Klarinet Archive - Posting 000191.txt from 2003/09

From: "Noel Taylor" <r.n.taylor@-----.uk>
Subj: RE: [kl] embouchure
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 13:26:01 -0400

Noel Taylor originally wrote:

> it would appear that my own tongue position
> is more or less standard for the double lip
> technique

about the web page at

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/5825/embouchure.htm

and Ormondtoby Montoya responded:

Tongue position is controlled in significant part by the size of your =
tongue
and the geometry of your oral cavity (including your teeth). This is one =
of
the dangers of dividing things into 'categories' with
boundaries that (allegedly) shouldn't be crossed. Do all (say) French
clarinetists have the same size of mouth, teeth, and tongue?

********* My response:

Well, of course that requires no answer, but I don't think the web page
implies that, and if I inadvertently implied it by using the word =
'standard'
about my own embouchure I apologise. I just wanted to suggest that I can
find an accurate description of my own style (and approximate tongue
position) in this article whereas recent postings have left me confused =
as
to whether or not I have fallen into bad (clarinet) habits over many =
years
and need to adjust.

I think the web page (by 'StarlightExpress', whoever that might be) =
suggests
that the position of the tongue is also conditioned by the type of
embouchure adopted by the player - I suspect 'StarlightExpress' would
readily agree about the importance of "the size of your tongue and the
geometry of your oral cavity (including your teeth)". Because this =
subject
is the area I have found confusing in recent posts to the list, I =
wondered
if there might be something useful, however overly rigid, in the =
approach
taken by StarlightExpress (along with those hilariously gruesome =
drawings,
as Forest pointed out).=20

I suppose the question I really want to ask is whether there is, on =
average
and making allowances for other important variables, an observable trend
towards a difference in the position of the tongue when different =
embouchure
techniques are deployed.... if the answer to that is 'yes' then I think =
the
article has something to offer me that I didn't come across elsewhere, =
but
if the considered opinion of the list is 'no' then I'll just wait for
enlightenment to strike at a later date.

thanks for the various responses

Noel Taylor

=20

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