 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2026-06-26 12:30
In one of his excellent youtube teaching videos, the young Swiss player Fabian Hügli, suggests puffing your cheeks out slightly when you're playing. Now, this goes against everything I was taught and have taught over my long playing career. As I strive to be broad-minded and realize that technical approaches change, I tried it . ...couldn't do it and didn't see the point. Your thoughts on the matter, my friends!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2026-06-26 13:56
There are some German professional oboists who also do this - it's not a good look.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repairer
Single and Double Reed Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2026-06-26 20:57
Somewhere on this Board it was put forth that allowing your cheeks to protrude a bit can make double tonguing better. I'm not sure about that either.
I don't think it actually influences anything one way or the other, BUT if you are going to develop circular breathing technique (breathing in while using a short spurt of air trapped in your oral cavity) then you'll need to be comfortable with it.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: brycon
Date: 2026-06-26 22:43
Quote:
Somewhere on this Board it was put forth that allowing your cheeks to protrude a bit can make double tonguing better. I'm not sure about that either.
It was Liquorice who suggested that idea to me. The "key" syllable comes from the throat, which affects the voicing. Double tonguing, then, works best on the most stable pitches (i.e. clarion register and below). He found that puffing the cheeks when double tonguing in the upper register can alleviate the voicing issues, and it does kind of work.
Quote:
In one of his excellent youtube teaching videos, the young Swiss player Fabian Hügli, suggests puffing your cheeks out slightly when you're playing. Now, this goes against everything I was taught and have taught over my long playing career. As I strive to be broad-minded and realize that technical approaches change, I tried it . ...couldn't do it and didn't see the point. Your thoughts on the matter, my friends!
Puffing the cheeks increases the space inside your mouth. I've sometimes used it as an exercise for students who lack resonance: have them puff the cheeks and hear the effect of the increased resonance chamber; have them then play without the puffed cheeks and try to recreate the sensation (which they often do, correctly I think, by opening up the soft palate). But it's just one of many exercises. Sometimes it helps, and sometimes you have to find another approach.
At any rate, I feel as though the air gets stuck in the cheeks if you puff them. And what I'm looking for, in general, is for the oral cavity and embouchure to funnel the air into the mouthpiece. So, aside from circular breathing, I've never puffed my cheeks when playing.
I have some students who follow Fabian. For the most part, he says a lot of boilerplate clarinet pedagogical stuff, which is fine with me. But there's also some unhelpful stuff thrown in as well (this cheek puffing thing seems like an instance of the latter). I'm sure one-on-one, he'd teach someone very well. But because YouTube and Instagram, educationally speaking, are one way streets, students inevitably get lead down some weird paths: they need the back and forth of real teaching.
I also think that he tends to overcomplicate clarinet playing. I've always found that clarinet playing is very simple, but music itself is very complex. You don't need tons of videos on articulation: it's easy. But you might need tons of videos on how to interpret a piece. Again, I think it's just the nature of YouTube and Instagram. The average younger student does't care about interpretation; he wants exercises to 10x his articulation, or finger technique, etc. These types of videos give students the sensation of learning something, which keeps them engaged and coming back, when in fact they aren't learning anything at all. Moreover, they allow content creators to funnel students into paying services, such as private lessons, exercise pdfs, and so forth.
Post Edited (2026-06-26 22:54)
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Author: ruben
Date: 2026-06-27 10:37
Brycon: I think what helps in double-tonguing isn't puffing one's cheeks, but rather using less jaw pressure; loosening jaw pressure which in turn, relaxes the tongue. As for Fabian; much useful information presented enthusiastically, but as if were an earth-shaking discovery. The Youtube medium lends itself to this. Much of technique involves psychological considerations. Technique isn't purely mechanical.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
Post Edited (2026-06-27 21:39)
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Author: donald
Date: 2026-06-28 16:41
I just went to YouTube to check him out aaaannnnd yes it's "that guy". Honestly about half of what he says is rubbish information. I'd LOVE to get in a room with him and argue about this stuff, he's so obviously barking up the wrong tree so much of the time. Kind of annoying that he actually exists.
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Author: brycon
Date: 2026-06-28 22:12
Quote:
I just went to YouTube to check him out aaaannnnd yes it's "that guy". Honestly about half of what he says is rubbish information. I'd LOVE to get in a room with him and argue about this stuff, he's so obviously barking up the wrong tree so much of the time. Kind of annoying that he actually exists.
Lol. I always aim for diplomacy, but yeah, I get it.
I do think, though, it's largely the medium. There's an academic at the University of Michigan who has an idea he calls "pseudo-excellence." It amounts to a sort of performative excellence often used on social media: an elaborate morning routine; supplement stack; reading regimen; or, in terms of clarinet, goofy exercises, fussiness with equipment, etc.
Because our minds choose the path of least resistance, we focus on goofy exercises and equipment, i.e. pseudo-excellence, rather than pursuing true excellence (decades of dedicated practice, ear training, score study, and so on). Or as Goethe says in the Italian Journey: "To grasp something quickly is what the mind is fitted for; but to do something worthwhile, for that one needs a lifetime."
People on YouTube and Instagram are going to provide the content viewers want to see: short, easily graspable, and giving the feeling of having learned something.
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