 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: lbh
Date: 2001-01-07 04:49
After i play my clarinet, my throat always seems to hurt.. It's sore, and hurts when i swallow - It's not like i'm playing for a million hours.. I practice for about an hour per sitting. My instrument is new, my mouthpiece is clean ~can it possibly be the reeds that is iritating my throat ? has anyone had this happen to them ? any suggestions ?
Lbh
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Author: William
Date: 2001-01-07 05:08
I usually experiance some throat irritation when playing too musch, too soon after a vacation lay-off or if my reeds are too stiff. It most often goes away with practice. Perhaps you are arching your tongue too severly (as in saying eeeeee). Hope this helps--good clarineting.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2001-01-07 05:13
I also had a problem with this when I was starting out. I was using my throat to start and stop the notes instead of my tongue. Once I got used to using the tongue, I had no more throat problems. Sounded better too.
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Author: Bob Curtis
Date: 2001-01-08 02:23
lbh---
I wish I could see and hear you when you play. The problem you describe could have several posible answers, depending on the two factors I mentioned above.
(1) For staters, do you use the throat or tongue to start a tone? If it is the throat, this could be a possible source of the "sore throat" which you mention. Begin the tone with the tongue and you will find that this will give you a much cleaner sound and is much easier to do once you become accoustomed to it. Use the tip area of the tongue on the tip of the reed as if you were saying the word "too." Each tone should be started oin this fashion.
(2) The clarinet does not have a sound box similar to the piano or violin; therefore, we must become the "sound box" of the instrument. Open up the throat area as if you were going to say the sound "ah" when you play. This will give you a better resonating chamber and an improved sound. Never make the throat area as if you were going to pronounce the word "ee." This will close up the area and produce a much thinner sound.
Hope this will help some. Best thing to do is have a teacher look at you to so that they can actually see what ylu are doing. Good Luck!
Bob Curtis
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-01-08 17:25
Lbh -
Throat pain is not normal if you're blowing correctly. It's almost always caused by tension. It's very easy to close your throat or even make a sound with your vocal cords.
Take a medium deep breath, and make a soft grunt as you exhale. Then keep your throat open and smoothly let the air out, not pushing but letting it flow by its own weight. Do both things several times so you recognize the difference. Then do the smooth exhale on an open G, concentrating on relaxation and keeping your throat open.
It takes a while to get used to, and having a teacher to listen to you really helps.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Yusuf Zaid
Date: 2001-01-09 00:24
I had this too, when I started out. I discovered that there was too much tension in the throat. Take Ken's advice and it should soon improve.
Yusuf
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-01-09 01:00
Not to be simplistic, but how dry is the room where you do most of your playing?
Hear in the NorthEast USA, 25-40% relative humidity is commonplace.
I keep a glass of water next to me whilst practicing. 30 minutes playing = 1 glass of water.
My guess is that you may be a little dehydrated.
anji
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Author: Sara
Date: 2001-01-16 22:03
another thing I have heard of is being alergic to the read flavoring, the person that this happend to had the same problem that you are discribing. Every time before they played they had to run water over the reed instead of soaking it in their mouth.
I hope it goes away soon.
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