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Re: Should the embouchure change in different registers?

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2018-02-22 22:35

To make a big subject small, it can briefly be said that you keep your embouchure essentially the same throughout the normal clarinet range but change the position of your tongue, moving it higher as you go into the higher register to keep the pitch up and the voicing of the tone color smooth. A good teacher needs to watch and listen to you to make sure you are doing this correctly. You do not allow the embouchure to go slack on the low notes or to pinch and strain on the high ones. Looked at more closely, the natural drawstring tension of the lips around the mouthpiece and on the reed no doubt increases a bit for the high notes but that happens automatically if you are voicing correctly with your tongue. The overall shape and action of the embouchure should be the same throughout the clarinet range.

Listen to Harold Wright on YouTube play the Bartok Contrasts. The altissimo notes just float out of the instrument--no strain, no wrenching. He's doing it right! Copy that. Ask your teacher to show you how to "half hole" to make upward slurs from the clarion register to the altissimo. You will see that you can keep the embouchure position intact and just the shortening of the air column by half holing along with a small elevation of the tongue easily makes the high notes speak. It's a good idea to use the appropriate etudes (some of the Rose, for example) to practice this every day.

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