Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2014-01-27 20:40
I'm not sure there's a better resource out there on the pros and cons of using a Double Lip Embouchure for clarinet play than this is bboard.
Searches here on the subject matter yield a plethora of information on the technique, from the kinds of players it might not work best with (e.g. those with receding jaws) to those who believe that their incorporation of the technique has all but "cured the cancer" in their playing.
As a single lipped player, I too have tried double lip now and then, and found it produced what, at least I thought (albeit a bad yardstick--you need to ask others) a better sound, and helped me voice some difficult legato passages better.
As many know, Ricardo Morales, an important (but yet just one) presence for our instrument advocates a philosophy that, to paraphrase, essentially states that only good can come from one assuming the double lip embouchure.
And I like the analogy (if I remember correctly) that Keith Stein made is his book, as it regards double lip playing, on how it opens the oral cavity as if "one were concealing a yawn."
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BUT--with all this said, what I haven't seen (and of course that doesn't mean it fails to exist), is much on the HISTORY of why this embouchure has become less in favor since the 1950's. This has caused me to consider (although perhaps incorrectly) the premise that if double lip was all it was made out to be, that one would expect it to have not only better survived, but thrived in Post WW II clarinet playing.
So here's my premise, for which I hold no particular emotional attachment either way.
"The marginal differences in better play, if any, for double lip embouchure don't justify the greater difficulty in assuming this embouchure."
Defend or Reject that.
But before you do, here's the history I (at least I think) I know.
* Back in the real old days, when reeds where on the top of the mouthpiece, double lip embochure was necesssary: sinking one's top teeth into a reed was simply not a viable option.
* For the beginning player, the differences in sound between double lip and single lip embouchure do not favor double lip, in fact, its difficulty might make things worse. So players learn single lip, some progress on to high degrees of proficiency, and then don't want to "relearn." a new embouchure.
I would truly love to hear more about the history of the double lip embouchure, why people (think) it fell out of favor, or where my assumptions are wrong.
Cheers.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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