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Re: How to "darken" your sound

Author: Sylvain
Date: 2008-01-24 21:44

If "bright" means too much high frequencies harmonics in your sound then what you need to try is dampen them so that more of the fundamental comes across.

There are many things you can do to sound "darker" and only a competent teacher can figure out what will work best for you. As you don't seem enclined to take lessons, here are a few suggestions:

1- Think of your lips as a rubber band around the mouthpiece, the more rubber on the reed the more dampening of the sound. Experiment with the amount of lips in contact with the reed but also with the placement of your bottom teeth with respect to the reed. Ideally you want to have your lips positioned at the point where the reed stops touching the mouthpiece. A little higher, may dampen the sound; a little lower may sound a little "wild" and possibly bright.

2- Play around with a double lip embouchure, that will make you conscious of just how much you bite. This will help correct some bad habits even if you end up going back to single lip.

3- Experiment with tongue/throat configurations. High, low, open close....
Find the configurations that feel comfortable and provide a consistent sound across all registers of the instrument.

4- If you can, record yourself, so that you hear what is coming out of the clarinet. The experience of your sound while you play may differ from what is actually being projected to the audience (and your conductor!)

5- Be patient, changing your sound will not happen overnight and it is likely things may get worse before they get better.

As far as equipment is concerned, I don't think that the 5RV Lyre is a particularly bright mouthpiece, but others may disagree. However, a 4.5 VD traditional reed seems rather stiff for this mouthpiece. I would personally play on a 3 or 3.5.

--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>

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How to "darken" your sound new

butterflymusic

2008-01-23 06:12