 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: florizell
Date: 2004-07-15 08:22
I stole this question from the sax on the web board, but i'd be interested to see what clarinettists have to say about this cause i've been classicaly trained and would like to get a more "authentic" jazz tone.
QUESTION:
Is there a significant difference between the embouchure used by classical players versus jazz players?
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Author: msloss
Date: 2004-07-15 13:52
Define "authentic". There is no reason you could not apply your classical embouchere to jazz playing. If it is well structured, you should have complete command over the instrument and what you want it to "say" from ghost notes to pitch bends. I play everything from big band to dixie without changing my techniqu and the contractors keep hiring me back.
The most important thing is to listen to the jazz greats to educate your ears as to what you want your own jazz presence to be.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-07-15 14:47
Well, the "sax embo" is looser lipped than Bb sop cl. so....your query is something like trying to compare driving a BMW to a Ford truck. I wouldn't want to say that a jazz clarinet player can have sloppier lips,however.
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Author: RAMman
Date: 2004-07-15 23:01
Significant...no, the basic fundamentals should be identical.
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Author: ken
Date: 2004-07-16 04:01
Want a more authentic jazz tone?? Collect, listen, eat, sleep and drink a more authentic jazz music library. Buy CDs of vocalists and pianists (lyrical influence) 5 to 1 of wind players. Look into buying a reputable ear training method, one that stresses what gift you have; relative or perfect pitch. By listening to varied styles and artists you're consensus building an original concept of what your ideal jazz tone(s) should be and in what settings they are most appropriate.
"Play what you hear and not what you know" –Miles Davis. Although, primarily defining great improvisation, his timeless quote not only means to hear and play the music that comes out of yourself and not out of books but NOT getting tripped up by the equipment bug and trendy gimmicks.
As for a "floating set", I wasn't aware there were multiple embouchures for each genre. If true, there must be different embouchures for playing baroque, classical and romantic periods of music. For contemporary and traditional jazz, for Blues and Fusion. The point is made. One dictionary defines an embouchure as "the method of applying the lips and tongue to the mouthpiece of a wind instrument." Applying that alone you can convincingly imitate any idiom, but that's why in this world we are saddled with technicians and inspired by musicians. For me, it's always been about the artist's concept of originality that brings intellectual understanding to life. It's about self-expression and the burning desire to "communicate" ... that unique communication we as performing artists know only music can convey.
I have good fundamentals. I've worked hard to maintain and continually improve on them over 30 years of playing clarinet. Here's a technical but boring description of how I tongue an occasional Double C at forte on any given Dixie chart, with a fast, tight vibrato, sustaining 2 bars in common time at 1/4=120 ... on the beat, I create and push an air column from the pit of my stomach (as if the air rushes upward from my feet). As it enters my throat to exit I use my mouth cavity to slightly elevate (60 degrees), re-direct the air stream and speed while simultaneously shifting my tongue position to the middle back and uppermost cleft of the roof of my mouth. I position my jaw slightly backward toward my ears ensuring to keep my chin muscle flat against the jawbone. My top lip is held tightly to my teeth and my face and cheek muscles are firm but not clenched. This is an extreme altissimo note so I need to push a little harder from the gut than normal (not pinch) to pop into it solid and/or not fall short on a lower partial.
Moral of the story: it is this structure that supports an embouchure and methodology that puts it into action but 90% of execution is mental; hearing it in the mind first and trusting the fundamentals to let it happen. Great fundamentals are automatic and most often simple memory reflex.
Boiled down, the more advanced the player the more superfluous the equipment and physical application. I've developed and use "one" embouchure in many situations for many solutions ... as a tool of universitility to relate the building blocks of form, notes, idiomatic style, melody, harmony, chords and scales, intervals, patterns, chromatics, riffs, modes, tension, voicings, substitutions (ad infinitum) .... all of which the embouchure "adjusts" to creatively effect the desired sound, not "changing" the embouchure to achieve that sound.
v/r Ken
Post Edited (2004-07-18 03:19)
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-07-16 04:55
I like Ken's comment to the effect that "adjustment" of the embouchure is what does it. While I do not claim to be an expert, my embouchure is pretty much the same shape no matter what I'm playing on Clarinet. But when bending is in order, my embouchure goes into the ship-sinking mode, although not at all uncontrolled.
If anyone thinks that's all so easy, I would suggest that a relaxed embouchure may be even tougher to master than a more rigid embouchure. YMMV, of course.
Regards,
John
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-07-17 15:12
The most significant factor in classical vs. jazz embouchure is that in most jazz clarinet situations, the embouchure is adjusted to move a higher volume of air. The same factor accounts for the softer reeds and more open mouthpieces used by players who play jazz more exclusively. It also accounts for a flattening of pitch that you may hear with some players.
Most players with "classical" training know that they'll get far better pitch from their basic, normal embouchure. As you develop your "jazz" voice, you simply make minute adjustments to accommodate it.
When trying to learn in this field, there is no substitute for simply listening and imitating.
Allen Cole
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-07-29 04:52
NEW INPUT: The current Windplayer magazine has some discussion on this by Dr. Michael White.
Allen Cole
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