Author: cjwright
Date: 2006-08-05 16:40
Joe Robinson used to tell me, particularly on the second movement of the Strauss with the first notes of b-flat to the crescendo'ing d's that it's all about the speed of the air. So I blew harder. He promptly corrected me, and demonstrated the speed by having me finger and him blow. The sound was incredible.
As one mentioned the Tabuteau trick, the concept is not to blow enough air to blow out the candle (as we typically do on our birthday) but to imagine blowing a pinpoint of air extremely far. This takes some getting used to, and practice. (He demonstrated with his lips being less than a whistle apart, and a gigantic hiss.)
Someone mentioned the balancing an egg in your mouth concept, which they amounted to an "ohm" meditative idea. I would go one step further and imagine the difference the back of your mouth makes when you go from the vowel sound of "ooooooo" (as in the word "you") to the vowel sound of "eeeeee" (as in "we") The back of your throat automatically goes up. Furthermore, you should find that changes the pitch you play at (brings it up) which further changes your reeds. The sound results in a more focused sound, with a more stable pitch.
Regarding your response issues, I play on very responsive lighter reeds because I use less reed in my mouth. However, as you further experiment with roll-in roll-out techniques, you will probably find the more you roll in, the heavy your reeds will become because your lower lip will cover the reed more. (My roll-in roll-out concept comes from a Mack concept passed down to Jan Eberle, who rolls-in rolls-out a super amount.) Notice, roll-in does not mean roll in to push/bite down.
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