 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kitty
Date: 2018-10-06 17:11
I've taken up b-flat clarinet again after no playing for, drum roll, 27 years. I am 49 years old. I remember all the fingers and have a good tone, but I have no strength in my face muscles. My embouchure starts failing at about the 1min 30sec mark. What's going on? Is it my age? What can I do to get stronger? I appreciate any advice.
ksf
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Author: kdk
Date: 2018-10-06 17:28
kitty wrote:
> My embouchure starts failing at about the 1min 30sec
> mark. What's going on? Is it my age? What can I do to get
> stronger? I appreciate any advice.
>
Take the instrument away from your mouth for a minute, then try to play some more. As with any muscle, if it's only lack of endurance, as it most probably is, you build it by exerting it, then letting blood flow restore its oxygen level, then repeating.
It's very possible that you're playing on reeds that are too stiff and that you're biting on them to make them play. You might have the instrument checked for air leaks, which could cause you to have to work harder to produce a tone and to tire more quickly.
The bottom line is that you just have to play consistently in short spurts, increasing the length of the spurts as you build endurance. If practice doesn't improve things, a check with your family doctor might be in order, but it sounds like your mouth muscles are just "out of shape."
Karl
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Author: fernie121
Date: 2018-10-06 20:45
Don’t force yourself to play beyond what you are capable of right now. Like KDK said, short spurts. I would also recommend to make sure you’re embouchure is “correct” and to make sure you have enough mouthpiece in your mouth. Since this is where people naturally tend to do wrong. An embouchure built around not enough mouthpiece will most certainly lead to biting, your reeds feeling harder than they should and more strain on the small muscles on your lips than there should be.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-10-07 01:45
If you are experimental in nature and willing to throw a couple hundred dollars at the problem, I might suggest trying the Viotto N1 (German) mouthpiece with #2 1/2 Vandoren Classic White Master reeds. This combination yields a beautiful sound and great dynamic range with almost no embouchure effort at all (like playing a saxophone... without those horrid sounds).
The German facing is quite long and you'll have to do the "squawk test" to ensure you are taking in enough mouthpiece (which everyone should do on every mouthpiece anyway). You continually play an open "G" while taking in more and more mouthpiece until you get a horrendous, uncontrollable squawk. Just back off slightly from there, and that is your ideal spot. The German mouthpieces will feel like you're taking in way too much mouthpiece until you get used to it.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: QuickStart Clarinet
Date: 2018-10-08 16:09
Since you haven't played for so long there is definitely some embouchure strength that is going to need to be built up again. The danger of playing with a fatigued embouchure, of course, is developing bad habits to compensate.
My best advice would be to practice long tones making sure your embouchure remains steady (and is good in the first place). Then spend much more time focusing on the air. If you aren't playing with strong, consistent, and directed air, then there are all kinds of crazy things your embouchure will try to do to make a good sound.
Josh Goo
QuickStart Clarinet Founder
www.quickstartclarinet.com
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Author: Caco
Date: 2018-10-08 22:37
Michael Lowenstern has a wonderful clarinet embouchure muscle building exercise on his YouTube page. I have used it with students and seen great success! Here is the link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4d2gpRysZY
Cheers!
Dale
Michigan
Performer/Teacher
Post Edited (2018-10-08 23:18)
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