 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: HannahLynnLove
Date: 2011-03-28 07:38
Okay well, I've recently started lessons with an AMAZING teacher (I've heard from my band director and the people I've bought my wooden clarinet from, and students in class)
They are 25$ a lesson for 30 minutes, and I would REALLY like to improve as much as possible and as fast as possible.
On my first lesson on Tuesday, he helped me with my embouchure, as I was not flattening my chin or tucking in the corners of my mouth correctly. He said to just play long tones in the lower-mid registry for a while while doing it in front of a mirror.
He says to practice at the minimun of 30 minutes a day... but he says an hour would be best.
How can I make the most out of it and progress quickly? My next lesson is this Wednesday.
And how can I relearn my embouchure faster?
...And anything besides practicing?
Hannah
Post Edited (2011-03-28 07:42)
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Author: HannahLynnLove
Date: 2011-03-28 07:44
I already did. He just said to practice :P I agree with him, but I want to know if there are any techniques or just any advice
Also, I feel like when I do the embouchure, I'm pulling out my jaw too far (underbite!) and it feels uncomfortable. Is that normal?
Hannah
Post Edited (2011-03-28 07:45)
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Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-03-28 09:52
If he is giving you enough to do in a one hour practice session, then just spend the hour doing what he asks you to do. There is always more that you can be doing but what you actually do is governed by time as much as anything else. Plan your hour and you will get quite a bit covered each day and things will improve at a good pace.
If you want to do things outside your practice time then it never hurts to listen to lots and lots of music.
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Author: Lee
Date: 2011-03-28 09:58
Listen carefully to what the teacher says - take notes if necessary to remember. Practice those things as much as you can. If he is as good as you indicate he is working on problems you have with fundamentals. Spend your time practicing rather than spending time seeking a fast track or shortcut
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-03-28 11:39
One other point in reaction to your original question: keep in mind the old bromide that "Rome wasn't built in a day." Your enthusiasm is important and a key to accomplishing what you and your new teacher both want for your playing. But don't let impatience discourage you when you don't turn into the next [fill in the name of your favorite clarinetist] overnight. Placing too high an expectation on yourself can be really self-destructive. Follow your teacher's advice, ask questions if you have them and enjoy the new experiences in your playing as they unfold. To paraphrase another popular saying, learning to play an instrument isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.
Karl
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2011-03-28 12:54
You might take a look at Madeline Bruser's book, The Art of Practicing, to help you get the most out of your practice sessions.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2011-03-28 13:01
>> How can I make the most out of it and progress quickly? ... And how can I relearn my embouchure faster?
If your embouchure is tiring, take a recovery day. Sometimes that's what the body needs when it's building strength.
At some point you will have to know ALL your scales inside-out. Find a way to make this a fun experience!
If you're not doing it already, ask your teacher / director what they think about getting a few of you together to do some small-ensemble work. (2, 3, 4.) That's the environment where I think I learnt most of all (and it's the most fun, perhaps not coincidentally).
And always ask if you think you don't understand, even if you think it's a silly question.
Post Edited (2011-03-28 13:05)
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2011-03-28 13:15
I'm not going to give advice about how to form your embouchure. That's your teacher's job, and I couldn't even begin to do it without hearing you play.
However, you said that you hadn't been flattening your chin or tucking in the corners of your mouth correctly. Were you "bunching up" your chin? This is very common, but it usually won't give you the best sound.
Are you able to maintain the new embouchure, or do you feel like the muscles are getting tired and want to slip back to the old one? If you're having trouble "holding" this new embouchure for long, there's a little exercise you can do, and it will help strengthen the muscles around your mouth. It comes from Larry Teal's book, The Art of Saxophone Playing (p. 41).
Pretend you are whistling, although it isn't necessary to actually whistle. Then, stretch your lips way back into the biggest smile you can possibly make. Go back and forth between the whistle position and the big smile.
Teal suggests doing it slowly at first, and doing it about 50 times. He also suggests doing these stretches three times a day.
I've had many students over the years who just don't have the muscle control or strength to form a correct embouchure. After about a week of Teal's exercise, I usually notice significant improvement.
Good luck to you!
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-03-28 13:36
Watching your embouchure in a mirror is very important. You can see what's happening and learn more quickly. Concentrate on feeling the stretching in the area between your lip and the point of your chin.
Be sure to keep your upper lip tucked tight against your upper teeth.
Don't worry about how long your jaw is. If you have an underbite, just hold the clarinet more vertical. Your teacher is the one who sees what you're doing and the only one who can determine the correct position for your jaw.
Your teacher has given you exactly the right exercises. Concentrate on these basics, and for the time being don't look for anything else. You need to build a good embouchure into your muscle memory and strengthen those muscles. Doing anything else just distracts you.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2011-03-28 15:31
Never make a mistake while practicing.
The only way you can do that is by playing r e a l l y s l o w l y. Add a metronome to your music stand, and use it as much as you possibly can. Start everything new slowly enough so that every note comes out clearly.
Blow your horn. Don't be casual about taking air into your lungs, and don't be casual about pushing it up and out through your mouth. Push with your diaphragm. That is what "support" is all about, and if you don't SUPPORT your tone, the clarinet will not "speak."
