 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jason M.
Date: 2001-04-02 21:57
For the past several months I've been in the process of overhauling my embouchure without the assistance of a teacher. A difficult and treachorous task indeed. My band director is a brass player, and so he is of little help, other than to tell me "that sounds good," or that doesn't. I have just freed up an afternoon, so I'm going to begin the search for a good teacher soon. In any case, on to my question. I've seen many references on the board to not "biting" as a solution for intonation problems, a problem that I think I am plagued with. My question is how do you adjust your intonation without biting?
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Author: MIndy
Date: 2001-04-02 22:11
Jason,
ok the way I would is: you are biting on your bottom lip right? well.... The way I would try to stop biting would be by opening up. You know how band directors are always tell the brass to open up so you don't get a pinched sound? (at least that is what my bacd director says) WEll just try to open up it is hard but after awhile you will get the hang of it. That is all the advice I can give you I hope it helps you.
Mindy
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Author: Levi
Date: 2001-04-03 04:27
Jason,
An invaluable aspect of developing your sound is listening a lot to recordings of some really good clarinetists. You will find yourself trying to sound like them, and with enough time, you will naturally start to. This is a very natural way to develop your embouchure, of course you will want to get some formal training in the matter as well, but for now, a surprisingly effective way is to simply try to emulate the sound of others.
Best of luck
Levi
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Author: JAZZ
Date: 2001-04-03 05:56
Jason,
This may sound impossible but it works for me.
Try lowering the back of your tongue. Not only does it free up the air flow, but I find that it works my jaw a little, too and gives me a better sound.
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Author: graham
Date: 2001-04-03 11:26
To deal with Jason's specific question about intonation:-
Although it may seem good to be able to adjust intonation using a tighter or slacker emouchure, it is to be avoided if you want to be able to relax and play in tune at the same time. Your key aim should be to play in tune without biting. That comes down to reed/mouthpiece interface as much as thinking about the lip and jaw muscles. You need to look at the whole project taking into account any variable.
Start trying softer reeds, and forcing yourself all the time to keep the jaw open. Experiment with different hardnesses and types of reed.
Think about the ligature. The type can affect intonation. It all depends on how you personally interrelate to that variable. Personally, I play better in tune with an old time metal ligature than with a Rovner type. For you that might be the other way round though.
Next, concentrate on how much you are doing with jaw muscle and how much with lip muscle. Biting is largely a function of the jaw (i.e. too much pressure from the teeth, but with a flabby lower lip sitting on them). Try "dropping" the jaw slightly but thinking of a cushioning support from the lip muscles. This can change the sound spectrum substantially and may help you tweek the tuning as well.
Then think "tongue". The position in the mouth affects tone and tuning. Sometimes pushing the tongue forward in the mouth will flatten some notes. It may not work that way with you, but it is worth experimentation.
It all comes down to balances between all the variables.
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2001-04-03 14:52
One very useful way of improving one's sound is to play very long notes starting from a pianissimo going to fortissimo and coming back to pianissimo.
If you do this in all register, each time trying to keep the intonation and sound consistent then you will improve your sound and embouchure.
As graham said your sound is mostly a combination of the position of your tongue, lips and also your throat. The lips should be firm but not too tight around the mouthpiece and the rest has to always be relaxed.
The advantage of playing a long note at different dynamic levels is that you can analyse your embouchure and visualize the position of the tongue throat and lips.
Using a mirror is also very useful.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-04-04 23:21
Since no one has mentioned it yet, let me suggest at least trying double lip (which I use 100% of the time). Double lip makes it impossible to bite, but that's only one of its benefits. It improves your tone and makes many things possible that can't be done using single lip, such as smoothing the transition from one note to the next and letting you play with more color.
A search on "double lip" will bring up hundreds of postings.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Todd
Date: 2001-04-05 06:07
As MIndy said, try opening up. My teacher has been working with me to lower my jaw while keeping the lips tight around the mouthpiece without biting hard on the MP.I went to a master class last autumn and was told to think of your breathe like you are trying to fog up a piece of glass. This concept opens the throat. These ideas have improved my tone and my intonation.
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Author: Matt S
Date: 2001-04-05 21:42
I am doing the same. Going through Embochure adjustment. Ive learned instead of using your jaw use your cheek muscles and dont bite! My sound has darkened and i can use stronger reeds now and my sound has "opened up"
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-04-06 07:54
1* Too much rolling-in of the lower lip(French clarinetists seem to roll-in almost
none placing softer part of the lower lip inner part on the reed.)
2* Too thick reed for one's embuchure ability(force and controllability).
3* Lack of reed tip symmetrical adjustment(if properly adjusted, thicker reeds can
vibrate easier.)
4* Bad placement of mouth: Keith Stein advises the upper teeth 10mm and lower
teeth 17mm from the mouthpiece tip. He says many people, especially children,
sets the almost the same distance. See his 'Art of Clarinet Playing'.
5* Lack of pushing up of the right thumb making the lip in a wrong position.
6 Too tightly ligature screws are set.
7*Bad placement of mouthpiece direction. Straight is not necessarily the correct
position since the right/left arms are not symmetrically set on the clarinet
relative to the mouth.
8.Too much register cork elevation(all new clarinets. It should be 0.65mm-1.2mm,
If bigger queer subtones occur in throat tones.)
I found these things cause biting(marked *) and bad intonation. Sometimes, I experiment the extreme loose embuchure pressure to nearly squeaking and am astonished I can let my clarinet sound and with smaller resistance and know that I have bited without knowing it myself.
IMHO.
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