 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarrie
Date: 2006-04-24 04:47
Has anyone found forming and maintaining a good embouchure to be a challenge, with labret or lip piercings? (Or maybe others?)
I don't know how I feel about this one.
On the one hand, I feel that I've retained a fairly good embouchure (even through a few years of sax playing) and get a fairly formidable tone through an M30 and 3 strength reeds.
On the other hand, I can't help but feel that having a metal bar running through the underside of my lip couldn't be that *good* for the embouchure, and that maybe I'm being lazy and not spreading my bottom lip thin enough? Less a case of laziness, but if I'm ridiculously attentive to that I find I end up with the metal bar pressing down on the reed through a mere wafer of skin, which HURTS *cries*
Your thoughts or experiences?
(for the record my labret is positioned particularly high and much more on the lip than most peoples' which is further down closer to the middle)
clarrie/k
.Member of the Mouthful of M-30 club.
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Author: clarrie
Date: 2006-04-24 04:57
LOL - Oh, I have one of them (not nearly as ridiculously big) and I've never found it to be a problem at all. Mostly I forget it's there when i'm playing clarinet.
.Member of the Mouthful of M-30 club.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-04-24 13:16
"Or maybe others?)" I had a difficult time after having my lips enlarged. But learned to live with it as it did help my vibrato immensely.
Bob Draznik
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Author: hans
Date: 2006-04-24 13:50
clarrie,
Re: "having a metal bar running through the underside of my lip couldn't be that *good* for the embouchure" ---> in Canada someone died recently when a body piercing became infected, so that embouchure may be the least of your worries.
Why not have it removed and eliminate the risk of infection and the embouchure impairment at the same time?
Hans
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-04-24 16:39
That makes too much good sense, Hans...
Bob Draznik
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Author: Bartmann
Date: 2006-04-24 20:33
This is a very funny thread because playing a clarinet is an inherently square activity to do.
So do the piercings make the clarinetist playing Telemann hip and cool? Probably not. But it's not how you look, rather it's how you think you look that matters.
As for the quality of your playing it doesn't really matter. Because as long as you can walk around with your clarinet case proudly in hand with a labret piercing, you are already sufficiently cool.
Enjoy!
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2006-04-24 20:57
I would like to see a clarinetist with nose piercing play with his/her ring on the mouthpiece biting wall making up and down movement. My preference is the clarinet solo in Tchaikovsky's funeral march.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2006-04-24 20:59
Bartmann wrote:
> So do the piercings make the clarinetist playing Telemann hip
> and cool?
Nope. But tattoos do . . .
hey, as long as you're getting a good sound and are happy with what you can do with the instrument, who cares what sort of body art you have?
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Clarinetgirl06
Date: 2006-04-24 21:03
A girl at my school 4 years ago got a belly button piercing and got a horrible infection and almost died. I think she had to have some kind of surgery or another and it was very costly and painful overall. She didn't die, but she was in a wheelchair for her graduation ceremony. Be careful!
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2006-04-26 02:04
Funny you bring this up. I have always wanted a lip ring, but obviously never got one because of the clarineting.
For those of you that "know" me and never seeing me, I have 8 piercings (in my ears, 4 in each ear, 1 in each upper catilage, bottom holes are stretched to 6 gauge tunnels)
But piercings do not always get dangerously infected, as some of you are overreacting about. Keeping them clean, taking care of them regularly, and there should be no problems. Piercings are just another way of enhancing the body and adding ornamentation. Just because someone wants a hunk of metal in their tongue doesn't mean you have to be judgemental about it. I know most people don't even tend to notice that there are huge holes in my ears and that you can see completely through them... but it is funny when they do. It's all about personality.
Anyway, I know people that pierce their tongues and play clarinet fine. I personally haven't been able to imagine what a hole in my lip would do to effect playing ability. Have you had any problems since you've had yours?
I know libret piercings can be a problem in general for gum irritation, and with the amount of motion from the chin, could become a hassle with clarinet playing. Even tho technically, you chin and lower lip area shouldn't move when playing. heh
--Contragirl
A little bit of punk, a little bit of indie, a lotta bit of classical.
