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Snorting Problem, Biting Problem, Air Leak?

Author: silg98
Date: 2017-04-04 04:59

I know this is lengthy, so I sincerely thank anyone who reads this and can offer any advice.

I'm 18 years old and I've been playing the clarinet for almost 7 years. A little over two years ago, I was preparing for an honor band audition while aiming for the best tone possible. I achieved the tone I wanted for the audition, but while I was preparing, my throat started to make a faint straining, snorting noise. I didn't think anything of it at first, but shortly after the honor band ended, this problem became worse. The sound became audible to others and started to affect my ease of playing. It's almost as if half of the air that was supposed to be going through the clarinet was coming out of my nose and throat instead. I did change from Vandoren 56 3.5 reeds to Vandoren 56 3.5+ reeds right after the honor band (I really don't know why I did that), so I'm thinking that may have had something to do with the problem.
I dealt with this problem for over a year until I thought I “fixed” it after taking a two-week break from playing. I don't know exactly how I got the problem to go away for a bit, but I think it had to do with tightening/tweaking my embouchure. I didn't change reed sizes. Shortly after the snorting problem went away, though, I think my embouchure became so tight that I developed a biting problem. I couldn't play without serious bite marks on my lower lip and I started to leak air out of the left side of my mouth. Soon enough, the biting started to hurt and it became extremely difficult to move air through the clarinet, probably because of the biting and air leak combined. My technique became so poor that I had to gasp for air every five seconds. Since I “fixed” the snorting problem without changing reed sizes, I didn’t consider reed size as a factor and I stayed on 3.5+ reeds for a while before going back to size 3.5 a few months ago. Switching reed sizes didn’t seem to make any difference at first, but then the biting problem suddenly subsided when I was playing with the softest reeds in the box. I’ve been only playing with those reeds out of fear of the biting problem coming back.
Right now, though, the snorting problem seems to have returned, and when my embouchure gets fatigued, the biting problem returns. Upon looking in the mirror, I realized that the mouthpiece rests more on the right side of my mouth, which could explain the air leak that started at the onset of the biting problem. I tried repositioning the mouthpiece so that it was more centered but it felt very uncomfortable and unnatural. What frustrates me even more than my countless bad habits is my inconsistency; I never know how I’m going to play from one day to the next. I’ve been praised many times for my tone quality in the past, and I love playing when it’s not unbearable, so I’d love to be able to play to my full potential without these obstructions. Any advice on what to do or where to start would be greatly appreciated.

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