 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: asv5040
Date: 2010-08-07 20:32
For as long as I can remember, I have always had an endurance problem. during high school, i didn't often practice very much so that made sense, but now that I'm in college and practicing much more, I'm still having the same problems. I practice 1.5-2 hours a day, and at most I can play for about 7 min until my lips give out and I have to wait to continue. I recently had jaw surgery to fix my underbite in hopes that I would be able to play better and to get rid of my TMJ problem that began to take notice.
Its been about 2 months and after about 2 weeks of 1.5 hour practice sessions, I'm still only able to play for about 5 minutes. Does anyone have any ideas about what is happening? I keep thinking that I need to practice more, but its so difficult to get in 2+ hours when I have to stop and rest every 5 min. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Alex
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Author: William
Date: 2010-08-07 21:13
Try warming up before you actually get into your endurance excercises. Play something short and easy--a scale, a simple tune ((by ear, etc), a series of test notes. Larry Combs recommended playing an open G4, then a G5 trying to match tambres, and then a descending scale down to B4. Just something to let your embouchure "wake up", much like stretching muscles before strenuous excercise.
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2010-08-07 21:28
I can only speak for myself. I am an older person and have been playing 2-1/2 years now. I will tell you what "seems" to have helped me, and it might not at all apply to you, but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case.
I have a moderate overbite...not too excessive, but still somewhat of an overbite (my bottom front teeth don't touch my top front teeth at any point when I bite down in a normal fashion or when eating). For most of the first 2 years of learning I tried to do as Keith Stein suggested in his book, "The Art of Clarinet Playing", and that is to align the lower front teeth with the uppers, requiring me to push the chin out somewhat unnaturally. This, for me, felt uncomfortable, but I thought it was just part of the price to pay for playing clarinet.
A few months back I read several older posts from this forum that suggested not to do this, but to just place the clarinet at an angle that brings it closer to the body if one has an overbite. In other words, hold it at angle that better works with a person's physical mouth structure, and one that feels to be a more natural position for the jaw.
Don't get me wrong...Mr. Stein's book is one of the best out there, but I don't quite agree with his suggestion to align the bottom and top front teeth for a person with a moderate or severe overbite.
It took a bit of getting used to, but now I seem to be able to play more relaxed in that position.
Incidentally, I believe it probably is easier to work with an overbite than an underbite when playing the clarinet...just my opinion. For an underbite, one would have to hold the clarinet at a greater angle from the body).
If my case is similar to yours (if you have a moderate-to-severe overbite), you might do a search on this forum's archieves regarding overbite issues.
Now that I think about it, I have had two different teachers, and neither of them ever even discussed my overbite...just something like, "point the clarinet at the knees". That's okay, but I think this does not apply to everyone.
CarlT
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Author: TianL
Date: 2010-08-07 23:31
practice more
if you can practice about 3-4 hours a day with a good embouchure (that you will have to have a teacher), i assure you will get any kind of endurance you want.
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Author: Chris Hill
Date: 2010-08-08 05:56
Take at least one lesson with your college's clarinet professor, explain your difficulty, and play for the him/her. There may be something that either you are doing, or a problem with your equipment. In the meantime, just so I can try to help before you can get a lesson, I have a couple questions for you: What type of set up do you use? If your reed/ mouthpiece combination doesn't match properly, this could cause you endurance problems. How do you set your embouchure?
Chris
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Author: srattle
Date: 2010-08-08 10:04
I would also want to ask:
what exactly do you mean when you say your lips give out?
Is it the muscles? is it the pressure on the lips from your teeth? It could be a few things, and would help us better analyze what the problem could be
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