 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Wayne
Date: 2006-10-01 03:22
I've looked through some older posts on the topic but still need some advice. I find the only time I leak air is when I play in the altissimo region - usually high f and above. I never leak air below. I think I've been doing this for some time now. To me, it makes these notes sound better, less shrill.
Is this a sign that I need a stronger reed ? I usually play on FOF or Rue Le pec 3.5's with a M15 mouthpiece. I've tried 4.0 of both but found them hard to play on. I do this even when playing scales slowly. I guess I'm curious if this is a sign/problem that I should address. I can hit/play the notes without the leak, but the sound just isn't as good. Thanks !
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-10-01 06:23
I don't know if harder reeds will help you, but if 4 was too hard, try 3.75 (GOnzalez make them).
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Author: rgames
Date: 2006-10-01 23:57
The reason it happens is that you need "faster" air for the altissimo region and you just can't put that much fast air through your reed/mouthpiece combination so you have to "leak". I would guess that a more open setup would help but I'm not certain.
However, I think it's important to distinguish between what you hear and what your audience hears. Remember that higher frequencies are attenuated much faster than lower ones (that's why you can tell lightning is close when you hear a "crack" rather than a "rumble") and the "hiss" you hear is a high-frequency sound. So you might hear a noticable hiss but the audience might not. I seem to go in and out of periods of "leaky" embouchure but I've only noticed it on studio recordings where the mic is a few feet from me.
(Does anybody else have to look up the spelling for "embouchure" every time you use it? I guess I just don't write it often enough...)
rgames
____________________________
Richard G. Ames
Composer - Arranger - Producer
www.rgamesmusic.com
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-10-02 00:07
My immediate thought was that perhaps the hiss of the air leak masked some of the shrillness to your ears. But I think this may be related more to the over all pressure you apply to the high notes to get them out. The air leak is coming from the corners of your mouth. Therefore the key is to concentrate on bringing MORE of your upper lip into the equation (that is, use more musculature up there to give you the same effect you have when you leak, but DON'T). In this way you get more support and more seal because the entire area formed by your lips becomes taught around the mouthpiece. Larry Combs always talked about engaging more upper lip for softer and higher passages.
..........Paul Aviles
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Author: Wayne
Date: 2006-10-02 00:31
Very interesting thoughts from all.....
Mr. Ames: I'm not sure what is meant by " faster air ".... I'll check some older threads for further thoughts in this regard. I recently finished (does anybody ever finish ?) going through Baerman III doing most of GBK's scale work. My main goal now is to make sure all registers sound even and sweet. I think I spent so much effort on fingering and smoothly getting the scales under my fingers that I used the air escaping to keep the alt. notes from screaming over all others. It's getting better....
Mr Aviles: I spent some time today simply playing long alt. notes, slowly going through as many slow patterns I could think of - no real music so I could focus on my air and lips. It almost feels that the air is escaping all around my embouchure. Your advice regarding using more upper lip was indeed useful. I find that when I'm really playing the alt. notes " better ", I'm more relaxed and my embouchure is not as tight around the mouthpiece as when I play, say, a middle C. It's an odd feeling, in that I'm purposefully applying more pressure from upper lip, but don't want to overly press the reed into my lower lip. BTW, my wife is unable to hear the air escaping from 15 feet away. I'm not wasting much, but my thinking is why waste any ? Thanks again for the explanations.
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