earlier, with
> now-obsolete keywork. Most have the D vent (which I don't cork shut) and all
> have the split bell, with the B on one side and Bb on the other. Your
> mileage many vary, especially with a modern sax, but FWIW: My experience has
> been that the larger the sax, the more I need to loosen up for low notes,
> mainly from low D on down (the fingering for clarinet third line D in the
> clarion register). If I were determined to keep an immovable embouchure, I
> could expect trouble getting the note out from low D on down on everything
> except my King Saxello, an oddball semi-curved soprano. My Saxello (an early
> one, "Pat. Pending," with a 1924 serial number, before the official year of
> introduction) behaves almost exactly like a clarinet. I've heard that other
> soprano saxes are different, but this is the only one I've ever played. My
> normal clarinet embouchure works fine on it and I can even use a fixed
> embouchure on it if I want to (although I don't want to) -- again FWIW. It
> may only mean that I play Saxello as crappily as I play clarinet. ;-)
>
> For me, the bass sax won't play all the notes with a fixed embouchure. The
> bass sax requires a grossly loose embouchure to begin with and a huge amount
> of mouthpiece in the mouth. "Warm air" is never optional for me on bass sax
> -- I'm physically incapable of supplying "cold air" to a mouthpiece that
> thick. For the notes that use the keys on the bell, I need an *even looser*
> pressure that I can only get by dropping my jaw somewhat. If I forget to
> loosen up on those notes, I get "John Cage solos," while if I keep the
> embouchure that loose much above low D, I play flat, and if I keep it that
> loose above the octave break, I squeak. (Well, on a bass sax, it isn't
> really a squeak. It's more of a goose honk.) However, the tolerances are
> very crude on bass sax. Within the limits of embouchure for adequate tone
> production, it's still possible, in fact easy, to bend the pitch a full tone
> and a half, down and up, at almost any point in the range, just by loosening
> and tightening the lower lip and jaw (as if you were trying to say "aw, eee,
> aw, eee" although I defy anybody who doesn't have a gullet like the Lincoln
> Tunnel to send a genuine, certifiable "eee" into a bass sax mouthpiece).
>
> [Lelia dives over the firewall and flattens down in the trench.]
>
> Lelia
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Have to agree with your experience on the bass sax. In addition, it seems to need
alternate fingerings on every third note. I wonder why actually... It's not
nearly so extreme for me on the bass clarinet.

David

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org