Klarinet Archive - Posting 000720.txt from 2002/04

From: MVinquist@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Embouchure question
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 06:51:24 -0400

Suzanne Stanton asks about Keith Stein's description of embouchure, where he
says "Keep the red of the lower lip turned outward. Never allow it to roll
inward and be lost."

I studied with Keith Stein at Interlochen many years ago. His idea was to
point your chin downward, stretching everything tight from your lip down to
the tip of your chin. He called this a "neat, dressy" embouchure. In this
context, he said that only about half the red part of your lower lip should
go over your teeth. The rest is stretched down outside your teeth. If you
let more than half the red part of your lip get inside your teeth, it muffles
the sound.

As for the "O" shape, you know from reading Stein's book that he strongly
advocated the use of double lip, with equal pressure from all directions. He
could twist the clarinet almost 90 degrees in his embouchure without changing
his sound.

It only seems like a contradiction to stretch your chin tight and still
support the reed and mouthpiece from all directions, including the bottom.
The solution is that when you build up your embouchure muscles, they provide
the support.

I've found that I can change the amount of high frequency energy in my sound
by varying how much of the red part of my lower lip is inside my teeth. If I
need to project, I point the tip of my chin down harder and pull perhaps 2/3
of the red part of my lower lip outside my teeth. To keep out of someone
else's way, I roll 2/3 of it in. This makes no change in volume -- just
frequency distribution.

In the long run, you do what works for you. Most professionals keep the area
stretched pretty flat, but pictures of Robert Marcellus playing show an
intermediate position, not bunched but not stretched tight, either. Stanley
Drucker plays with his chin bunched up -- exactly what Stein tells you to
avoid -- but he's very much the exception.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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