Clarinet Lesson: Embouchure Tune-Up
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- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2024
- Michelle Anderson of Clarinet Mentors (www.learnclarinetnow.com) provides some great reminders on the best embouchure shape to produce a warmer, freer, clarinet tone. This video focuses on bringing your corners in around the mouthpiece for easier sound production. There is a worksheet to accompany this video at www.clarinetmentors.com/resour...
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I'm glad you are enjoying these videos. If you are returning to the instrument after a break, it is great to brush up on the "good habits" that you want to reinforce so that you don't develop any bad habits. You'll be amazed at how quickly it all comes back to you. I've seen many people get back all of their former skills in about 3 months. You know the skills - you just need to recondition the muscles. Good luck! - Michelle
I just started playing Clarinet again two days ago! it has been 13 years, thanks for the videos! They are super helpful :)
I'm glad this helps. I hope you are enjoying the clarinet!
I just started playing clarinet after 15 years of bass guitar. At the moment I can't take lessons because of work, but your videos have been incredibly motivating and inspiring, not to mention clear even for newbies. You are an incredible teacher.
@@SirBelmerD hi! Unfortunately I gave up the clarinet, I just did not have spare time enough to properly study it. Still, these videos were a godsend! All the best to you!
I'm cracking up at the "grr" I could just see a bunch of clarinet players getting ready to play a piece during rehearsal and the whole section go "GRR" with the director looking at them like they are nuts. lol Great video! It helped! I've been playing six months on an Artley 17s with a Vandorean B45 mouthpiece, Rovner ligature and Vandorean 3 reeds. I've also played on a Legere 3 and Juno 3's. I'm thinking it's time for me to go to a 3 1/2 but for now I've shifted my reed up a little bit, especially for the higher register. The higher slurring is no issue, it's tonguing them that it has been bad sometimes. This vid and the one about the upper notes while tonguing has been great!
Thanks for your great demos on embouchure and air flow. I have been working for about 1 month to change my bad habits.....and I finally got it! I realize now that muscle control must change, and that it takes time and repetition. It seemed like a mystery for a while, but after reviewing you videos numerous times and making videos of myself, it finally clicked into place. BTW, I started playing after a 50 year hiatus, and found that fingerings came right back ......along with all the bad habits. Thanks for all the great instruction!!
kalman buchovecky That's great to hear. Once your body starts to get the feel for it, it really does start to get easier. Hopefully you can keep all the good habits, and change those that don't serve you well!
Hi Michelle;
You provide outstanding instruction to students and teachers alike. Thank you!
cheers;
Rick
Thank you for your lessons Michelle; I pass on your information to my clarinetists all the time.
Brenda Khoo I'm glad this is helpful, and I appreciate you sharing the information with your group.
Thanks for the kind words. I hope you are enjoying your clarinet playing! - Michelle
Great video, thank you! I'm a former oboist, now challenging myself with the clarinet as a hobby, I found this tutorial very helpful!
I'm glad this was helpful. Many of your oboe skills will carry over to clarinet, but you will find some air and embouchure differences. I hope you are enjoying it!
I like your gentle teaching style!
+Michele Gingras Thanks Michele! I'd be honoured if you ever wanted to be a guest of the Clarinet Mentors community with an interview, or guest video. I know many people who watch these videos also love your podcast.
I use Backun barrels which are made in a couple of different types of wood and shapes. They do help produce a warmer, more resonate tone quality.
Great video, as always!
Thanks, Michelle, very helpful. I'm a lapsed clarinetist and have taken it up again after many years in the case! I played the major solo repertoire by Stravinsky, Debussy, Hindemith, Copland, etc. as a young player. I took out the Handel Three Pieces to get started again and am wondering if you have a tip on the best way to bring my embouchure back to where it once was. Perhaps there are some exercises you would recommend to play through daily? I still have my Kroepsch Etudes, which as a student I often dreaded but that improved my technique immensely!
Thanks I will practice the embrouchure techniques because it goes a long way to determine the quality of my music
Thanks for this video! I'm trying to get back into clarinet playing and it's funny how I've managed forget all this!
Thank you! This video helps me a lot!
Hi Kyle. It sounds like you are kind of between two reed strengths. Sometimes I wish there were more quarter size strengths available. If you move a stiff reed lower on the mouthpiece, it will act softer. You can move your soft reeds higher to act stiffer. My guess is that you will soon adapt to the higher strength, but for now, make sure you place them as low as they can go and still completely seal the hole in the mouthpiece. I hope that helps!
you are awesome ty so much for your hard work
It was very helpful! Thank you!
For years I have had the occasional situation occur during play that my mouth would not squeeze in well enough at the sides and I would leak air through the sides of my mouth. This would happen after maybe 3 to 5 songs, typically. I'm hoping these tips will help me with this problem. Thanks for sharing!
