Author: EricBlack
Date: 2021-02-25 01:55
Hey BaconLord,
I saw this post and the similar post you made on Reddit and have been thinking about it for a few days. I hear a lot of my own internal dialogue in your questions, as this is a subject I have pondered a lot as well. Like you, I have experienced both sides of the coin; some of my teachers demanded massive amounts of air to be put into the horn, another, very little and various others required various amounts in between. It can be very confusing to try and figure out which way is "right." I think one of the hardest things for me to come to terms with as I went through music school and conservatory, is that ultimately there is no "right" way to play. Maybe it's the way I am wired, or perhaps it's a result of the way our education system grades success. But for the majority of my training, I had a deep-seated desire to do things the "correct" way. The unfortunate truth is that there is no "correct" way to play. Oh sure, there are methods and ideas and "rules" regarding embouchure, tonguing, air, sound, etc. that are good guidelines and generally help the majority of players who try them. But for every hard and fast "rule," (play with a flat chin, articulate using the tip of your tongue, your air should be "fast and cold", keep your fingers close to the instrument for fast technique, etc.) I can think of many players who have won major positions or are otherwise phenomenal artists that completely disregard these rules. Music is not an exact science, pedagogy and technique are not either. There is no set path for success. Ultimately, you have to learn to trust yourself and your own ears. Trying to make other people happy with your playing at the expense of your own musical ideas and sound lead to continual dissatisfaction. If you don't like how you sound, even if they do, what is the point?
Ultimately you have to figure out what you want to sound like and trust your ears enough to follow the path required to get you there. You will make natural and almost subconscious changes to your embouchure, air, tongue position, etc. based on what your ears are telling you. My sophomore and junior years of undergrad were some of the most significant in my course of study. I bought a nice pair of headphones and listened to as many clarinet albums as I could find. I put 100's if not 1000's of hours into listening to recordings. It developed my ears in a way simply practicing and performing was never able to. I discovered who's playing I liked, who's playing I didn't like and who's playing I was ambivalent towards. I learned about sound and tone and phrasing and dynamics. The result of all this listening; I now have an extremely clear idea of what sound I want to come out of the instrument in any given moment. This should be the goal of any musician. Your time spent practicing should make it so that you can reliably make those musical and sound ideas a sonic reality. I very rarely consciously think about how much air I need, where my tongue needs to be, how tight my core is etc. or all the other physical aspects of playing the instrument. Because at this point I trust my mind and my ears to inform me as to what my body needs to do to get the sound that I am striving to achieve. Your playing is never going to make everyone happy, so it might as well make you happy.
And just so there is no confusion, I am not suggesting that you ignore your teacher. If you like how they sound and how they play, their guidance can save you a lot of time and internal strife. An outside set of ears that you trust is integral in creating and solidifying your own musical voice. I have learned a tremendous amount from the people I've studied with. We are always learning and should always be learning. Just recognize that what may work for them physically, may not always work for you depending on what you're trying to achieve and that is ok.
TL;DR: Focus on the sound and the music, trust and follow your ears. The rest should fall in place.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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