 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-02-13 22:22
I've noticed that my neck puffs out below my jaw when I play. I'd like to know what board contributors think about this:
Is it a problem in tone production --like allowing one's cheeks to bulge? My teacher thinks that it could be.
If it is a problem, how does one control it? I'm having trouble finding and controlling the muscles (if any!) to control my neck.
Thanks
Bob Phillips
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Author: CEC
Date: 2007-02-13 22:50
Hi Bob,
Sounds like your tongue may be too low near its root. Try pronouncing an umlauted u - i.e. say eee and uuu simultaneously, feel where your throat and tongue are when doing so and try to maintain that position while playing. This will keep your tongue properly arched and your throat in a flattened oval shape. If you are opening your throat too much or are pulling your tongue down at the rear of your mouth cavity, it will definitely affect your tone negatively (open throat will make your overall sound diffuse. low tongue will especially effect your high register tone adversely).
Best,
Chris
Post Edited (2007-02-13 22:55)
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2007-02-13 23:49
agreed! a relaxed, high tongue position is the way to go.
Aaron
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-02-14 00:32
WOW,
Thanks, Chris. I'm sitting here at my keyboard (with my practice mirror by my monitor) blowing past the finger on my lips (slows my keyboarding) raising and lowering my tongue --and my neck comes under control with the high tongue position.
I'm one happy dude.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2007-02-14 01:13
I've heard about being puffed up, but puffed out? Whew, thank goodness someone knew what to do.
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Author: joeyscl
Date: 2007-02-14 01:23
YOUR NECK IS SIMPLY TOO BIG!! Tell your doctor that you want to remove some of your neck.... jk
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-02-14 16:35
Neck reduction probably isn't covered, but Botox, to get the rest of our head to swell into the "Dizzy Gillespie Look," should be OK. Then, nobody will notice your neck.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2007-02-14 16:58
The biggest problem (which you are already correcting) is that you were actually blocking the air column before it reached your mouth.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: kenb
Date: 2007-02-14 19:07
'Toad und Verklarung' ??? (apols. to R. Strauss)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-02-15 02:00
DANG:
I can raise my tongue and keep my throat from puffing up/out when barely moving air through my mouth.
BUT,
When I build enough pressure and support to blow the clarinet, I puff out. If I suck in through the mouthpiece, my neck flattens out.
I'm still in search of a bit of muscle --somewhere around there-- that might be trained to keep me from looking like a puffer fish while playing. I don't mind the bulbousness, but hate the thought that I'm loosing focus in my sound.
I'm ready to go see my doc for an anatomy lesson.
SIGH
Bob Phillips
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Author: Steve B.
Date: 2007-02-15 02:31
There is a condition called Laryngoceles that sometimes occurs in
wind players. I don't think it's serious but you should probably see an
ENT doctor.
See link below:
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec19/ch222/ch222h.html
Good luck,
Steve
Post Edited (2007-02-15 02:41)
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Author: claaaaaarinet!!!!
Date: 2007-02-15 15:37
I've been playing the clarinet for about 20 years, and for the last five years or so I have had an involuntary bulge on one side my neck when I play. It doesn't effect my playing, and it hasn't gotten any worse over time, but it looks a little strange. My theory is that I used to play a set-up that was too resistant, concentrating too much pressure in my oral cavity. At some point, some muscle or tissue must have given way and I now have this little bulge. As some others have pointed out in this thread, I find that playing with good support and spinning a focused air stream strait through the clarinet seems to make the bulge smaller. It never is totally absent for me, however.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-02-15 19:48
Laryngoceles,
as mentioned above may be our "problem," Steve B.
My teacher is concerned because he likens the bulge to puffy cheeks --changing my internal resonances and "spreading" my tone.
i'm still debating about that dr. vist --perhaps with an ENT.
Bob Phillips
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Author: bahamutofskycon
Date: 2007-02-15 22:21
According to the trumpet teacher (Dr. Nelson) at my university - when using your air stream properly your neck should expand no matter what wind instrument you play.
I don't necessarily support this or know anything about it. His neck puffs out and he sounds absolutely AMAZING. He also has a book published on breathing for musicians, (Dr. Scott Nelson is his name).
As I said, this is not my opinion on the matter - I'm not sure I have one. I'm just relaying one professional's view on it. I've never noticed my neck puffing out though.
I would be cautious though since most posters on this board are concerned about it.
Steve
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2007-02-16 23:46
Maybe you were really a bullfrog in a former life?
My professional opinion.
--CG
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Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2007-02-18 18:56
>My theory is that I used to play a set-up that was too resistant, concentrating >too much pressure in my oral cavity. At some point, some muscle or tissue >must have given way and I now have this little bulge.
I have the same condition and it was caused by playing on too resistant a setup as a student (like so many students do). While a graduate student at Yale, I went to see a doctor about it. He put a videoscope up through my nose and down my throat to view the bulge in action. He said it is akin to a hernia.
In this case too much back pressure slowly forces a hole in the neck wall.
Strictly speaking the bulge is not a hernia because part of an organ is not being displaced through the wall of the cavity containing it. Air is simply forcing the bulge out.
As a result of this quasi-hernia I use mouthpieces that offer less resistance.
Interestingly, I have found that some mouthpieces' resistance is centered in the mouth and lips and other mouthpieces' resistance is centered in the neck. Invariably open mouthpieces offer more resistance centered in the neck.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon Aldrich
Clarinet Faculty - McGill University
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre de l'Opéra de Montréal
Clarinet - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne
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Author: William Rappaport
Date: 2023-08-12 02:57
My neck puffs out, but I don’t consider it to be a problem. I’ve had this as long as i can remember, but it doesn’t interfere with my playing in any way as far as I can tell. Other things do—problems with finger action, right thumb support, air stream and support, use of the tongue etc., but neck expansion—I don’t think it’s a problem. I can usually correct my mistakes focusing on these other items.
Post Edited (2023-08-12 02:58)
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Author: DaveF
Date: 2023-08-14 22:18
I think Simon Aldrich's description above of a quasi-hernia best describes what is going on.
I had read the biography of the great jazz tenor saxophone player Michael Brecker, who had major issues with huge puffing out of his neck muscles, that was painful, and he attributed it to blasting as loud as he could in various bands he played in. In the 1970's he had a surgical procedure of some sort to correct it, which proved unsuccessful. Later in his career he got some relief playing an EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), requiring much less air pressure. Sadly he died of leukemia in 2007. What a monster player!
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