 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: buddyjr
Date: 2003-04-14 17:52
I generally practice and perform sitting down with the bell of the clarinet held between my knees. I do this because I play with a double lip embouchure and it helps me play for a longer period of time. It also improves my sound. But a judge for a solo competition told me that "the soloist must always stand up when he/she performs." I tried explaining to him that I make my best sound when I sit down with the clarinet bell between my legs, but he cited several performers (Stoltzman, Shifrin) that always stood up when they performed and that I must follow suit.
I have tried practicing standing up, but my upper lip takes a beating after 10 minutes. It's like learning the clarinet all over again. The sound is uglier, the fingering feels foreign.....I've even tried playing single lip again. Although the clarinet is supported better and is better on the upper lip, the double lip embouchure produces a better sound. Any suggestions from other double lip players out there? Thanks!!!!
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Author: Ted
Date: 2003-04-14 18:41
I've been playing double lip well over thirty years and the only reccomendation I can suggest is to practice standing up, and when you sit down don't rest it on your knee till you're absolutly dead. You can ease into it by alternating standing/sitting 10 - 15 minutes at a time till you build up to it. It will probably take some time, 6 months or so, but you will eventually be able to stand and play all day. Good lucl - Ted
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Author: Tom Piercy
Date: 2003-04-14 19:10
I switched to double lip under the supervision of Mr. Opperman. His process for me was simple in words but hard to actually follow: play three minutes -- rest three minutes.
It was frustrating at first to only play for three minutes then rest for three minutes (it took six hours to get in three hours of practice!), but I found other things to do during the three minute rests: careful finger practice, memorizing, analyzing, reed work; it was during this time that I learned how to make my own reeds and had plenty of three minute sessions to work on them. This 3&3 process lasted for several weeks and eventually I started to increase the playing time while continuing the short rest periods in between. This resting period was stressed as most important by Mr. Opperman as to not stress the muscles and do more damage then help.
At first I switched back and forth between single and double during rehearsals and performing. It was a several months long process before I felt comfortable enough to perform (standing and sitting) and record using the double lip exclusively.
In general, whether using single or double lip, you shouldn't be holding the clarinet between the knees with your knees as support. If you need to lean the clarinet on top of your knee, that is more acceptable for some additional support.
If you are correctly playing double lip for a while, the "beating," "uglier," and "foreign" feelings you mentioned should not be an issue. Some things to check for that could be causing these things: thin cutting edges on your upper teeth; biting too hard; holding clarinet too tight and tense with hands; using too much jaw/teeth pressure and not enough full lip pressure.
In general: start the three minute on / three minute off routine as much of the time that you control. Quite often, we have no control over our time such as in rehearsals. If you have rehearsals or practice sessions during this change over, switch back and forth between the single and double lip.
Patience and perseverance should give you all the benefits of double lip that you have described above without any of the negative aspects you mentioned.
Good luck,
Tom Piercy
thomaspiercy.com
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Author: Douglas
Date: 2003-04-14 19:14
No one should fault another player for sitting down, especially if the clarinetist is using double lip. There is much praise on this board for Marcellus' playing: on Aug. 13, 1961, I heard Marcellus play the Mozart Concerto at the Wisconsin Peninsula Music Festival. Marcellus sat down in front of the orchestra!
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Author: jenna
Date: 2003-04-14 19:27
I agree with the above, it just takes time and you have to persevere. When I began double lipping I alternated while practicing between single and double. I gradually built the strength required, and now can't really perform any way other than double. I defintely agree with the neckstrap, too. It seems like it is going to be rough for you because by "cheating" and balancing the weight of the horn, you may have never really developed the right muscles for double lipping, or at least developed them in the right way. A neckstrap may help you ease into it more, but I think in the longrun it would be a good idea to break the habit of resting the clarinet on your knees. IMHO.
Do you do parades or marching bands or anything? Is this really your first time standing and performing? What has worked in the past?
jenna
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-04-14 20:38
Douglas writes: "No one should fault another player for sitting down...."
