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air support revisited

Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2007-09-18 03:04

I am trying to understand how we blow into the clarinet. Many articles are complicated and long on the subject. Here is my take on this. We inhale while flexing muscles and expanding in the stomach area. This flexing out and down allows the diaphragm to do its' work during inhalation. ie .unfettering the lungs if you will. ..The stomach flexing has nothing to do with air flow. You can flex your stomach and exhale, inhale or remain neutral with no air flow. The flexing somehow sets up an appropriately firm conduit for air flow. There is tension from the stomach up to the oral cavity. It is flexed and not relaxed. After this conduit is in place we can then move air by blowing. Blowing is a separate function. I'm not sure how we achieve this....perhaps it is the intercostal muscles. In any case we don't have to teach people how to blow. We figure out how to blow as children. Perhaps the oral cavity is an extension of this conduit. If the cheeks are puffed and oral muscles have no flex the conduit's work is ruined. The clarinet embouchure entails enough flexing of muscles to extend the conduit right to the mouthpiece. Any comments on my rehashing of this subject? My apologies if I have stated the obvious in my short 238 words.

Freelance woodwind performer

Post Edited (2007-09-18 05:09)

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air support revisited new

Arnoldstang

2007-09-18 03:04