Klarinet Archive - Posting 000583.txt from 2003/04

From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] embouchure problems
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:38:39 -0400

To the extent her mouth is tense (inside or out) and inflexible, these are
more likely contributing to her pinched sound than anything else. Double lip
can teach a student to approach the reed with more internal opening, provide
more evenly distributed control around the entire mouthpiece/reed and
enable more flexibility in the way the mouthpiece is held. But, like
anything else, it's more difficult (not impossible) to describe clearly to a
student, especially a young, inexperienced one, if you for some reason
haven't directly experienced it.

If the embouchure muscles and those controlling the tissues in the mouth and
throat are tense and rigid, a pinched sound is often the result. Before I'd
try to teach the student double lip (especially as you don't feel
comfortable with it yourself), I'd try to listen very analytically to her
sound, look very carefully at her existing embouchure, ask her a few
specific questions about what the parts of her embouchure feel like when she
plays and try to find out where the source of tension is. Sometimes changes
we suggest as teachers fail to help and even seem to make things worse. This
can be either because the suggested changes don't really get at the basic
problem or because the student misunderstands us and winds up tenser than
before in the attempt to comply.

Good luck with this student. "Rome wasn't built in a day." Sometimes it
takes some trial and error to get an improvement. The good thing is that
with your guidance she will doing her experimenting in a systematic way with
immediate feedback from you based on your experience.

Karl Krelove

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Buckman, Nancy [mailto:nebuckman@-----.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 1:01 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: RE: [kl] embouchure problems
>
>
> Her sound still has that pinched sound that most young clarinet
> players have until they point their chins and get all the excess
> lip off the reed.
>
> Nancy
>
> Nancy E. Buckman, Technical Assistant
> School of Health Professions, Wellness and Physical Education
> Anne Arundel Community College
> Arnold, MD 21012-1895 USA
> Phone 410-777-2316 Fax 410-777-2233
> E-mail nebuckman@-----.edu
>
>
>
> -
>
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>
>

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