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RE: Throat and Tone Color

Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-04-16 18:07

Matt -

Good advice in this thread. I took a couple of lessons from Peter Clinch several years ago, and he really knew his stuff.

It's very easy to get into the habit of "mirroring" your articulation by moving your jaw or moving your larynx up and down. I had to break myself of the habit of silently singing as I played -- that is, varying the tension of my vocal cords, without vocalizing.

Every bit of extra motion slows you down. A good way to find out what you're doing is to watch yourself in a mirror. There should be no visible movement of your jaw or throat when you tongue.

Close your eyes, play a fortissimo low E and let someone pull the instrument out of your mouth without warning. Don't resist the pull, and don't stop blowing. Try the same thing on a middle B. If you're creating resistance by partly closing your vocal cords, this is adding tension to your playing and preventing you from getting a free sound.

Here's what I did. I put an extra soft reed on my mouthpiece. Then, I made an embouchure without the clarinet in my mouth and blew as if I were playing, making sure my throat was open. Then I opened my mouth and supported the mouthpiece entirely with my lips. Of course, my vocal cords immediately closed, as I found when I pulled the clarinet out of my mouth. I had to do it many, many times before I broke the connection between playing clarinet and tensing my vocal cords.

Keep at it until the new feeling becomes natural. You have to get used to not feeling that resistance, but instead feeling the pressure of the air against the reed, with nothing in between.

It's not easy, but once you get the feel, it will make a big improvement in your sound.

Then you can start experimenting on different throat positions. These make a difference only when you get rid of any barrier between your breath and the sound.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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