Wherever I travel giving clarinet and saxophone classes, I find that clarinet and saxophone players often make life unnecessarily difficult for themselves by biting.
I need to explain exactly what I mean by biting before you get too worried because although biting is not a life-threatening situation it does in my opinion shorten one’s life as a wind player. Why would anyone want to practise an instrument that causes so much discomfort and tension even to play one note?
Many clarinet and saxophone players of all ages grip the reed and the mouthpiece with a level of determination only matched by fully grown crocodiles in the Northern Territory.
The gap between the reed and the mouthpiece is so small that it is only sensible to realise that the last thing you want to do is to make this aperture even smaller by jamming your jaw against the reed.
Where does this strange habit come from? Do our teachers panic about how flat in pitch their beginner clarinet students sound? Do teachers overreact to this flatness in pitch and get their students to play on too hard a reed too early? Do teachers teach this tight embouchure in the vain hope that the students will not develop any sloppy habits?
I know I will make myself unpopular but I am afraid to say that I put the blame back to the teacher for this biting epidemic. It does not make sense for a student to play in this tight, restricted way as is it is not natural to tighten up one’s mouth so much that the smooth flow of air through the instrument is so restricted.
My three main requirements from my beginner clarinet players is that their playing is loose, loud and flat.
Now of course I do realise that their school band conductor may not be impressed with this when they are trying to get their clarinet section in tune with the rest of the band. I tell these conductors that they just have to be patient because in time these flat clarinet players will come up to pitch and, just like the proverbial ugly duckling, they will develop a free, natural, singing style of playing the clarinet with a sound that will impress.
Without constant fighting to get the sound out of the instrument these young players are much more likely to enjoy practising as it is so much more comfortable than squeezing and biting.
Although most saxophone students also squeeze the reed too tight, the saxophone has a much fatter sound than the clarinet so they are able to get away with this faulty technique without the problem being so obvious. The great thing about developing this looser embouchure on the saxophone is that if the student is playing flat at least you can push the saxophone mouthpiece further onto the neck to bring the instrument up to pitch. Sadly, when the clarinet is flat there is not a lot you can do to raise the pitch other than warm the instrument up.
To illustrate to a student what a hindrance biting is, I suggest they count to ten whilst they clench their teeth together. Although they can obviously count like this, they realise that talking in this way is much harder than counting with their teeth unclenched.
Here is a great remedial exercise for students with this biting problem is this: finger a phrase of music and blow as much air through their instrument but without producing an actual sound.
Many students find this totally impossible. I explain that this is a knack rather like riding a bike or swimming for the first time. Once a student can do this and has experienced the sensation of the air travelling freely through their instrument, then they should try to keep their jaw in the same relaxed and open position when they play normally.
As a teacher, you do have to realise that the problem of biting is not going to go away immediately. You will need to keep gently reminding your students not to clamp the reed against the mouthpiece – however in the end all this repetition will be worth it. Without biting, your students will soon enjoy playing so much more and of course produce a beautiful, round sound and play much better in tune. In contrast, if your students play in a way that involves excess tension and general discomfort, I find it is only a matter of time before these players give up playing in preference for something that doesn’t require such an effort.
Mark Walton
Chair of Performance Outreach and Communication
Sydney Conservatorium of Music