 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Late_returner
Date: 2018-07-31 13:46
Purely for interest sake I am puzzled with trying to understand how people worked ( ? still do ? ) with reed -on -top mouthpieces.
I assume the top lip did the work we use the bottom lip for, but also ...
1/ is the beak cut the other way ?
2/ does the tongue have to curl up and over in order to strike the reed downwards ?
3/ can a high back tongue be maintained ?
4/ was this also the time when "reeds" were not add ons but thin slivers of the intrinsic mp wood ?
5/ was reed on top, reed part of mp, the method used that so delighted Mozart in clarinet playing ?
6/ when did we change ?
If anyone could explain I would be most grateful.
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Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2018-07-31 16:03
I can't answer all but from the experience of talking with old players a long time ago...
#1 They used double lip with the beak close to the same as today and clarinet aimed straight out.
#2 They 'articulated' with the air like singers do.
#6 One clever player discovered that the tongue worked better to articulate with the mouthpiece turned 'upside down'.
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Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2018-07-31 20:42
Hello Late returner,
The answers to your questions are answered fully in Albert Rice's book, The Clarinet in the Classical Period, starting on pg. 82, in the section entitled Mouthpiece and Embouchure Position.
Among other things, Rice states "the majority of 18th-century clarinetists played with the reed placed against the upper lip" and that preference for reed above or below was often determined by the nationality of the player.
The earliest mention of the French preference for reed above was in a 1764 treatise, which also pointed out that because the reed was on top, the "lungs must substitute for the tongue stroke, due to the position of the reed under the roof of the mouth", a technique known as chest articulation.
Simon
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2018-07-31 22:02
The Rendall book on clarinet has some statement as well..unable to find my copy though.
David Dow
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2018-08-01 04:32
I like to play with the mouthpiece upside to break up boredom every now and then. There's only so many times I can play Patton's Theme and not be bored so I try out something different.
Double lip, stick clarinet WAY out to get a decent angle of air and articulation, and an understanding that it is going to feel EXTREMELY wierd and not sound good (cause you're not used to it). Don't strike the tongue down, but strike forward like a snake strike to the tip of the reed (when I fool around with it, my tongue hits the reed AND mouthpiece tip and I feel the rounded plastic as well as cane...much like putting your hand flat onto a garden hose)
Its not impossibly, just inefficient, especially if you've spent so much time working on reed down playing.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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