Blowing your horn really is not something to take for granted. I attend every master class I possibly can, and the most common correction offered to students --even those well into their college careesr is to SUPPORT.
Don't adopt any bad habits. Trust me on this one --they take YEARS to correct.
The suggestion that you play in small ensembles is a very valuable one. If you can get someone to guide your duets (or larger, but small group), that is helpful. If no one is willing to take on the workload, do it yourself. Play duets with friends. Clarinet/Clarinet, Clarinet/Flute --whatever you can find music for.
It doesn't hurt to keep a lesson notebook. It is too much of a rush for me to take comprehensive notes during my lessons, but I do make lots of penciled notes on the sheet music --and I do take a few minutes to write things down when I get home. With some limitations, my teacher will let me record the lesson; and that is useful --sorta like getting two lessons for the price of one.
Enjoy.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-03-28 15:37
My experiences with teaching students a good embouchure is that some students pick it up very quickly and some others take a very long time to get the muscles to do what they want. You can't just sit for an hour and practice embouchure. Your mouth gets to tired and your brain goes as well. I always suggested doing something like long tones, 12ths or very slow scales in front of a mirror for 5-10 minute intervals, go to something else and do it again repeating it several times in your practice time. The other two things I suggest is at other times, like watching TV, practice blowing over a soda bottle with your embouchure formed. Almost everyone I've had places the opening to the bottle properly when they are able to get a tone blowing over the top of the bottle. You will pull your chin down gently and you will firm up the sides of your month when you do it properly. The other thing I've suggested to students is to blow into a straw as if it's a clarinet mouthpiece. Doing either or both of these properly outside of actual practice time will help strengthen your embouchure muscles quicker and give you a better, stronger embouchure in a shorter period of time. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: lllebret
Date: 2011-03-28 16:31
My advice to students when changing embouchure is; 1) to remember that you're training your body to play the clarinet so that one needs time to strengthen the muscles and gain endurance and, 2) that it really isn't beneficial to play past the time that one can maintain the new embouchure as then it becomes one step forward and two steps back. It might be a good idea to break your practicing into several shorter practice sessions, being careful not to allow yourself to go back to the old, incorrect embouchure, instead of marathan practicing when half the time you can't even keep the air from shooting out the corners of your mouth! (Been there - not pretty.)
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2011-03-28 18:24
When I was trying to strengthen my muscles and I was tired to practice more (or I had no opportunity to practise for a while) I held a pencil in my mouth while forming embochure.
You should start it with a half pencil. Put 10-20mm pencil into your mouth. Watch your mouth in a mirror. Hold it only with your lips, not your teeth. Hold it for 3 minutes, and take 3 minutes rest. Repeat it a few times. A few weeks later you can hold it for 4-5 minutes and take less rest and do it with a whole pencil. Good Luck!
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2011-03-28 19:09
When practicing use your brain. Practice mindfully, by which I mean practice each exercise while concentrating on its goal, whether that's embouchure, notes, rhythm, or whatever.
Additionally, don't hesitate to practice several times a day in shorter segments (equaling your total practice time) in order to build embouchure stamina!
And listen to your teacher again!
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2011-03-29 00:47
Mr. Shaw said, "If you have an underbite, just hold the clarinet more vertical."
Here are the definitions of underbite and overbite as taken from the American Heritage Medical Dictionary:
Underbite: A Malocclusion in which the lower teeth overlap the upper teeth.
Overbite: A malocclusion of the teeth in which the front upper incisor and canine teeth project over the lower.
So wouldn't a person with an underbite want to hold the clarinet more horizontally than more vertically?
I have an overbite, and I have to hold the clarinet more vertically than most.
CarlT
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-03-29 01:00
Yes, this has come up before in at least one other thread in which I reversed the terms "underbite" and "overbite." I think a lot of people misuse the two terms compared to the official medical/dental usage.
Karl
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Author: Bb R13 greenline
Date: 2011-03-29 04:16
I "underbite" on my mouthpiece too, it's a really annoying habbit that I picked up by trying to play soft. Now I can no longer play loud, my teacher has cut a hole for my teeth to go on so they don't slide around on the mouthpiece maybe that would help you. Also just practice slow listen to urself
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Author: HannahLynnLove
Date: 2011-03-29 04:26
Oh sorry I sounded misleading.
I do not actually have an underbite. More like an overbite, really (almost got braces because of it)
I just said (underbite!) because I wanted to show what my jaw felt like when I was doing my embouchure without having to get out a picture. Sorry if it was confusing!
And thanks for the advice all you guys! I know I can be very impatient with things like this.
Hannah
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2011-03-29 05:04
Hannah, it is difficult to be patient. Please know that all of us here (or at least most of us) have had to combat the same issue! Keeep at it, and use tthis as an opportunity to learn the skill of being patient! You CAN do it!!!!
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Author: Paul Miller
Date: 2011-03-29 06:37
Get a portable recording device and record your lessons (and about an hour of your practicing every day) and go over them constantly. It's amazing how much information gets sent your way in just 30 minutes and it's easy to forget most of it...
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