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Re: Excessive Biting, 'cause mouthpiece pads are delicious...

Author: JasonOlney
Date: 2017-02-03 22:12

Hey imusicman,

Best of luck in all of this. Fighting excessive biting is very hard and even after regular conditioning, biting can sneak back .

I know you said you have already tried softer reeds but I think that you might want to try it again. I mean really soft. 3.5 v12s are your typical reed, try a 2.5. Focus on the pressure that the corners produce and relax your jaw open as much as possible. The goal is to reduce the jaw pressure and increase the lip strength. Your lips might be weaker than you think because they've relied on the jaw for strength. I recommend having a variety of super soft reeds and starting each day with the softest for just a few minutes. Slowly transition through less hard reeds. Try to avoid playing on any reed that takes too much effort. You might even start the soft reed procedure at the beginning of each practice session to reinforce the reduced jaw effort.

Double lip has proven extraordinarily successful for reducing jaw pressure for many players. Double lip requires the upper lip to roll over the top teeth - the bottom and top lips both cushion the mouthpiece from direct teeth touching. I would do less than a minute of double lip playing at a time and stop when the pain starts.

Any effort you make will take some number of weeks, at minimum, to start feeling natural. Not only that, but you may need to reduce the length of practice sessions and have them more often. Be patient with yourself. I think that's the tallest hurdle in any major change in playing style or technique.

Playing with less jaw pressure is worth it, though. You'll feel freer and more commanding of the clarinet than you knew you could.

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