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Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-04-26 02:06
I consider my mouth to be part of my instrument, and refused braces as a young lad for this very reason. I'm terrified of anything messing up my mouth.
Of course, the same could be said about my lungs, which I tortured for 15 years with cigarettes 'til I finally grew enough sense to quit.
-R
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Author: diz
Date: 2006-04-26 04:52
As a Musical Director around the traps ... you turn up with cast iron adornments and you get sent home and don't play in my pit any more.
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: clarrie
Date: 2006-04-26 06:15
Author: diz (203.42.75.---)
Date: 2006-04-26 04:52
"As a Musical Director around the traps ... you turn up with cast iron adornments and you get sent home and don't play in my pit any more."
Oer. I've been told.
Seriously, that is probably going to be an issue [*laugh* if I ever get to play at /that/ level!]. Glad you addressed it in such a straightforward manner.
Author: contragirl (---.hsd1.md.comcast.net)
Date: 2006-04-26 02:04
"Have you had any problems since you've had yours?"
Well, not that I've noticed. But that's why I was asking here.
As for gum irritation, it's just not happening. I don't really move the area with the piercing in it that much at all.
I might add that got this piercing in a period of my life when I didn't think I ever wanted to play clarinet again, in fact clarinet was not even featured in my thoughts.
I guess, between when I stopped playing clarinet the first time around [sans piercing] and when I started it back up, my idea of what a good embouchure should feel or sound like didn't change at all. Notwithstanding the piercing.
When I jumped back on the clarinet, the piercing didn't /seem to/ interfere with putting into practice the idea I had of a good embouchure. But I started to wonder.
I couldn't be the only person in the world attempting to play clarinet with a piercing?
clarrie/K`
.Member of the Mouthful of M-30 club.
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Author: kal
Date: 2006-04-26 18:41
I can't believe the negative comments posted here.
A labret piercing (bar) won't affect your embouchure at all, and neither will a lip ring if it's off to the side (meaning out of the way of the mouthpiece). Tongue piercings may or may not affect your playing, depending on the type, size and location.
As for the horror stories about infections... it's all about proper care and hygiene. If you neglect to take your zinc supplements and clean the area several times daily, you're pretty much asking for that sort of thing.
/Am personally acquainted with clarinet, sax, oboe and flute players with all of the above piercings. All are fantastic musicians.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-04-26 19:44
kal wrote:
> Tongue piercings may or may
> not affect your playing, depending on the type, size and
> location.
Try running a mile with track shoes.
Run the same mile with lead boots on.
Which was easier?
Try tonguing a rapid passage.
Now try it with a hunk of metal imbedded in your tongue.
Enough said ...GBK
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-04-26 20:51
Does a gold ring through your tongue sound darker than a silver ring? These are the questions inquiring minds need to know.........
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Author: clarrie
Date: 2006-04-26 23:54
David Spiegelthal (---.gd-ais.com)
Date: 2006-04-26 20:51
"Does a gold ring through your tongue sound darker than a silver ring? These are the questions inquiring minds need to know........."
Hahahaha.
I feel so silly just making a comment to laugh, but I think that kind of humour appeals to me *grin*
clarrie/K`
.Member of the Mouthful of M-30 club.
Post Edited (2006-04-27 00:02)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-04-27 15:07
Life without humour would be pretty dire. Some of us codgers may not dig your accoutrements but we respect your right to your individuality. Personally I have a hard enough time playing with dentures.....which were not my choice of body adornment. No pain, no gain.....don't believe it.
Bob Draznik
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Author: sian
Date: 2006-05-04 20:04
You know, I used to have a labret and took it when I started working as a nurse - since I've started playing clarinet i've noticed that the hole has healed much faster than it was before, because of the muscle building up in my lower lip.
Reading this thread has just brought my attention to it and I've realised it would have really gotten in the way if it was still there.
But everyone's different - I figure you carry on playing with it in and if it starts to interfere, you just have to decide what means more to you - your playing or your piercing?
Speaking as someone who's said 'goodbye' to several piercings, I can confirm that you do get over it eventually!
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