Author: Ron
Date: 2005-11-27 14:33
Hello,
First, how long have you been playing single lip and are you satisfied with your tone, intonation and ease of articulation?
I started to play double lip at age 10 when I started taking lessons with James Collis. I used Charpen reeds, strength 1.5. Throughout my school days, there were band directors including one who was a clarinetist who all told me that I needed to play on stiffer reeds. This comment was based on my thinner tone particularly in the upper register. I continued to study with Gino Cioffi who himself played double lip. During my years with Mr. Cioffi, I played on Van Doren Blue Box strength 3.0 on a Van Doren 5RV mouthpiece. My tone was much better at this time because I was older and played on stiffer reeds. When I was 30 years old, I switched to single lip and experimented with harder reeds. I still play single lip today using medium strength reeds.
Now to answer your question: Playing double lip is quite difficult, not that single lip isn't. Playing double lip can be very irritating to the gums under your upper lip. Of course, you can cover the upper teeth to reduce this irriation. Double lip playing requires an incredible amount of muscle strength to support smooth, even playing in all registers. It take great perserverence to play with a consistently round and centered tone and to have the chops to support the upper register. The great thing about playing double lip is that (for me), it seems easier to tongue, and gets your embouchure in to the proper position. Also, when playing double lip and everything is working, the tone is absolutely unmatched (which is MY opinion). I occasionally play double lip to get my embouchure correct when I am not sure it's set correctly. So I play double lip for a few minutes and then gently move the upper lip to get contact with the teeth while essentially keeping the same position/embouchure. That is the best way I can describe this. Remember that most people do not play double lip and there are standards that people believe in deeply one way or the other. Single lip seems to be the standard in the U.S. I would say in summary, that it can benefit all clarinetists to at least experiment playing double lip to get the "feel" for it which is different than playing single lip. I can't hurt but may very well benefit. I wish you all the best in experimenting to find your way.
Ron Penn
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
