The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: hissing/airy sound

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-09-23 06:26

TomS wrote:

> Embouchure "blow by" sounds to be the problem.
>
> My teacher's solution was simple: "Hey Tom, stop leaking air!
> Just quit it!" ... I just did what I could to tighten up and
> the hiss went away. No magic, just an effort to stop leaking.
>

That's one cause I left out. If air escaping around the mouthpiece is the problem, it's important to change is to the firmness of the lips, not the amount of jaw pressure.

g81gr wrote:

> This sound is less if i press harder on the reed
> but every note goes sharp...

So, if you try to correct an air leak by biting harder, you may drive the pitch higher and cause response problems as you close the reed against the mouthpiece. A leak needs to be stopped by firming up the lips around the mouthpiece.

Just out of curiosity, have you changed your ligature recently? An escaping stream of air can catch an edge on some ligatures that amplifies any hiss. If you've only noticed your noise recently, you might think about anything you've changed to see whether reversing the change gets rid of the problem.

Karl

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics