Author: razaz03
Date: 2015-05-23 21:54
Hi all,
Disclaimer: I'm an adult new to the clarinet (and instruments in general).
I have one of my front teeth longer than the other such that when I press them down on the mouth piece, it will (naturally) rotate my instrument a little bit in resting position.
That in itself doesn't bother me, but it seems that (perhaps) because of this, one cheek - and only one cheek, gets a little puffy when playing which does bother me greatly as I do not want to develop any atypical habbits early on, and the asymmetry will take it's toll when playing for a long time, which I fully intend to do as I love the instrument.
I've tried covering my front teeth with my top lip just intuitively - apparently this is a widely adopted technique you guys aptly call double lip. It works a treat in every way for me - helping to produce (in my opinion) better sound and it seems to alleviate that puffer/crooked teeth concern as it doesn't happen when playing double lip.
The problem is my teacher is so staunchly opposed to double lip that's she's explicitly forbidden me from using it. I don't know the history behind single/double and frankly, unless it has any downsides I should worry about - I don't care.
Right now it's probably the case that, given time I could get equivalent sound and fewer drawbacks (screeches and puffy cheeks) from single as I currently have with double, I just don't feel the need to delay my progression (and potentially reintroduce any issues that might crop up due to my teeth).
I also don't want to defy her (she's tough and I fear she'll beat me with her instrument). Plus she is right in that my tone isn't currently smooth and the pitch does change when playing double lip (probably because of stability issues).
Literally my only concern is that my crooked teeth will perpetuate a disability when playing single-lip. I am considering filing one down at the dentists but the waiting queues for anything health-related is trash in my country.
Any advice is gladly welcome!
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The Clarinet BBoard
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