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Re: Embouchure Jaw Position

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2024-04-16 07:18

I admit a little confusion regarding the placement of the lower teeth along the reed. There should be no ambiguity about going too far down the reed (or rather taking in too much mouthpiece). You immediately loose control and only squeal wildly when you pass the point where reed and mouthpiece come together. It has been pointed out by others that you "can" play at any point from there back toward the tip, but it is my experience that your sound is best when you take advantage of the full length of lay that the mouthpiece has by positioning as close to "that point" as possible.

So it should be a matter of just taking in more mouthpiece rather than jutting your jaw forward. It does sound to me that strain would eventually creep in to that posture (TMJ related strain) whether you can avoid that in the short term.

For me, the idea is to make most of clarinet playing as natural and comfortable a posture as you can muster. Usually, exaggerated positions and muscular engagement only causes unnecessary work.

...............Paul Aviles

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