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Re: How to sound different?

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-01-31 18:31

Ok guys, I've been searching for different descriptions of what is going on with the embouchure and air to get some students from sounding like "pea shooters."

I have come up with the idea that in a straight-up classical situation we strive for about 66% air to 33% embouchure control. This amount of each varies CONSTANTLY over dynamics (ie louder you need more air, but also more embouchure control) as well as where on the horn the note is and the quality of sound you need to produce on that note.

Where am I going with this?

If you play a really loud note (let's say "G" sitting on the top of the staff), almost louder than you can play, you need to contain it with quite a bit more embouchure effort to keep it from getting wild. Now play that note as softly as you can. You then require far less embouchure energy to delicately balance keeping the orifice open vs. the amount of air you are using so that the sound doesn't pinch off or just sound "wheezy." To me, this seems to remain a constant ratio for the type of timbre you want out of each note (whatever the number of that ratio actually is).

So there you have it !!!! If you change this ratio significantly, let's say giving much less embouchure control to the really loud "G," then you get a wild, diffuse sounding note.

I would now (after all these years) therefore say the key to a "jazzier" sound is to allow your embouchure to relax MORE than it should (for standard clarinet playing) for the amount of air you are using for whatever the specific note/register is you are on. And if you think about it, this WOULD be much easier to do with a more open mouthpiece and weaker reed combination. However, you CAN get a quite satisfactory result with ANY mouthpiece/reed combo.

.................Paul Aviles

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