 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-04-01 00:21
Yesterday,I obtained Clarinetist's compendium by Daniel Bonade published by Leblanc.In page one he writes:
"Position of the Mouthpiece in the Mouth
The mouthpiece should be laid on the lower lip(curved
inward against the teeth),at about an inch and half from
the tip of the reed,at a 45 degree angle,then the upper
jaw should close on the upper part of the mouthpiece,
upper teath falling naturally at about half an inch from
the tip of the mouthpiece."
The lengths from the tip 1.5"(lower) and 0.5"(upper) are
obviously wrong. And it can be shown by a simple arithmetic.
If the 0.5"(upper) is right,the correct length(lower) is
0.7".
cf.I assumed the MP wedge angle is 30 degrees:lower plate 10 degrees and upper 20 degrees to the centerline. Then,calculation can be made:
0.5*cos(15deg)/cos(45deg)=0.7"
At first I thought Bonade is talking about the position of the lower lip's lower end.If so,his lip thickness is 1.5 minus 0.7=0.8"(20mm). Quite a thick lip!
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-04-01 01:26
Hiroshi,
did you account for the jaw movement and tooth occlusion? That will change the dimensions drastically from straight mathematics.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-04-01 01:47
Frankly no. And jaw movement cannot be assumed since it depends on how upper and lower teeth rows stands with each other. So I would like to change my statement to a
question:
I would like to ask clarinetists reading this BBS what is the lower lip holding position from the tip? This is since Bonade's 1.5"(38mm) is quite a large to a person with a small mouth like me. I may be able to insert this large amount,but then I will not be able to tongue the tip of the reed!
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Author: Fred McKenzie
Date: 1999-04-01 11:03
Hiroshi wrote:
-------------------------------
would like to ask clarinetists reading this BBS what is the lower lip holding position from the tip? This is since Bonade's 1.5"(38mm) is quite a large to a person with a small mouth like me. I may be able to insert this large amount,but then I will not be able to tongue the tip of the reed!
Hiroshi-
I think you have answered your own question. For an author to make such a statement about an "ideal" position, he couldn't have taken real humans into consideration.
Suppose a player does it wrong, but becomes a brilliant performer. Doesn't that tend to redefine the ideal?
Fred
<A HREF="http://www.dreamnetstudios.com/music/mmb/index.htm">MMB</A>
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Author: Roger Harvey
Date: 1999-04-01 11:32
Hiroshi,
How can I get a copy of Bonade's Clarinetist's Compendium?
Is it available from Leblanc, or from bookshops?
If the latter does it have an ISBN number?
Thanks for your help,
Roger Harvey
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Author: Ray Swing
Date: 1999-04-01 15:51
Obviously no one who has replied so far has taken a measurment of their own playing position. My position is approximately 1/2 inch down the reed for the bottom lip and 1/2 inch from the MP tip to the teeth contact (or double lip contact) on the top of the MP. So Bonade's book must have been a typo. Check 1 1/2 inches down the reed and you have the whole MP in your mouth, impossible.Either that or this is an April Fool bunch of postings.
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Author: Kevin Bowman
Date: 1999-04-01 17:02
I haven't taken actual measurements but I can tell you that my lowe lip position is about 1/2 inch from the tip of the reed (or slightly more) and my upper teeth touch about 1/8 inch from the tip. Could Bonade's measurements be in centimeters? This would make more sense.
Kevin Bowman
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 1999-04-01 17:12
A great discussion, well said!. Since orthodonture {sp?} was not common when I grew up, my overbite was not corrected and probably caused consternation with teachers re: the non-standard angle I played comfortably at [my Eng Major wife says "a preposition is a poor thing to end a sentence WITH" ] !! Nevertheless I play fairly well, prob 1/2 inch upper and lower but will measure! Don
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-04-05 00:15
Rodger:I bought a copy from Sourthern Music Company at,
http://www.southernmusic.com/
Just 3$.
I was releved to find I have a mouth of enough size.The
description in Bonade's book may be a typographical error.
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