Klarinet Archive - Posting 000009.txt from 2003/02

From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] double- lipping -- overcoming the "pain" problem
Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 10:51:52 -0500

I'm with Walter on this subject. I learned to play single-lip by playing
double-lip at Gigliotti's suggestion for a period of several months, and to
this day I move back and forth, mostly to "check" my single-lip embouchure.
An ideal oral positioning is, I find, easier to achieve with a double-lip
embouchure, but the same positioning and, hence the same tone, are very
possible with single-lip. The somewhat greater stability of the mouthpiece
in the single-lip embouchure gives it the slight advantage.

The bottom line is that, if someone finds that double-lip improves his/her
tone, the next step might be to try to duplicate everything about it while
holding the upper lip strongly *against* the top teeth and the top of the
mouthpiece, replicating everything about the double-lip position except the
actual contact of the points of the upper teeth on the inside of the lip.

Karl Krelove

> -----Original Message-----
> From: GrabnerWG@-----.com]
> Sent: Saturday, February 01, 2003 8:54 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] double- lipping -- overcoming the "pain" problem
>
>
> In a message dated 2/1/2003 12:40:14 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> gnibbelin@-----.com writes:
>
> >
> > Your mention of the "tonal advantage that D/L players enjoy"
> really hit home
> > with me. I am a re-tread who returned to playing after a 40
> year hiatus.
> > My teacher and I were working on some tone problems when as an
> experiment, I
> > switched to D/L and immediately my tone improved, and I haven't
> returned to
> > single lip since. After using D/L for about a month my tone
> had improved
> > from that of an amateur to a pretty good professional sound.>>
>
> I question the statement that player's who use a double-lip
> embouchure automatically enjoy a "tonal advantage".
>
> Having said that, let me explain that I have experimented with
> double-lip embouchure off and on for 30 years.
>
> A student with a collapsed embouchure - who bites rather than
> supporst - can get a dramatic improvement in tone quality by
> learning to play double lip for awhile. Simply, the double lip
> embouchures encourages the development of lip strength and
> strongly punishes biting - because of the pain involved!
>
> However, there are problems involved in using a double lip
> permanently. One of the problems is that it becomes difficult to
> play while standing due to the fact that the clarinet tends to
> move about more. If you observe a clarinetist who uses a double
> lip embouchure, you will often see him/her gently resting the
> bell of the clarinet on the knee to add a little more stability.
>
> Having said all this, I will also say that I use a double lip
> embouchure almost always now when I play bass clarinet. I will
> also say that I never use it when playing eb clarinet.
>
> Walter Grabner
> www.clarinetXpress.com
> mouthpieces
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>

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