Klarinet Archive - Posting 000605.txt from 2000/08

From: EbKlarinet@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Re: different embouchures for different size horns
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 00:57:20 -0400

In a message dated 8/20/00 4:16:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, F.S. Sterns
writes:

<< I use virtually the same embouchure for both bari sax and bass
clarinet, which some observers find almost unbelieveable.
Yet...truthfully...it works for me. I find this "hybrid" approach gets me
low notes on the bari sax at pp with no difficulty as well as solid, nice
sounding second and third registers on the bass clarinet. Not "logical"
perhaps by some standards...but it works.
>>

I use virtually the same embouchure for all the single reed instruments I
play, except that I have to put more mpc in for the larger horns, of course,
and I have been known to puff my cheeks out on bass clarinet in the low
register when asked for fff from a composer. There is also a very slight
dropping of the jaw for the lower instruments, but this does not look
different on the outside, and the muscles are still doing their usual work.
I also find that the more I concentrate on 'low air', the better I do on the
lower instruments. For instance, on bari I absolutely have to use my back
muscles on every breath to get a decent sound. However, my embouchure feels
almost the same as if I were playing clarinet.

What does change from horn to horn is my voicing, that is to say, the shaping
of the air column by use of the back of the tongue and the 'pillars of the
foci', to use a singers' technical term for the sides of your throat in the
back near your soft palette. The voicing is different for every single horn,
with the possible exception of the Bb/A switch. The standard voicing
position for the soprano clarinets is 'eeee'; 'ay' for the low clarinets,
with 'a' as in 'cat' in the upper register; saxes are 'ahh' or 'awww' or even
'haawwh' or 'huh' for bari in the low register.

When introducing my clarinet students to the low clarinets or saxes, I
concentrate on the voicing difference, as well as the extra amount of mpc and
the jaw drop. This works very well, and all of the kids can play the horns
the first try. I am also able to teach my sax students to go all the way
down to low Bb this way in their first year of band, instead of waiting until
they're older. It helps to have them think of the 'low breath' when playing
larger instruments, but then, I am always after them to do that on the
soprano too!

Elise Curran

---------------------------------------------------------------------
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