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Re: Double-lip for beginner

Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-10-31 04:58

A really cool friend of mine studied with Harold Wright and then Marcellus. A fast background. Harold played with a double lip and Marcellus played for a while with a double lip. My friend Steve Barta played for 50 years or so with the Baltimore Symphony and he switched back and forth depending on the pieces being played. Kind of interesting. So if he wanted to play a slow beautiful piece he might play with a double lip. Marcellus did not force him to play either way as long as his upper lip was strong.

I'm full time double lip. But if you practice using a double lip this will surely build up your upper muscles. As I tell most people doing this, use a mirror and put it on your music stand. So if you sound really good or really bad look at what your embouchure is doing. The key to having a really great sound is a very strong upper lip and a firm embouchure. This means that you are not biting. No teeth marks on a patch, no sore lips, no bloody lips after a few hours of playing.

To answer your question I think if you warm up playing long tones, low E, F those lower notes, with a double lip, starting soft then going to forte, then back to P, 30 to 40 seconds per note this will surely help your sound. You should feel some muscle tension with your upper lip. Now you are on your way to having a great sound. Your embouchure is correctly being set up. If your upper lip hurts, you are biting and stop then try it again in a few minutes after you relax a bit.

I'm not sure if you should convert completely. All of this depends on the high notes above C. If you feel comfortable attacking these notes well go for a complete double lip conversion. If not take your time and use the college years to master your sound.

There are surprisingly a lot of double lip players around. Pretty much all of them have very nice sounds so this is a plus for you to go after. You will sound better than most players with weak embouchures and who bite, mainly bite to hit the high notes. From many years of making mouthpieces, since 1984, when I see those patches on mouthpieces and I haven't heard the person play yet and I see bite marks from teeth digging into the patch I already know a new mouthpiece won't help them. I already know I will hear that closed, thin, tight, throat sound in the upper register.

Get that mirror, play long tones everyday, keep that mirror on your stand for the next 50 years. I promise you will have a sweet sound even if you play with a single or double lip or both; as long as the upper lip is firm and strong.

Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces

Yamaha Artist 2015

Post Edited (2017-11-01 12:42)

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