Author: Matt74
Date: 2022-01-25 22:21
If you are hurting your lip, you are biting. It's an awful habit to get into, trust me I know. You need to correct that ASAP, even if it slows your progress for a while. You need to give your embouchure muscles the time to develop, and learn control. Don't rely on your jaw muscles.
When people say "embouchure" they do not mean jaw muscles. "Embouchure" comes from the french word "bouche" for "mouth", meaning lips. It's the muscles all around your mouth, not your jaw. Your jaws are already about 1000 x stronger than you need to play the clarinet.
The primary cause of squeaking is the player. You are almost certainly doing something wrong that needs fixed. This is 100% normal for a new player. The clarinet is inherently "squeaky". If you have have a bad mouthpiece it can be a lot worse.
A softer reed won't make you squeak more. It sounds like you are trying to control the sound with your jaw. Without the resistance of the harder reed you can't control the sound and start to squeak. If that is the case, you need to learn to control it the right way, which will take time.
Focus on tone production, rather than the strength of the reeds. Listen for "full" and "rich", not "loud".
Get your horn checked for leaks. Even the tiniest leak makes notes "stuffy", which can make you work harder to get them. That makes you tense up and squeak. What you call "less pressure" may already be too much.
A 3.25 would already be considered "on the hard side", especially for someone at 3 months. Saxophonists have this thing about using the hardest reeds possible, but the same is not true of clarinetists. If you are biting a lot, you may be closing the reed off completely when you play high.
Reed strength depends a lot on your mouthpiece. Generally speaking, a long lay with a close tip requires a harder reed. A short lay with an open tip requires a softer reed. Some brands work better with certain mouthpieces. Synthetic reeds seem to be more temperamental about which mouthpiece you use. If you are using a hard reed on an open mouthpiece (which is most likely the case), you may feel like you have to bite. If you don't have control, you will squeak. The problem in that case is that the reed is too hard already.
A few months is a very short period of time. It's probably better to focus on your tone in the first two registers, up to high "C" (ooo|ooo). You should not have to bite at all to get those notes. Most of the effort should come from your diaphragm.
The way you produce high notes, especially in the third register, high "D" (oxx|xoo xo) and up, is to use your soft palate, throat, and tongue to create an "overtone". You are making the horn vibrate in a different way. If you have have your soft palate, throat, and tongue correct you do not need to bite - and it sounds a lot better.
In the second register, you may have to shape the air little above second register "G" (xxx|ooo), but it should mostly do it on it's own, you are just making it more resonant. If the notes above G want to "grunt" or fall down to the first register, you need to have your horn serviced. Tell them what's happening.
Harder reeds (in my experience) give you more stability in the higher notes, but they don't necessarily make hitting them easier (if you are doing it right), and they don't prevent squeaking. Harder reeds may make you bite, and that will make playing higher more difficult.
You can make any reed work better by learning to "balance" them with a knife or sandpaper.
I second the video.
Best wishes.
- Matthew Simington
Post Edited (2022-01-25 23:10)
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