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Re: Chonking, Choking? How much mouthpiece

Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2006-03-08 11:17

I find the best was to determine the "zone" of how much mouthpiece is to play any note in lower register, use too much jaw pressure, if the tone closes off, put more mouthpiece in. I try to find the point where the "embouchure" becomes a non factor. If you are getting "honk" it's because the air pressure is lacking. Getting the embouchure out of the "chain" I feel is the key. I personally find I like long facing mouthpieces in the 38 range, when you get the right reed you get a vibration that feels like it's on both sides of your lower lip and this sounds more way more resonant than not enough reed vibrating area. Tony Pay used the analogy of the lower lip being more like a racing bike tire sorry(tyre) than a mountain bike tire. The idea of keeping the lower lip off the reed and allowing more to vibrate was the key point. Inevitalbly, when someone comes to me and asks me to straighten out their sound, it almost always is because of "end user vibrational inhibition". To hard of a reed, to open of a mouthpiece, too much jaw pressure, in exactly the wrong spot.

Tom Puwalski, former soloist with the US Army Field Band, Clarinetist with Lox&Vodka, and Author of "The Clarinetist's Guide to Klezmer"and most recently by the order of the wizard of Oz, for supreme intelligence, a Masters in Clarinet performance

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