 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Lizzy
Date: 2004-07-28 20:19
I am currently attempting to make the ubiquitous "embouchure change" and having many difficulties. With my old embouchure, I was dropping my tongue to the bottom of my mouth and pinching like crazy to get the high notes to come out, while I would loosen up to play the lower notes. This resulted in a fuzzy, unfocused sound in the chalumeau register and a thin, pinched tone in the altissimo. Now, I am changing to a high tongue position and a more relaxed embouchure. However, I am having a major problem:
When I play with a high tongue, I still cannot get the altissimo register to sound at all without pinching like the dickens. Thus, I am changing my embouchure in every register. According to many books and articles I have read on this subject, keeping the tongue high is supposed to eliminate both pinching and the need to change your embouchure when playing. I know my reed is not too hard (I have had several professional clarinetists play on my setup and they said the reeds I was using matched well with my mouthpiece and did not require biting to play) and am at a loss to discover why I cannot seem to make this embouchure switch.
I would greatly appreciate it if you all could share your wisdom on the subject of the embouchure especially regarding how to play in the altissimo register without pinching. Thanks!
[pcf]Fishy-ayB
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2004-07-28 21:45
Although I can't logically explain it. Reading a statement about tone production in "H. Klose Celebrated Method for the Clarinet" helped me to play altissimo without biting. A light bulb sort of turned on in my head when I read it and tried it.
" ... the two principal aids for gaining the finest embouchure:delicacy of tone and lightness of tongue."
When I switched to trying to play the altissimo lightly and delicately, all of a sudden I was using better air support, and not biting.
John
Post Edited (2004-07-28 21:48)
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Author: Ray
Date: 2004-07-28 22:31
Lizzy, I had similar problems and I too misunderstood the benefits of the high tongue position.
You say, "According to many books and articles I have read on this subject, keeping the tongue high is supposed to eliminate both pinching and the need to change your embouchure when playing."
The high tongue position is crucial but just moving your tongue to the high position won't eliminate pinching or biting. Those are two different things and you must consciously work to stop the biting. I think everyone agrees that biting or clamping the mouthpiece with your jaw is a bad technique that makes altissimo notes very difficult.
You don't want to bite, but you will still need more pressure on the reed to play reliably in the altissimo. You can get this pressure by pushing the clarinet up toward your mouth with your right thumb and not by increasing pressure with your lower jaw. You don't actually push more of the mouthpiece into your mouth - your firm embouchure resists that motion and the result is more pressure on the reed. Tom Ridenour explains this beautifully in The Educator's Guide to the Clarinet. He calls it the friction style embouchure and the process of pushing the mouthpiece into the embouchure is snugging.
Try this. Form your embouchure and then insert the mouthpiece a little. Try to blow open G. It won't sound. Without changing your good embouchure or increasing jaw pressure, increase the upward pressure with your thumb. The note will appear. As you increase pressure the sound will improve and become more focussed. If you apply too much pressure, the sound becomes less focussed. It is the upward pressure and not the clamping of the jaw that helps to create the sound.
You will find that the upper clarion and the altissimo require more pressure or more snugging than the lower notes. You don't have to apply jaw pressure nor do you have to change the position of your embouchure on the mouthpiece. And you are right, you don't have to change your embouchure.
Try it, you'll like it.
Best,
Ray
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