 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2012-04-23 19:02
It seems to me that there is something about the clarinet angle with Acker Bilk and Artie Shaw that is very good. Some people would say you're not shooting ducks and the clarinet should be kept in a non horizontal position for playing. If you play in an "Acker Bilk style" with the clarinet out front and you relax the air it produces a very smooth low register. Some label this as subtone. However you describe the embouchure here......whether it is to do with teeth position...in a overbite or something else ...this is the air direction that I referred to as "blowing down". I think you can blow down with the clarinet straight out in front of you...this is very natural or you can also use a more conventional clarinet angle and blow differently to copy this "Acker Bilk" feeling. If you use this "subtone" technique you can colour the sound in varying degrees depending on the context. I realize some people would go with a 'rock solid' embouchure that is static when playing but surely there is a middle ground possible. For those beginning students that feel they are "biting" and not getting a good tone I would recommend copying Acker Bilk in the low register of the clarinet as an antidote. Get a 'fluffy' tone and then adjust things to get closer to the ultimate tone you would like.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-04-23 19:35
Arnoldstang wrote in part:
>I realize some
> people would go with a 'rock solid' embouchure that is static
> when playing....
I for one don't, and don't recommend it.
cont'd
>but surely there is a middle ground possible.
no; it's ESSENTIAL.
But let's be truthful about this for other readers; it is an issue of embouchure flexibility and finding (and varying?) the angle of the instrument in relation to the mouth to produce what the player wishes to accomplish/hear. ....Be it more in the jazz, classical, or "easy listening" vein.
Perhaps "blowing down" could be a decent metaphor for something if fleshed out properly...... but the clarinet as a machine cares little what direction the increase in air pressure "comes from" that generates the sound.
Additionally, "relax the air" is a bit confusing to me, as I assume for some others.
-Jason
Post Edited (2012-04-23 19:47)
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2012-04-24 02:43
Relaxed.......air flow that is commonly used in subtone playing. "Perhaps" and "decent" all fall in the category of condescension. Perhaps your post could be decent but it falls short for the above reason.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-04-24 04:32
John,
I just got home and am beat and really don't feel like writing anything---- but for Christ's sake I was not actually attempting to be condescending.
I would have used much more blatant terms if that were my aim. But let's let that pass, please, as starting a fight is of little use for anybody if any sense of reason is to be established.
If my post is lacking, fine. I'll refine it now.
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I, as you, do not advocate playing with a rock-solid static embouchure.
Conversely I do not advocate an embouchure that never establishes any sense of solidity that one can trust to be an effective means of playing the clarinet.
-A metaphor I have often used with a student is that of forming a fist. You begin by forming a fist; not tightly clenched as if you are going to punch a brick-wall, but simply placing your hand in the position of a fist. It looks like a fist, but you can not really tell as an outside observer how "tight" or "clenched" it is.
Then I will have the student slowly tighten their fist. They feel it tightening, it looks virtually unchanged from the outside, but they feel the grip tightening. Eventually they will tighten to a point where the hand is fully "clenched" (and at this point some visible change will be evident as the blood is forced from the fingers, leaving the hand white-knuckled.)
The hand looks, and will "work", as a fist regardless of the degree of clenching. Its "fist-ness" is not debatable, and the student is perfectly free to chose the degree of clenching as long as the "fist-ness" criteria is not violated.
Well, that fist is just like the embouchure. There is an large range of muscular contraction possible, with little visible change, that will satisfy the criteria of being an embouchure.
Extrapolating that to the instrument and actually playing; simply maintain the "embouchure-ness" and use the amount of contraction necessary to obtain the desired result. I, as an outside viewer, can normally little quantify exactly how much pressure, or variations of said pressure, the student is using. I care little as long as the embouchure is effective and reliable. And that the "end-product" is of proper quality.
Obviously, I will ultimately address the extremes of fist clenching in relation to embouchure pressure as to what may be effective; or can be harmful/painful. (Yet, that is stepping outside the realm of metaphor into the world of technical specifics. That must be dealt with carefully to my mind)
I think that "stepping out of the metaphor" into the realm of actual physical action is the possible middle ground you wrote of... and what I simply wished to strengthen as saying it is an essential to area occupy. ...An area of having command of a large range of flexibility to produce any tone color (etc...) that is desired.
Variability of instrument angle is another facet, but some flexibility is essential here as well I would agree.
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I believe I understand some of this talk of "blowing down" re. instrument angle/ embouchure flexibility because I understand what is needed to successfully play the instrument. However, for another reader looking for help, I think more clarification of your post is needed lest they simply find themselves more confounded.
As for "relaxing the air" to produce a sub-tone, I am sorry but I find this possibly misleading to a potential reader. What may be considered correctly-blown, "relaxed-air", by you and I could be interpreted as air pressure being produced in a way that would lead a younger reader to ingrain habits that would need be remedied down the road.
At the end of it all I was simply asking for clarification of your post; you did start this particular thread. I apologize for not being direct and simply stating "Please explain more clearly what you are attempting to describe."
If you find my posts condescending, then simply disregard them; or I can gladly refrain from reading and posting on the BBoard- I assuredly do have other things that occupy my schedule.
And at the end of the day what I personally write is probably of little consequence to anyone. Not being "well-known" here, let alone "famous" or a "giant", my posts are likely glanced over with little consideration by most readers.
-Jason
Post Edited (2012-04-24 04:51)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2012-04-24 11:39
I have read in various places that the Horizontal clarinet position was/is used in an attempt to be heard above the backing instruments. It's questionable if the position really accomplishes that. My personal opinion is that it is used for showmanship purposes. I suppose it's possible that some players feel more comfortable with that position for various reasons. Clarinet pedagogy seems to be oriented to the politically correct conventional position since it is more appropriate for band/orchestral seating arrangements.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2012-04-24 12:34
I find playing with the clarinet held in the horizontal position physically uncomfortable if I do so for long, probably because I'm short, with short arms and small hands. Also, I have just enough of an overbite that with the clarinet in horizontal position, it's hard for me to get my lower lip far enough down onto the reed without taking too much of the upper part of the beak into my mouth. It's just not a good embouchure for me: The clarion and altissimo aren't that bad, but I tend to go way sharp in the throat tones if I play bell-up. In the chalumeau, there's a constant risk that I'll honk the 12th, especially if I play forte. (Too bad those directions to play bell-up usually do come in forte passages.) Of course the discomfort and bad playing may be due entirely to my spending very little time practicing in that position, because I have no need to play that way and therefore little incentive to improve the technique beyond the "got to learn everything" compulsion.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2012-04-24 12:36)
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