 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dawn Anthes
Date: 2000-11-17 14:28
Hello everyone, I need your advice.
I used to be quite a good player (advanced college level), but for a number of reasons I ended up not playing much at all for about 2 years. I recently have started practicing seriously again, and *ugh* I have no embouchure left! I sound horrible, and it is so hard to play. I'm not suprised really, but I am a bit sad about it.
I have two questions:
1. I am having great difficulty with air leaks out of the corners of my mouth, which I never had before in my entire life. What are the possible causes and solutions to this? (Obviously you all can't see or hear me play, so I'm looking for any suggestions as to what might cause this.) Taking in too much mouthpiece? Taking in too little mouthpiece? Reed too hard/embouchure too weak? Not enough air?
2. Has anyone else done this sort of thing before where they try to completely rebuild there embouchure from scratch after not playing for a while? How long did it take? If I'm doing a good hour or more of practicing a day how long might it take me? (I understand that this might vary from person to person, but I'm just looking for a ballpark figure.)
It's a bit depressing because I live with a guitarist who doesn't understand the delicacy of an embouchure, and doesn't quite understand the concept that it's possible that I could have once sounded wonderful, and now sound bad because I didn't practice regularly, and that it could take awhile to recover what I had. As he said the other day after listening to me practice for about a month: "so, like, have you gotten any better yet?"
*sigh*
Thanks,
-Dawn
BTW- I'm a bass clarinetist mainly, but I'll take advice concerning any size of clarinet.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-11-17 14:58
It will probably take a couple of months to rebuild your embouchure. It's like any other group of muscles. Also you might consider dropping down to a slightly softer reed than you were accustomed to before you stopped. Hard reeds are very fatiguing. Another thing would be to consider taking lessons for awhile to make sure that your embouchure is correct and that there are no other problems. Have you had your instrument checked out? By the way, my lapse in plyaing was over 20 years. It does come back.
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Author: brianp
Date: 2000-11-17 15:37
Dawn,
I echo what Dee has said. My hiatus lasted about ten years. I got motivated about two years ago to get my horn overhauled and start playing again. It was depressing at first. My old high school clarinet teacher who has become a good friend since advised me when I started to "go easy on yourself" and when you start getting tired, even after a short while, put the horn down, take a rest and come back later. That can be frustrating as hell, especially when you probably were used to going a lot longer. Find a group to play with too. A community band in my home town was great motivation and definitely helped to build up endurance.
It's been about two years for me. By and large, I'm quite pleased with my progress. I'll probably never reach a point where I was before, but then my motivations at this point in my life are much different than they were in high school and college.
Good luck. Go easy on yourself and above all else, enjoy.
Regards,
Brian
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Author: Anji
Date: 2000-11-17 20:03
I wonder if the the arch described by your front teeth may have also changed.
The mouthpiece shape will greatly effect the seal made by the upper lip.
Larry Guy has a great book on the formation and maintenace of a quality embouchure, these may be good references.
When was the last time you heard a guitar play with an orchestra? Who can hear them, anyway? You would think a serious player would be more supportive of your efforts.
Anji
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Author: SusieQ
Date: 2000-11-17 20:28
Hi Dawn,
If you really want to get a good embrochure back work on the Bb soprano once you get that built up it will carry over to the bass clarinet. I too mainly play the bass clarinet and have a pretty good bc embrochure, but my soprano embrochure stinks. I really struggle to get a good tone on the soprano since it requires a tighter embrochure. Hope this helps.
SusieQ
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Author: connie
Date: 2000-11-17 21:59
I'm another who started again after a 20+ year LOA. It took me about 6 months, but I can only manage about 3 hours of practice a week. My air leak is/was from poor muscle support around the corners of my mouth. I've been playing with a community band now for 2 years, and loving it. Even my husband has noticed the improvement in my mood. Tell your guitarist to cut you some slack--he'll be happier in the long run.
Good luck, hang in there, and have fun!
p.s. What would his fingers feel like if he started playing on steel strings after a 2 yr hiatus?
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Author: steph
Date: 2000-11-18 05:42
Try closing off the flow of air by pulling the corners of your mouth towards the center of the mouthpeice.
I began taking lessons after about 15 yrs of non playing.
I play in a community band and began taking lessons after 1yr with the band. I had the same embouchure problem you mentioned. I am currently taking lessons and have been reworking the embouchure since late August (about 3 months) lessons really helped because its hard to figure out what to do on your own. Maybe a few refresher lessons for you would help. I practice 1 to 1.5 hrs 4 to 5 days per week. My tone and playing are much improved and more as I sounded in college.
Best of luck
Gotta love clarinet to play it ! !
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Author: Dawn Anthes
Date: 2000-11-18 13:48
Thanks for the advice and encouragement everyone!
: )
In defence of my guitar playing friend, he's the one that pesters me and encourages me to practice everyday. I'd sometimes let my obligations eat up all my time otherwise, and not get to practice every day. He just didn't understand why it takes so long to build up the embouchure muscles since he doesn't have to blow through anything to get his sound.
Thanks again,
Dawn
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Author: Ken Rasmussen
Date: 2000-11-19 05:48
I'd suggest really short, really frequent practices with a slightly soft reed at first. Play slow lyrical bits and really labor over the quality of sound. Stay with short practices and go to a normal stiffness reed and maintain good sound quality. Increase the length of practice time last.
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