 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: RefacerMan
Date: 2019-10-08 18:31
I have a new student who is in 9th grade and she has a problem with her lower jaw and lip trembling when she plays. It is not from nervousness, but she said it developed last summer. When I have her play double lip for a few notes it seems to disappear at least temporarily. She has been playing the clarinet for 3 years and her embouchure looks great until it starts trembling. Her chin is flat and nicely pointed down. The trembling starts right when she starts playing. Any ideas? I'm going to have her start practicing playing double lip. Thanks.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2019-10-08 19:11
RefacerMan wrote:
> Her chin is flat and nicely pointed down. The trembling starts
> right when she starts playing. Any ideas? I'm going to have her
> start practicing playing double lip.
She's almost certainly tensing something up, over-stretching something to cause an immediate (not fatigue-related) muscular tremor. If double lip helps, then I'd have her build on that. If getting back to single lip is a goal, then she needs to concentrate consciously on what changes when she lets her upper lip out to go from double to single and try to minimize that change. If getting back to single lip isn't a priority, then you might let her gauge how long she can play double lip at a stretch and get her to try to lengthen the double lip time. It may turn out that getting more used to double lip will actually solve her single lip issue over time and allow her to make a genuine choice.
Without seeing what she's doing when the lip is trembling, I would suggest checking whether, in making her chin "flat and nicely pointed down," she might be misinterpreting and overdoing what you're asking in that area. Over-stretching the jaw and facial muscles to point the chin downward can add unnecessary tension and could be a possible cause of the tremor.
Karl
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2019-10-08 19:51
You might also check the amount of mouthpiece in her mouth. If too little, the lower lip gets overworked from having to apply extra pressure. With more mouthpiece, the reed and mouthpiece do more of the work and the sound gets freed up.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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