 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: KeenClarinetist
Date: 2016-04-01 05:19
Hello,
I'm mainly a Bb clarinetist, although I've also played both bass and contra (I have to admit, I'm a bit enamoured by the contra). I'm honestly not sure what level I would be considered, but I love to learn about the instrument and ways to improve my tone/tonguing/everything.
I'm in my eighth year of playing, and have only recently learned about biting (as in, within the past year). Needless to say, it's brought up many questions for me, and I haven't been sure where to turn with them. This seems like it would be a fantastic place.
1. What exactly is biting?
My understanding of it is that the lower teeth dig into the lip and the upper teeth dig into the top of the mouthpiece (my first mouthpiece had a bit of a gouge in them, both from me and whoever rented the clarinet before me, which made me consider that I may be biting).
2. How can one tell if they're biting?
I've done some poking around on this one, but I haven't been able to find a source that says what to look for-perhaps I've been looking in the wrong places.
3. Do you have any recommendations on how to work on moving away from biting?
This last one feels a bit ridiculous to ask, as I should have asked long ago, but I've never known who to ask.
4. What is the proper embouchure? How should it be set, and how should it feel?
Thanks in advance!
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Author: qualitycontrol
Date: 2016-04-01 07:22
Proper embouchure is a pretty complex thing that depends a lot on your approach, the sound you want to get and your personal physiognomy. There's a lot of different ways different people would have you wrap your mouth around the mouthpiece, and it would be hard to get a good description of any of them online.
Biting doesn't really fit into any good embouchure, though. If you find you go through mouthpiece cushions very quickly by putting teeth marks in them, you're probably biting too much. If after a very long session of playing, your lower lip is sore, you're probably biting too much.
The sound should come from the air, and people who don't have good enough support often bite hard in the upper register to compensate. Your cheek muscles should support the reed as much as possible, not jaw pressure, and fast air should stimulate the reed without having to put too much pressure on it. When you're done practicing, your cheeks and abdomen should be sore, not your lips.
If you find you have to make adjustments to embouchure depending on the range you're playing in, you're probably biting. If you can't play a scale from low f to altissimo f with a very rigid embouchure—really force yourself to do so without moving any of it, if you have to test—you're probably biting, with a firm embouchure in the upper end that won't work in the low register under the break.
Even though your top teeth are resting on the mouthpiece, try to think more of your top lip pushing down into the mouthpiece, and not your teeth. Your top lips are connected to your cheek muscles, while your top teeth are more mentally connected to your jaw.
Post Edited (2016-04-01 07:24)
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-04-01 10:50
Air is the most important thing in playing the clarinet. Without it, you can spend a lifetime hunting for mouthpieces, reeds, ligatures, and instruments. Put your all into it.
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Author: Jarmo Hyvakko
Date: 2016-04-01 14:57
Biting is, that you use the muscles you use when chewing your food to put tension to the reed. Don't do that! Use the muscles in your lips by tightening them around the mouthpiece. Upper teeth touch the mouthpiece only to support the mouthpiece staying in the right place in your mouth. Test, whether you can waggle the mouthpiece horizontally in your mouth while playing. If you can't you are biting.
Jarmo Hyvakko, Principal Clarinet, Tampere Philharmonic, Finland
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-04-01 16:17
Biting becomes biting when you put more "energy" into the embouchure than is necessary to support the sound.
It may be better to describe what it does. You start with a certain tip opening between the reed and tip of mouthpiece. Biting will make that opening smaller. Now there are a lot of good clarinet players that do this on purpose. It allows some ability to bring pitch DOWN on the fly when you relax.
The down side is that it messes with your twelfths. The short tube notes (mainly "A" and middle line "Bb") and altissimo notes will be forced to play higher where as the longer tube notes will not be as affected. Usually the compromise you make in adjusting for the tuning issues makes you play flatter in more places than you'd like.
The easiest way to combat biting is to approach playing from the standpoint of trying to select the weakest reed you need to achieve a good sound. Then tune using your open "G" as your guide. All your notes should line up (more or less) with how you sound best and tune best with a nice easy open "G."
...............Paul
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2016-04-01 21:47
It is also a good idea to tune to the G an octave above the open G to determine if middle should be pulled out as well.
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2016-04-04 15:32
I think that much of what has been said above is misleading. Yes, the detailed behaviour of lip muscles in clarinet embouchure is complicated, and its subtlety needs to be learned over years through feedback via your ears.
But the setup that allows that learning to take place is simple, once understood; and 'rock hard' is certainly an overstatement.
Here's another approach:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=326104&t=326083
On this account, 'biting' is operating your jaws and teeth like pliers, 'not biting' is operating your jaws and teeth like a wrench.
What could be simpler?
(Notice clarnibass's contribution, by the way. He points out that 'plier-like' behaviour is involved in 'setting' a wrench – and I agree with him.)
Tony
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