 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jacob R
Date: 2023-11-11 05:52
Just a quick question, is it normal to produce a lot of spit from the clarinet within 45 minutes of playing? I noticed that I have been producing a lot of spit and can sometimes leak into tone holes which create bubbles . I was also wondering if this could be why my tone sounds spitty. Is it normal???
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Author: kdk
Date: 2023-11-11 07:16
Most of the water you notice isn't spit. It's condensation from your warm breath as it hits the room temperature air and, very likely, even cooler surface of your clarinet's bore.
Could condensation explain a "spitty" tone. Sure, any moisture that collects on the back of the reed would do it, but, again, it probably isn't mostly saliva, although some of it could be.
Karl
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2023-11-11 09:45
What Karl says (maybe that's why I wash my swab like, never...). It may depend on the reed as well. I have noticed more moisture when I practice on my Legere as opposed to wood. But, I don't know about that as it may be me.
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-11-11 09:51
I think the amount of humidity in the breath may be a bit related to age.
i've been reading about this recently, and I could be misunderstanding, but I think that as people get older their ability to produce saliva decreases. So it might be that the breath of a younger players might be very humid and that that would decrease dramatically once they hit 50 or thereabouts.
I'm not sure what the solution is a player whose breath is too humid for the clarinet to function. I wonder if the player is playing in quite a humid environment, where the air is already saturated with water, so unable to easily take more?
Jacob R - would it be okay to ask how old you are, and what your geographical location and weather conditions are, and whether you are playing with open windows or aircon?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-11-11 17:15
So as far as moisture that can accumulate between the reed and mouthpiece goes, it is likely both condensation and saliva. It only takes a very small amount to interfere with the reed/mouthpiece/air equation. I'd say if there is a general tendency to hear that sputtery sound when you play, you need to actively push more air and use slightly less "pressure" of the embouchure.
If there is only an occasional appearance of this sound, you can just draw air in quickly (a "puff" inward rather than outward into the clarinet) to remove extraneous gunk.
As for having moisture gather in the tone holes I now find (after years of trying both ways) that drawing your swab from the bell to the barrel helps keep that down much more than than it does if you swab from the top down.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: kdk
Date: 2023-11-11 18:20
SunnyDaze wrote:
> I'm not sure what the solution is a player whose breath is too
> humid for the clarinet to function.
I'm not sure what "too humid for the clarinet to function" means, but the solution to water dripping from or clogging the tone holes is to swab often. What has already gotten into the tone hole itself and can't be reached by the swab inside the clarinet can be blotted up with a piece of cigarette paper or even the corner of the swab or some other cloth that isn't too thick.
I believe anecdotally that the problem usually has to do with the humidity and temperature you're playing in.
Karl
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2023-11-11 19:51
Hi Jacob,
If this problem seems more noticeable lately, then might it be that you're just getting more condensation forming in the colder bore, what with the autumn drop in temperatures ?
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-11-19 02:31
If we didn't have water vapour in our breath, we'd be dead as we need water in our lungs in order to help absorb oxygen from the air as we inhale.
Saliva is different in that it contains the enzyme amylase which converts starch to sugar as the beginning part of our digestive system.
Condensation in the bore is usually related to the temperature of the instrument and your surroundings with colder temperatures causing more condensation to form in the bore compared to warmer temperatures.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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