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My Experience with Double Lip Embouchure

Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-10-09 22:36

This post is long. By no means feel compelled to read it, let alone in its entirety. I won't be offended.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Although I studied many years ago with Leon Russianoff, who was a wonderful teacher, and have played single lip for most of my time as a clarinet player, later in my life I was influenced by the likes of

Kalmen Opperman,

https://www.amazon.com/Kalmen-Opperman-Excellence-Denise-Gainey/dp/B078Y7WQK8

Tom Ridenour (an Opperman student)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FObgaNh9DQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E03zHygaXhU

Corrado Guiffredi

the great Harold Wright

and even stuff

Ricardo Morales

has had to say about the embouchure—even if not one who uses it regularly or exclusively.

Although I cannot see differences in my sound on digital analyzers when I play double versus single lip, and suspect that few could tell the difference in my sound using either embouchure, to my ears there is a subtle difference in sound between the two techniques, double lip sounding more pleasing.

To me, double lip embouchure seems, if I were to start a new on clarinet, the better way to grip a mouthpiece. I say this because to my way of thinking, to emphasize bite strength, rather than concentrate on all the muscles in the face that grab a mouthpiece from all sides (including bite), and squeeze towards a center point, is an approach that leads to sub-optimal results. Many a player before me has drawn analogy between the embouchure and a rubber band, not a vice grip. And the additional opening of the oral cavity, and upper palate that comes part in parcel with double lip play is an added plus in my opinion to sound production.

So I started playing double lip, using the isolation of Covid a few years ago as the perfect opportunity to approach this task. And it was not easy: having to deal with physical pain and muscle exhaustion.

First, as all clarinet players will attest to, years of play has had us form the necessary adaption on the inside of our lower lip to the lower teeth contacting it, single or double lip embouchure alike.

Of course not so with the inside of our upper lip, as double lip embouchure requires, and the pressure the upper teeth place on it.

So initially, covering my front top teeth with some cover of sorts proved necessary.

I would play sections of pieces until the sooner of pain or exhaustion, mostly the latter with such protective upper tooth guards in place, would kick in, striving for longer and longer segments of double lip play time with each practice session.

And eventually I no longer required such upper front teeth protection, usually.

Additionally the duration of time I could play double lip got longer to the point where at symphonic band rehearsals, where unlike home practice time, there were enough rests built into pieces that I could give my face muscles a rest, I could play the duration of a 2 hour rehearsal this way.

I so enjoy how much smoother an entry I can make using double lip embouchure when pianissimo sound levels are required, and that such ensemble work often necessitates when you're, unlike in orchestra, one of 15 other clarinet players.

Additionally, I play a relatively closed tip Vandoren M15 mouthpiece, along with strength 3 reeds: a combination even weaker than Vandoren's suggested reed strength range for this setup.

But even after a year of play, my endurance is not that of single lip play, particularly for notes like C6 [C6]

, or ones higher than G6 [G6]

where fatigue comprises their ability to be played, much less in tune after a few minutes at double lip play.

Still more, there are phrases, despite all the Opperman guidance on light fingers (Opperman use to take nearly all the tension out of the throat A key [A4]

in his student's instruments,) that are just minefields for the budding double lip play, like ones that quickly alternate between few and many fingers down, or ones of similar speed that have intervals with throat tones. In short, passages that rock the instrument, no matter how lightly, create further difficult for double lip play.

And for all the lightness of touch and most carefully setup instruments.....for all the Ridenour guidance of increasing the pressure on the right thumb to stabilize the instrument and snug the mouthpiece for both ultra high notes and such difficult finger passages, I was faced (no pun intended) with the evolutionary reality that bite strength, and ability to consume food, rather than the strength and ability to “hold a sword in ones's mouth” or at least have the overall facial strength to do so for durations, was "far less favored in my species from a Darwinian perspective."

Every so often I'd grow frustrated. My quest was not helped by listening to the wonderful sound of single lip players like Jon Manasse , or Gregory Raden, the former Manasse's sound so smooth it sometimes sounds to me like it was electronically produced (even though of course it isn't).

Fortunately, I'd have Harold Wright to re-inspire me.

All this said, I don't think my work was in vain, and perhaps is best summarized by the aforementioned Morales linked video.

Double lip embouchure has given me a sound concept and way to produce it that I do my best to transfer over to single lip. Even under single lip play, and as a result of my double lip play experience, I place minimal pressure on the top of the mouthpiece and incorporate comparable side muscle pressure via the buccinator muscles etc., to those muscles that facilitate bite. I am convinced that Manasse, a student of double lip playing David Weber, was advantaged by his teacher's sound concept, and I would not be surprised to find out that he too found his own way, through single lip play, of developing the accommodations he saw fit to get the best out of his single lip sound (not that for a second this amateur seeks to compare himself to Jon.)

I've heard from a reliable source (that will remain anonymous) that Jon was a double lip player during parts of his training. I don't know if this is true.

I may never fully adopt double lip play. But I don't regret the journey. I've developed the ability to quickly switch between the two embouchures and find that at times, particularly for short durations, that nothing beats double lip.

Were I to have a solo for a few measures of ensemble work, I'm pretty sure I'd switch to double lip if afforded the chance.