 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ken S.
Date: 2000-08-23 16:35
I'd like to know which is better/easier : 1) mpc with a long facing & close tip and a hard reed,
2) mpc with a short facing & open tip and a soft reed, provided that everything else is more or less the same, and that the clarinetist is interested in the upper altissimo range( between the G, 4 ledger lines above staff and the G, octave higher ).
I appreciate your opinions and inputs.
Thanx,
Ken
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Author: earl
Date: 2000-08-23 21:09
I believe most successful altissimo playing is as much a matter of proper embouchure (very shallow upper teeth placement so as to allow the jaw to reach as far as possible down the reed to permit maximum amount of reed in the air stream), breath support and elevated tongue posture.
Hence, I believe a fairly long facing will allow a maximum of reed surface in the air stream. Since I play a Borbeck 13, which I believe is more or less a hand made copy of the Cicero Kaspar 13, I have abolutely no problem playing in the altissimo on a Van Doren 3.5 or Morre 2.5. If fact, my philosophy is that "life's too short" to play hard reeds; so, I adjust the lower half of my embouchure to take in as much reed as possible by placing very little upper teeth on the top of the mouthpiece, keeping jaw pressure to the absolute minimum necessary for control. A steep angle also is a factor as is balancing the instrument in such a way as to emphasize the pressure away from the jaw towards the upper teeth for maximum vibrations of the reed. Of course, one's anatomy has a great deal to do with all of the above, in which case, experimentation with short-lay/open-tip and long-lay/close-tip may be most beneficial. But, for "normal" dental occlusions, the above advice works every time, and not only for the altissimo but also for gratifying homogeniety over all the staggeringly wide range that is the clarinet. Hope this helps! ET
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-08-24 06:17
My feeling(I would see other people's opinion):
Let put A=long facing/close tip clearance, B=short facing/open tip clearance.
1.A's tone seems more focused than B's.
2.Clarinet tone becomes sharper in pp and Gustav
Langenus writes 'A' enhances this characteristics.
Is this true? I do not know since I never tried B.
3.A's facings differ very much by design. Some have
continuous curve but others have not continuous.
My Greg Smith Kasper style mouthpiece curvature becomes
very sharp at about 7 mm down to the tip.
By the way, Earles point-outs was very impressive to me.
1)'I adjust the lower half of my embouchure to take in as much reed as possible by placing very little upper teeth on the top of the mouthpiece, keeping jaw pressure to the absolute minimum necessary for control. A steep angle also is a factor as is balancing the instrument in such a way as to emphasize the pressure away from the jaw towards the upper teeth '
This is insisted also in Keith Stein's book 'Art of Clarinet Playing'. Really makes lower lip to control freely the reed and it is the reason I dislike Vandoren profile 88 since its steeper beak design seems to make this setting more difficult.
2)'I have abolutely no problem playing in the altissimo on a Van Doren 3.5 or Morre 2.5.'
I am always surprized there are many american clarinettist to insist 'the thicker the reed, the better'. I read a story of a Japanese clarinetist who studied at Freiburg.
The professor(David Krekeur?) disgustingly told to the young Japanes, 'the thing you use is not reed, it is a mere plate of timber'. Then he was made to use #2(Steuer I guess) and he learned how to really control reed. The Japanese now use #3 or #3.5.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-08-24 06:18
My feeling(I would see other people's opinion):
Let put A=long facing/close tip clearance, B=short facing/open tip clearance.
1.A's tone seems more focused than B's.
2.Clarinet tone becomes sharper in pp and Gustav
Langenus writes 'A' enhances this characteristics.
Is this true? I do not know since I never tried B.
3.A's facings differ very much by design. Some have
continuous curve but others have not continuous.
My Greg Smith Kasper style mouthpiece curvature becomes
very sharp at about 7 mm down to the tip.
By the way, Earles point-outs was very impressive to me.
1)'I adjust the lower half of my embouchure to take in as much reed as possible by placing very little upper teeth on the top of the mouthpiece, keeping jaw pressure to the absolute minimum necessary for control. A steep angle also is a factor as is balancing the instrument in such a way as to emphasize the pressure away from the jaw towards the upper teeth '
This is insisted also in Keith Stein's book 'Art of Clarinet Playing'. Really makes lower lip to control freely the reed and it is the reason I dislike Vandoren profile 88 since its steeper beak design seems to make this setting more difficult.
2)'I have abolutely no problem playing in the altissimo on a Van Doren 3.5 or Morre 2.5.'
I am always surprized to know there are many american clarinettists to insist 'the thicker the reed, the better'. I read a story of a Japanese clarinetist who studied at Freiburg.
The professor(David Krekeur?) disgustingly told to the young Japanes, 'the thing you use is not reed, it is a mere plate of timber'. Then he was made to use #2(Steuer I guess) and he learned how to really control reed. The Japanese now use #3 or #3.5.
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Author: K.S.
Date: 2000-08-25 04:12
When I play high altissimo, I tend to tuck my lower lip in such a way to expose as much of the reed away from the lip and let it vibrate as much as possible. I didn't pay much attention to the angle and the effect that has on minimizing the pressure to the reed by the lips. I'll try and experiment to find out what works for my anatomy.
Thanx for your inputs!
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Author: Al
Date: 2000-08-25 16:23
Earl:
In your opinion, is your procedure effective on bass c
clarinet?
Thanks,
Al
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Author: William
Date: 2000-08-25 21:05
Long vs short, open vs close. The most important factor is the reed and how you adjust it to your mp. I think that, properly fit with the correctly adjusted reed, any mp can work. Mostly, it is what you get used to and how you use it. I once thought that if I grew a moustach and goatie, I would be able to play jazz like Chuck Hedges. Wrong--I still sound like me (not all that bad, however). Good luck.
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