+David Thomas Those muscles do get stronger when you are playing regularly. The action of bringing our corners in firmly is usually not something those muscles are used to doing. Having an air leak is a common sign that they are tired. Often when people first start doing this correctly, they have trouble going for even 5 minutes, so you have more stamina than many! It should continue to strengthen as you practise.
First off I want to say this has been very helpful and I know now that I don't put my chin down. Have any tips to get me out of this habit?
+Derrick Woodard Try pulling the skin down manually below the reed with your finger every time you put your clarinet in your mouth. This helps train your muscles to get into the right position.
Can I have a suggestion on how to practice the worksheet. Do I just run through them all or should I spend a certain amount of time on each exercise before moving to the next?
Super helpful. Seriously, thank you so much. I've been struggling with the proper embouchure for a while and I just got braces too so that is really not helping haha. But this was really informative and interesting
+Ivan Ferguson I hope this helps. Usually braces only slow you down for a week or two, and then your mouth adjusts (until they come off, and you re-adjust). Good luck with your clarinet.
thank you for sharing your experience with lots of pedagogy and fun.
Not shure how the top lips is supposed to be tho. I thought it had to "just" rest (on the top teeth). but now with your grunt exercice I am not so sure anymore.
Most people play with their top teeth touching the mouthpiece, and then push the top lip down onto it. Some people play with a "double-lip" embouchure, which has it over the top teeth. The most important focus is pulling the bottom lip/chin away form the reed, and bringing the corners of your mouth firmly in.
Thank you for your quick and clear, 'to the point' answer. I am waiting for the day the embouchure will be just a reflex.
Hello! Would you have some tips on how to stop puffing your cheeks? It's a really big problem of mine and no matter how hard I try I can't break the habit :/ it has never given me trouble through out the years, made top chairs and now am even a music major this coming fall. But I really want to improve my embouchure
Hi! I've been watching your videos and I think you are an amazing teacher.
I'd like to ask you a question: when I play i tend to strain my throat or something, I can't realize what i'm doing. When i let the back of mi upper lip inflate, i feel i don't strain it anymore.
Any clue of what im doing?
+Santi Barricada Hi - this is hard to say without seeing you play. Sometimes people hold tension in their neck and throat, and this can be uncomfortable. Sometimes looking in a mirror while playing, and relaxing the shoulders (which helps relax the throat) can be helpful.
Hi Ms. Anderson!
I love all your videos. Even I tried pulling down my chin and pull my corners inward, I still don't get a clear sound when I play lower notes from C. They sound like if I am mumbling. Do you have any advice?
Great video, this should help me in my hard parts of the Mozart clarinet concerto I'm doing so i can reach them high notes smoothly :).
+Emily Lancashire Fun piece to work on. I hope it is going well!
Thankyou!! :)
I am going to start playing clarinet again, after not playing about 25 years. Should be interesting.
Can you please give me some small tips that can improve my playing greatly and how to handle auditions/solos! It would mean a lot i have solo & ensemble coming up and all county, and all state tryouts next school year and would love to have some advice! Anything will help! Please respond! :) Thank you!
Hello Clarinet Mentors I have noticed that softer reeds make my tune perfect in the low register but make my high notes hard and harder reeds make my high register sound good and make them easier to play but my low register's tone sounds worse. Either way each time i change reeds in between songs with low notes to songs with high notes my notes sound airy at first but after about a minute it stops. Do you have some tips to easily adapt to a harder reed when playing with a soft reed? Thanks!
Thanks for your videos, Michelle. I recently was given an alto clarinet and, as a fan of the clarinet-filled music of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, love it. Any books you would recommend for rank beginners?
In addition to your videos, of course! I alternate between beautiful rich tones and squawks at the moment. Taught myself what guitar chords I know from the first book of "Mickey Baker's Complete Course In Jazz Guitar" and Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry."
And I just downloaded your book as a .pdf and found Clarinet Mentors on Facebook.
Hi Paul, I hope you are having fun with the clarinet. One book that is relatively easy (although you will need to learn a few basic notes first) is the 101 Jazz Songs for Clarinet, published by Hal Leonard. Once you get through the basic first 10 - 15 notes, you'll be able to start on these. I think you might enjoy it.
Thank you, Michelle and I will have fun with the book! Funny, when a modern classical or jazz player does a harmonic or squawky tone on purpose, it sounds great. When I squeak or squawk, it sounds horrible - worse than Jack Benny torturing the violin!
Hi further to my last reply, I just published a video on How To Reduce Performance Anxiety for Musicians. I can't post a link in this comments box, but you'll find it on the Clarinet Mentors RUclips channel. Many of those tips would help with what you describe. I hope it helps. - Michelle
i wanted to get the notes of my clarinet the same as on a piano without changing the keys.....................is it possible?
