Klarinet Archive - Posting 000420.txt from 2002/06

From: w7wright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] "Buzzy" sound ...
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 12:06:28 -0400

<><> Joseph=A0Wakeling wrote:
when played loud in the upper register, there was a horrible "buzzy"
sound at loud dynamic levels, rather like some high frequencies being
too prominent in the sound. [snip] Any suggestions

Other than consulting with a competent instructor who see and hear you
while you play;

A common recommendation is that everybody's anatomy (and mouthpiece) is
different, and the solution is therefore different in each case. So
you need to do some experiments with an eye toward slight exaggerations
thereof, and listen to the results.

Example: make your embouchure rounder. Then make it even more round.
Get a feel for how far is "too far'. Then go in the other direction
--- flatter, and then even more flat.

Try other things in the same way, such as dropping or raising your jaw,
flattening or bunching your chin, putting more or less of your lip over
your teeth, tightening and loosening your entire face. The goal is to
get a 'feel' for the effect of each.

There are other possibilities besides embouchre. Think about focusing
or shaping your air stream so that it moves less turbulently through the
mouthpiece. Also about raising or lowering your tongue in order to
affect air speed. Imagine blowing *through* the mouthpiece all the way
down to the bell, rather than blowing 'into' or 'onto' the reed.

It's a long list !!

You may've noticed that I didn't mention one particular embouchure
issue: how much of the mouthpiece do you take into your mouth? I
catch myself taking more and more of it into my mouth as the weeks pass,
until suddenly everything falls apart for me. Then I force myself to
place my teeth and lips back at the tip where (for me) they work the
best.

And what about your reed's position? Try placing the tip of your reed
just a smidgeon closer or farther from the tip of your mouthpiece.
Have you focused your attention on how tight or loose your ligature is?

Cheers,
Bill

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