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Re: Overblowing

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-01-25 19:55

Paul Aviles wrote:

> So Karl,
>
>
>
> I find your tape and my "backing off slightly from the squawk
> point" one in the same. I saw the "squawk" idea here first
> from Tom Puwalski who stated that it was a way for him to
> switch from one mouthpiece to the other effortlessly and play
> them well.
>
So, Paul, clarify for me - did you find the separation point with a feeler (the piece of paper or an actual feeler gauge like the standard one .0015")?

The result of setting an embouchure past that pivot point will depend somewhat on the reed and mouthpiece combination. They may be the same place for you, but when I take *literally* the advice to take as much reed as possible until control is lost, I find I've gotten a lot farther down the reed than that measured pivot point. Maybe it comes down to how we understand what we're looking for when we reach the ideal spot.

It sounds as though GenEric has been going beyond the ideal spot.

BTW, it's also true that for students who use (mistakenly, IMO) very hard reeds (or reeds that are just unbalanced and unresponsive) one way they can get around the response difficulty is to do exactly as you suggest - take less reed and press more on it. I've done this myself, as I suspect we all have at times, to get through a rehearsal or performance with a reed that seems to be getting stuffy. It isn't (IMO) a good way to play all the time, but varying the amount of reed taken in is one way to get around response issues that players might be better off learning early in their playing careers.

Karl

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