The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: smill01
Date: 2025-09-24 04:20
There’s a common exercise given for glissando and flexibility, using mouthpiece only. Start on a normal pitch, drop using only the throat, back to normal pitch, drop it further, repeat all the way down a perfect fourth. Ee-aww. I’ve tried this a few times over the years but never gotten more than a minor third down.
So my question is, am I missing something basic, or does this just take thousands of reps to extend the range downward?
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2025-09-24 07:10
Hi smill01,
I'm not familiar with the exercise. To me, "Ee-aww" hints at rear tongue position as much as (more than?) it does throat.
What is the stated benefit of doing it this way, and can those benefits be achieved more easily using a different method?
Just curious. There's a lot of stuff out there pitched as "the right way" - when in reality, it might be "one of many right ways" depending on how a person approaches the instrument. Perhaps there's a better "right way" to achieve it for you?
If it's just a fun challenge for you, then please don't let me rain on the fun. I do think the ee-aww hints at the importance of the tongue though.
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-09-25 02:09
I was all set to say that it’s all lip pressure and placement! However, the first component seems to be related to the placement of the back of the tongue. If you add the pressure release and lowering of the lower lip/teeth (a little), you should achieve an octave.
………..Paul Aviles
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-09-25 02:34
I feel I need to be controversial tonight, so I’ll add my usual correction to the clarinet lore that DOES need correction. The human throat is inert (unlike a giraffe which does have voluntary muscles of the throat). For us we have been referring to the back of the tongue (which is much larger than just what we se in the mirror).
So, it IS back of the tongue.
………… Paul Aviles
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Author: smill01
Date: 2025-09-25 13:37
Paul, I know this must’ve been a while ago, but did you have that octave range right out of the box, or did it take a while to develop it?
Fuzzy, here’s an example video where John Bruce Yeh talks about this as an exercise for flexibility:
https://youtu.be/hQ64TqmOBg0?si=NYNVe08Z0udyKlzA. At 2:02:49.
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2025-09-25 16:18
Thanks Smill01!
To me, it appears he's changing his embouchure to start the "gliss" (which is totally normal for many people - nothing wrong with that), but as Paul mentioned...it probably involves changing the pressure slightly at the beginning of each "gliss."
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-09-25 17:44
I studied with John years and years ago.
I never heard of the mouthpiece only exercise, so I don't know for sure. I think I'm a little more open to using EVERYTHING in the arsenal to get things done these days so maybe not.
But to clarify. For me, you start with the back of the tongue and end with the lips. Since I have never been able to gliss bellow the clarion, I get things started (in Rhapsody in Blue for example) by just nudging the low B (line in the middle of the staff) open ever so slightly so that there is a smear starting FROM that B.
John used to say, "open throat is closed throat." Because the AHHH position of the tongue shoves the back the the tongue down into the throat which actually causes the airway to be somewhat occluded.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-09-25 17:59
It's interesting to me OP that you cite Mr. Yeh, a double lip player, concerning this drill.
I say this because as a player who switches off between double and single lip embouchure I'd find this exercise much easier to reach lower notes on played double than single lip.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2025-09-25 19:26
There is one simple possibility - your reeds may not be responsive enough. If the tip is unbalanced or just too stiff for the mouthpiece, it will limit your pitch flexibility with or without the clarinet attached.
Karl
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Author: brycon
Date: 2025-09-26 09:03
Quote:
There is one simple possibility - your reeds may not be responsive enough. If the tip is unbalanced or just too stiff for the mouthpiece, it will limit your pitch flexibility with or without the clarinet attached.
Very good point. Also, some mouthpieces allow for more pitch flexibility when doing this exercise (I have a jazz student who can bend pitches like Sidney Bichet. When he tried this exercise on a particular mouthpiece, though, the pitch would bend down to a certain point then jump back up to the concert C/C#.)
I'd also suggest to the OP that there isn't much more to get out of the exercise. If you can bend down a third: great. Is bending the pitch down two more half step going to make you noticeably better clarinet player? Almost certainly not. Fussing with these types of exercises is kind of like the athletes who can do crazy drills, such as shooting a basketball in one hand while dribbling another in the other hand, which have almost no carry over into the actual playing of the game.
This exercise can be good for learning how to gliss on the clarinet. But I find the most helpful thing it teaches is an awareness of the tongue, oral cavity, and embouchure and how manipulating these things affects the color and pitch of the clarinet.
When you bend the pitch downward, for example, can you maintain the tone color by keeping the air stream the same? For most people, as the pitch goes down, the air widens and slows down, making the tone color more diffuse. Keeping the air consistent while manipulating the oral cavity, tongue, and embouchure is kind of like patting your head while rubbing your stomach; it's this sort of independence of parts that helps your playing. If you can do these things but only reach a third, I don't see why you need to continue practicing it: do some other exercises and come back to this one later down the road.
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