I get tired really easily after a while and my friend who is a clarinet major says I need to not push air so much and try to relax. What is the best way to practice keeping a steady air flow and keep playing for an extended period of time?
xXTriforceWarriorXx I think that the airstream does get easier to manage with time and experience. This video has a good exercise designed to improve clarinet air flow that may be useful to you. ruclips.net/video/JSUWle1lOwY/видео.html
I'm in my high school band and we play everyday but I can't play with my "fixed" embouchure without sounding bad and squeaking. I don't want the ensemble to sound bad. Should I wait until this summer to start doing a daily adjustment?
I have a problem when I bring my Corners together my cheeks automatically blow up with air what should I do? Maybe I don't do something else right
Im using a Gigliotti p-34 mouth piece, Mitchell lurie 3 1/2 reeds, Vandorian optimum ligature, with a Gigliotti barrel. I know its a lot of things but is that a good combination or better yet is it bad?
Hi - all of those are respected brands and considered "good" for sure. Your best option is always to test gear and see how it works for you. Mouthpieces in particular respond quite differently for different players, so there is no "one" mouthpiece for all. If you have the luxury of play testing others, you might find even a better fit, but at least you do have good gear already on your clarinet. I do try out new things every couple of years just to see what I like, although I haven't really changed anything for a while!
Yukihira, These are all nice items and maybe more important than whether you play on a wooden or plastic clarinet. Some paraphernalia seem perfect now but it is usually a good idea to try other things as you advance.
I have a Region Band Audition in two weeks!Can you give advice on Rose Studies #18 Please
+Nathan Valdez If you mean #18 from 40 Studies, play with the smoothest connection between notes possible. Using the whisper technic will help with this: ruclips.net/video/X9nd2wLMBOA/видео.html . In a piece like this, rhythm is important, so think in eighths during the 32nd note passages. On the other hand, musicality is important, so there is room to stretch phrases for expressive reasons as long as you don't have any sudden tempo changes. It is a beautiful study. I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you hel pme a lot!
You finally started teaching at 1:17. Congratulations. That's faster than most instructional videos.
Hello - Sorry to take so long to reply. Very quick audition tips include: visualize yourself playing well several times before you play, practise playing after doing a bunch of jumping jacks (seriously) - when we are nervous, we get out of breath. Practising under these conditions help you stay calm. Also - have a zero tolerance for mistakes (See Lizard Brain in my 5 Best Practise Habits video.) Good luck!
Hello :) thanks a lot for your advices on embouchure. I learned a lot. However i can't help inflating my cheeks, and i think I must not do that. Do you got any advice on how to not inflate cheeks when i'm blowing? Thank you a lot.
Usually once you really start to focus on bringing the corners of your mouth in, this starts to resolve itself. (If you like how you sound, it isn't a huge problem, but my guess is that working on these things will give you a more resonant, focused tone.)
Ok. I will keep working then. I noticed some difference in the sound since I began. Thanks :)
Clarinet Mentors (Michelle Anderson)
30 years of teaching and pro work? must have been 2 yrs old when you started!!!!
Do u have a online clarinet lessons??????
I can't keep my lips flat while having my corner lips tucked in. Is there a way for me to keep my lips flat?
The best way to achieve this is to imagine that they are stretched down. It is as though someone has glued the edge of your bottom lip to the top of your bottom teeth, and then stretches everything else down toward your chin. This way, you can still bring the corners in, but have a pretty flat and smooth surface for the reed to rest on. These muscles may need some coaxing to move in this direction by literally pulling on them with a finger to help train them.
Is it normal that my chin and above my upper lip get "wrinkled"? (For lack of a better word)
***** This is a bit hard to answer without a photo, but you do want to bring the corners of your mouth inward as much as possible, which can cause a wrinkled look to your top lip. The area where the reed touches should be as smooth as possible.
lol grunting... did that in front of my little brother and he laughed so hard...
so funny and cute. oh yea this vid was really helpful
Where is your tongue sitting when you do the first exercise?
In general, your tongue should sit in a high, arched position, as if you are saying "HEE" when you play.
Michelle the link is not working
Michelle I hope everything is okay
WHOA that barrel on your clarinet is big
even if it's a bit off topic - if everbody (natives! and non-natives) would speak with the same clear articulation like you - global communication would be much easier and finally better.
In other words - there are more things to learn from Michelle ....
bigger than mine at least
I came here because I want to purchase a chalumeau.
ha. corners.... CORNERSTONE. hahahha
Sorry but this shouldn't help anybody play the clarinet. I've been playing for 4 years now and this wouldn't even have helped me in 6th grade, btw im a freshman.
Hi Ian. It sounds like you have had a great embouchure for years, so you are fortunate in having good habits, and likely, a very good teacher to help you develop this. I find that even very advanced players often do not have enough support from the sides of their embouchure and end up biting in the high register, which causes squeaks or a loss of freedom. Bravo to you for having amazing tone, high notes and all that a great embouchure gives you. Hopefully you will be able to teacher others to do the same.
Too much talking for the information.