Klarinet Archive - Posting 000228.txt from 2003/08
From: Russell Harlow <lharlow@-----.net> Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpiece patches, stiff upper lip Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2003 19:30:07 -0400
on 8/9/03 1:25 PM, Anne Lenoir at AnneLenoir@-----.net wrote:
> Dear Russell,
> I feel that I am fairly familiar with the benefits of double lip
> embochure, because I did switch to double lip when I was about 16, then
> switched back to single lip when I was 24. In my opionion, it is
> possible to get the same results with single-lip as with double lip. I
> do agree with you, that playing double lip does help you to "open-up" a
> bit, but eventually you do end up getting bite marks on the upper lip as
> well as the lower. I can remember playing a few parades with the
> marching band using double lip, and it was not much fun. As far as Ralph
> McLane goes, he never did stand up to play, that I am aware of. I have
> been told by many people that he always sat.
> Are you 100% comfortable when you have to stand and play? Several of
> my students love to stand up and play at their lessons. I enjoy being
> able to stand with them. I suppose there was a time when I could stand
> and play double lip at my lessons, but I always seemed to get a sore
> upper lip eventually. ANNIE
>
>
Annie:
Most players I know, except for Richard Stolzman and John Yeh sit to play.
David Weber told me he sits and occasionally rests the bell on his knee but
when he played a solo the horn would always comes up. I can't rest the horn
when I play because I find it inhibits freedom. When I studied with Gary
Foster in LA in the 60's he played Dbl lip and told me if I was to play that
way I should never rest the bell on the knee as it changed the embouchure.
The secret I believe is what Harold Wright (who also sat when he played!)
said to me ---you must have a stable mouthpiece with a balanced reed so that
the sound is "there" without having to do very much. He told me never to
play on a reed that doesn't sound good. Many, many times I've wanted to tell
a conductor "I can't play today. The reed doesn't sound good"! McLane did
sit. I have a video of him sitting for a concerto. But he said that he
praticed standing up.
If you play with your teeth on the mouthpiece, no matter how lightly, you
will get scratches. But I have seen mouthpieces that have very large grooves
in them,as I'm sure you have (I almost bit through one myself when I was a
student) and thats the problem. And of course a callus is formed on the
upper lip-that is unavoidable--and when you get tired from playing too long
or an unresponsive reed or marching band (I don't recommend marching with
two lips) it can get sore, but then that happens with single lip. The point
is, you can play double lip without resting the bell for as long as you need
if the lips are developed and you want to. (John Mohler told me the first
time he saw McLane play he said McLanes' embouchure looked like a brick wall
and he thought "I don't think I can bite that hard". Of course McLane wasn't
biting, that was his impression of how the muscles looked.
Perhaps the main point of Dbl lip is that you are forced to develop all the
muscles and then the fingers lighten up and other elements fall into place
as they should. If you can do it with single lip thats great. I find when I
have gone back to single lip my playing can become a bit uneven. So I stay
with it. Double lip is not for everyone but if a student can correct a
problem with it or finds thats the direction they want to go they should be
encouraged. Don't you think? By the way, everyone that studied with McLane
at Curtis had to change to Dbl lip. I guess he was serious.
RH
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