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Re: Embouchure Fatigue

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2020-01-20 01:33

Exiawolf wrote:

> I’m at an
> amazing school and have FANTASTIC faculty and colleagues that
> give great advice and are helping me through this. I’m
> playing on a set up that my professor is very fond of, and I
> know the problem is not my gear (it’s me).

I'm still puzzled that a "fantastic" professor isn't more helpful than a lot of strangers in cyberspace trying to guess at how your playing sounds and how you look when you're playing. It seems to me that a problem like the one you describe, which seems to have to do with stressing some part of your facial musculature beyond its endurance point in a very short time, must be rooted in misuse of the muscles themselves, some undiagnosed medical (neurological?) issue, or gear that needs more endurance than you've been able to develop with a typical music major's practice and rehearsal regime.

We have to assume there's no medical cause, though it's something you might check into if no other explanation helps. Misusing the facial ("embouchure") muscles in controlling your sound is something that would best be observed by an expert observer in the room watching you closely. Your professor ought to be capable of correcting that kind of problem either by "catching you in the act" - seeing how your embouchure muscles form and where they might be over-stressed - or by helping you rebuild your technique from the bottom. He also would be best placed to hear aural evidence that all is not working together in your technique.

> I’m using a Vocalise G with Euro Sig 3.75’s

The problem of gear similarly is best judged by someone hearing you play. I don't know anything about a Vocalise G. I do know that a Euro Sig. 3.75 is the Legere I use (when I use a Legere) on a close-tipped medium length facing (1.00-1.03mm/17-18 length curve). 3.75 is even too hard on some of those, depending on other internal dimensions. If the Vocalise is anywhere closer to the B40 than it is to the M13 in resistance, it could be a problem whether or not the combination is one your professor uses.

I think all you can do, if you're wedded to the equipment you're using and your teacher can't find any technical explanation for the problem, is work systematically at trying to build your muscular endurance. Play for short periods, take a short rest, then play some more and repeat the cycle over as long a time in one series as you can recover during the rests. Once you're exhausted, put the clarinet away and repeat the cycle again later or the next day, always trying to increase the length of the practice bursts. If that doesn't work over a week or two, you really need to consider that your technique is faulty, your reeds are too heavy (despite your liking the sound they produce) or (more drastic) it's time to have a medical evaluation.

Karl

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Embouchure Fatigue new

Exiawolf

2020-01-16 04:38