Absolute agreement from me on that. Back in the old days I always stood for individual solos, but it pleases me to see this practice is not universally followed. In fact, David Pino suggests that sitting is quite all right, and the performer who stands while being accompanied by a pianist may appear to be assuming an unwarranted position of superiority.
Not that anyone would claim such a difficulty without genuine foundation, a suggestion that sitting is due to a back problem would likely be met with approval. If it isn't, a mention of possible legal action under the Americans with Disabilities Act might gain improved attention.
Regards,
Joh
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2003-04-14 20:39
Interesting that someone mentioned Marcellus. Here's a quote from his famous interview:
"...another misconception is that double lip gives a fuller sound. Quite the contrary. It gives a smaller sound."
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Author: Keil
Date: 2003-04-14 23:28
I used to play double lip and i must say i am outrageously horrified at the very idea that one MUST stand while playing... to me that is completely BOGUS!!! You can quite easily site Harold Wright as a performer who not only played double lip but sat down. I think for the judge to say that not only belies his ignorance but also his narrow mindedness. As far as resting the bell on the kness there is also nothing wrong with that as long as it doesn't interrupt the sound, though there are times that the shaded sound achieved by a covered bell adds something to the piece... but that's an entirely different discussion all together. If YOU choose to stand while playing and double lipping, which can be done... the best thing to do is practice it very slowly and not push yourself farther than your body allows. Doing damage to your self is not at all a positive mood. I can empathize with the feeling of newness you experienced from your standing. I myself experienced that, it does however go away the more you practice playing in the new fashion. Ultimately any changes you make i feel should be made because you want to make them and you truly feel that they will only improve your playing. If consiously you feel your sound is better when double lipping than it's irrelevant what other people think because ultimately if you can't find joy with your playing than no one else will. You are your worse critic, never EVER allow someone else's personal viewpoints completely change the way you think without your consent.
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2003-04-15 11:18
Some of us (me) can't stand up. Polio took care of that, but I'm not going to quit playing because of one judge with a small mind.
The best solution is to play so well that all they can think about is the beauty of the performance.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-04-15 13:55
Maintaining that one must play standing up is totally ridiculous and autocratic.
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Author: Karel
Date: 2003-04-15 14:18
Bob,judges and adjudicators ARE autocrats. One can abstain from competing, comply with the requirements, or become a judge and start changing the system.
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Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2003-04-16 00:04
Buddy --
One of the nicest things about this BB is that great players such as Tom Piercy are so gracious as to provide master lessons gratis for us tyros.
If I were a young player trying to master double lip, I would print out Tom Piercy's post above and staple it into my Klose or Third Baermann or your method of choice. It will repay careful and repeated study. Every sentence and every phrase is important.
If I may comment on some of the critical points made by Tom Piercy:
While the master players can play double lip ALL of the time, most of us find that alternating between single and double lip is a necessity.
I began playing double lip chiefly as a practice routine to cure myself of biting. I was encouraged to try double lip after reading and studying Keith Stein's book, which was quite new at the time. At first, three minutes of double lip playing would have been blood city for me. I could only play ten or fifteen seconds before resting!
I got the idea of alternating single and double lip from an article written by Rosario Mazzeo, who was then the bass clarinetist in the Boston Symphony. When confronted with a fast technical passage or an unwieldy passage in a remote key, I had to (and still have to) switch back to single lip in order to keep my clarinet from flying away. For lengthy sustained tone passages, I would alternate single and double lip as a way to relax and rest my chops. This made a substantial improvement in my endurance.
So if you need to switch back to single lip for standup playing or for marching, just do it and don't worry about it. You won't have any problem switching back and forth so long as your airstream and your embouchure, both single and double lip, is developed, controlled and flexible.
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Author: adrian lichter
Date: 2003-04-16 01:30
I learned double lip from day one from the great Dave Weber.
If you play long tones every day for a few years, (ppp to fff and back down to ppp on every note) as everyone had to do--including at the beginning of every lesson--you develop a lip of iron. Plus lungs to die for.
Playing while standing became child's play.
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