 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2013-04-07 13:37
A student came to me yesterday with an embouchure problem that he is struggling with. He is an advanced student (masters) but hasn't yet found a solution to this problem.
Basically it seems as though the muscles above his upper lip hardly have any strength at all. When he starts playing, a large pocket of air builds up behind his upper lip and it starts to swell up and leak air. He's been battling with this problem for years and has tried all kinds of things, including double lip embouchure. I tried several things with him, like where to push with the upper lip and where to position his tongue. I couldn't find anything to help. I tried his set-up and it seemed quite easy blowing to me. When he plays it, the visual appearance is as if he's playing an incredibly resistant set-up and the air starts ballooning behind his upper lip immediately.
Another strange thing, perhaps related, is the structure of his gums. Above his upper teeth, the gums seem to recede back quite a lot, so there is always a gap between his gum and his upper lip. Maybe this accounts for the build-up of air in this area? I wondered what would happen if he filled in the area with some material, but he said he's tried it and it didn't make any difference. His upper lip also seems very thin to me, perhaps because there is very little muscle there?
I am completely stumped with this student. He is a talented player, but obviously can't really get much further with this problem. Has anybody ever seen anything like this before? Any ideas or advice would be much appreciated.
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Author: MichaelW
Date: 2013-04-07 13:57
Darf ich auf Deutsch schreiben? Hier an der Musikhochschule (HMTM Hannover) gibt es, offenbar als einziges in Deutschland, das Institut für Musikphysiologie und Musikermedizin:
http://www.immm.hmtm-hannover.de/
Könnte das eine Adresse für Ihren Schüler sein? Gruß M.W.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-04-07 16:51
Many years ago a jazz clarinetist friend suffered nerve damage around his upper lip when somebody walked into the clarinet while he was playing. It resulted in a similar problem. His dentist made up some sort of temporary insert for his upper lip which enabled him to continue playing until the damage eventually healed itself. I think he also used a strip of tape along the upper lip line as well.
Tony F.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-04-07 19:37
Any dentist can make an impression of the area above your student's teeth and make a flexible insert that will fill in the area where his gums are receding. However, I doubt that this will cure the problem, which is insufficient upper lip strength.
I play double lip and have a short upper lip. I strengthened the muscles there by putting an old reed on a junk mouthpiece and holding it, double lip, entirely with my lips. I quickly became able to hold the weight of the mouthpiece more or less indefinitely. It works great when I'm watching mindless TV or driving.
I then added a barrel and worked up to about 30 seconds. It helps to alternate reed-up and reed-down, which exercises different muscles.
There's a product called Chop-Sticks http://www.liemartech.com/Chop-Sticks/, marketed to brass instrument players, but a pencil works just as well, and the mouthpiece-barrel combination works on all the embouchure muscles. See http://forums.chisham.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=36031.
When I can't keep a mouthpiece and barrel with me, I take a restaurant plastic drinking straw, snip it into three pieces, flatten it once or twice and do the exercise, squeezing down on the flexible tube. I also hold it across my lips and squeeze with both lips. Don't cut the straw into more than three pieces, since you want to make it too big to inhale and choke on.
The Facial Flex Ultra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up9r-CB9isg, strengthens the corners of your lips. It's used by Japanese women to create a small-looking mouth. There was an inconclusive discussion of it here a few years ago. Any clarinetist with a decent embouchure should be able to overpower the elastic too easily to let it provide sufficient resistance.
Another device is at <chttp://www.u-trainer.com/indexengholz.html>, but it's rather expensive. There's a demo in German at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4WfAwrRyUE. Begin at 4:10. There's a simplified demo in English at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhHo-b9P0bc.
A site for those with lip muscle weakness after oral surgery http://tonguethrust.weebly.com/resources.html recommends taking a doctor's tongue depressor, inserting it vertically between the upper lip and teeth and prying it gently while resisting the pressure with the upper lip muscles.
A heroic solution would be for your student to practice long tones and slow scales with the reed on top (double lip, of course). Gino Cioffi (the principal in the Boston Symphony) learned that way and said he preferred it. I can maintain a reed-up embouchure for about 10 seconds, and I like the sound I get.
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Taras12
Date: 2013-04-07 19:57
Is it only when he plays clarinet? If he has other trouble, such as eating, speaking, etc., he might need to seek medical help.
Tristan
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2013-04-08 06:16
Lieber Michael,
danke für deine Idee. Ich werde das Link dem Student weiterleiten. Kann mann das Institut als nicht-HMTM Student besuchen?
Freundliche Grüsse,
Robert
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2013-04-08 06:20
Thanks for all your comments. Ken, I'll pass along the embouchure exercise links to the student. He's already been trying to hold a mouthpiece or pencil in his mouth, but can't manage it at all.
I've always been fascinated by the idea that people actually played with the reed on top. When I first heard about this as a student, I resolved to become the first player to re-introduce this on historical clarinets. However, my attempts have been miserable and I don't have the patience. Do you think mouthpieces for reed-above playing were designed differently?
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Author: MichaelW
Date: 2013-04-08 23:30
I suppose that informations about the „Institut für Musikphysiologie und Musikermedizin“ at Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien here in Hannover might be of some interest for other forum readers, too. So I’ll try to answer in English.
From their homepage (see my posting from 04-07) I understand that they have their research and teaching focus on neurophysiology of musical practice and work- related diseases of musicians. They have an outpatient department for patients with such diseases, especially for diagnosis and treatment of musculosceletal and neurologic dysfunctions, which is licensed by health insurance (at least for patients from Germany). Enquiries per phone under: +49 (0)511 3100-552 or Telefax: +49 (0)511 3100-557.
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