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RE: Sore upper lip

Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2001-04-13 07:35

Karel --

First of all, in order to learn true double lip playing, you really need the help of a coach who can actually play double lip in an artistic manner. You will get nowhere listening to the usual misinformation from those confirmed single lip players who do not believe it is possible to play double lip effectively, probably because they themselves gave up on double lip after a brief but painful attempt many years ago, and possibly also because they have never met anyone who could actually play double lip successfully.

The reason we experience pain in the upper lip area on our first attempts to play double lip is that the muscles which control the upper lip area are totally undeveloped, just as the muscles which control the lower lip were totally undeveloped when we began to play the clarinet single lip.

Successful and artistic double lip playing requires the development and control of certain facial muscles of which most single lip players are not even aware. It also requires development and control of the air stream, throat, oral and nasal passages to a similar degree as is achieved by fine vocalists, especially the classical vocalists.

BTW, very few of us play double lip exclusively. Most of us for whom double lip is the preferred method of playing alternate it with single lip. For example, we will play a slow expressive passage double lip and then switch to single lip for certain technical passages, especially fast passages in remote keys which involve serious mechanical problems with the hands and fingers. Or we will switch from one to the other and back again as a way of resting tired facial muscles.

If you will go to Sherman Friedland's Corner on this website, you will find several most instructive items on double lip by Mr. Friedland, including a listing of some of the great clarinetists who played double lip exclusively.

Keith Stein's seminal book The Art of Clarinet Playing has several sections on double lip playing. Stein was himself a double lip player although he did not insist that his students play that way, and most of his top students (such as David Pino) played single lip most or all of the time.

There is a great article on double lip playing dating from the late 1940s written by Ralph McLane when he was solo clarinetist in the Philadelphia Orchestra. It is apparently out of print, as are all too many such pieces.

The best description of a true double lip embouchure I have come across is that written by Alexandre Selmer in the early years of the 20th century. He said that the lips should fit around the mouthpiece like a rubber band, only tight enough to keep air from escaping. This results in a pursing or bunching of the lips, which is the exact opposite of the stretched lips in the "smile" embouchure. If you can find a photo or video of Richard Stoltzman playing clarinet, you will see what I mean. Also see Larry Teal's description of his ideal saxophone embouchure (single lip) in his book The Art of Saxophone Playing. Teal also describes some great exercises for developing strength in the facial muscles.

Back to your immediate problem. While you are developing your facial muscles and air stream, here are a few tricks to help you along.

Resting the clarinet on a knee will help to keep the horn steady, since at first the horn will tend to move around quite a bit. It is better to rest it on your left knee than the right, which is far more commonly done. But resting the horn on a knee will do little if anything to help the pressure problem on high C.

Try this: roll your L first finger upward as if you are going to play a throat A, except move the finger above and past the A key cup and rest the side of the finger on the top of the body of the clarinet, about where the trademark is on a Buffet and on many other makes of clarinet. Using this trick you should be able to sustain a high C without any problem.

Altissimo will be a problem at first but if you perservere, you will be able to play up to super C in tune and more dependably than your single lip brethren and sisteren, provided that your reed is strong enough.

BTW, disregard the talk about double lip players having to use soft reeds. We are the same as single lip players in this regard. Some play soft reeds, some play medium, some play hard. For example, the softest clarinet reed I play under any circumstances is ~ a #3 1/2 Vandoren or ~ a #4 Mitchell Lurie. I usually play ~ a #4 Vandoren or ~a #4 1/2 or #5 Lurie. No, I do not have a callus under my upper lip. I do not have a callus under my lower lip either. The last time I had a callus under my lower lip was in the late 1950s when I played single lip with #2 1/2 reeds.

Another trick is to rest the side of the R first finger on the rod part of the mechanism which includes the three R hand rings. This will help steady the horn, especially if you do not care to rest the horn on a knee.

Lastly, you can help steady the horn while playing open notes such as chalumeau F or high C by resting one or both little fingers on the long keys. Your pitch won't change since there are so many open holes above those closed by the little finger keys.

If all else fails, switch to single lip for the problem notes such as high C until your top lip musculature is sufficiently developed.

Good luck and let us know how you are progressing.

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