Klarinet Archive - Posting 001171.txt from 2000/10

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] strengthening embouchure
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 20:19:48 -0400

One thing that I'm discovering (with my teacher's help) (I'm a
60-yr-old beginner) is that the connection between right thumb and upper
teeth has an effect on embouchure fatigue. If you don't have a firm
connection between your right thumb and your upper teeth, the tendency
is to use your embouchure to 'hold onto' the mouthpiece and to support
some of the instrument's weight. This is tiring, of course, as well as
damaging to your tone and intonation
Embouchure should be used to shape the air flow and to control the
reed only, not to 'grab ahold' of the mouthpiece.
Recently I have begun to understand this in a visceral way -- that
the embouchure can be firm and steady without carrying any of the
instrument's weight. For me, it's not easy to move ahead from merely
*understanding* this at an intellectual level to actually *doing* it.
I draw a parallel to breathing with the diaphragm (instead of the
chest). For some of us, breathing with the diaphragm does not come
instinctually; and if we don't focus our conscious mind on it
continuously, we stop doing it properly and our tone/intonation suffer
as a result.
One of the problems is that the strength of the thumb-teeth
connection is not always obvious even to a skilled instructor. But
still, a good instructor is more likely to spot this problem than you
are to spot it b yourself.
You may want to test yourself (while sitting on a sofa or bed where
you won't damage your instrument if you drop it). If you remove your
thumb without changing your embouchure, does your embouchure still 'hang
on' to your mouthpiece?

And one last thing: My instructor promises me that she runs out
of embouchure strength and chin strength sometimes too. <grin>

Cheers,
Bill

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