The Role of the Embouchure - Tom Ridenour

The Role of the Embouchure in Characteristic Clarinet Tone Production
by Tom Ridenour

Introduction
Form and function in clarinet embouchure
Most approaches to teaching clarinet embouchure concentrate almost exclusively on embouchure cosmetics. Certainly embouchure cosmetics are important, but they are an effect of correct embouchure, not the cause. Pedagogies which disregard the matter of embouchure function aresuperficial, "cart-before-the-horse" approaches.
First, we must always keep in mind that embouchure is the means to an end, the "end" being the production of musical sound (distinct from simply "sound" or "noise"). Therefore, if we are to understand the role of embouchure or speak of its proper development, we must first understandwhat fine musical tone is in an ontological, objective rather than a subjective sense.
Fine musical tone is a kind of auricular paradox. That is to say, fine musical tone strikes the ear as being at once truly free, and yet well controlled. It is at once variable and consistent; sinuous yet precise, liquid yet substantial, dark yet clear, concentrated yet vibrant.
Now, the vibration of the reed is the concrete means by which this enigma or paradox of freedom and control is realized in clarinet tone. And the embouchure is the sole agent that directly and constantly acts upon the reed. Therefore, we can conclude the following about the role of the embouchure in tone production:
The embouchure's job is to apply stress to the reed in such a way that the paradoxical qualities of control and freedom are fully optimized in the reed's vibrations, and these qualities are in turn made present in the sound itself.
On the face of it, this may sound like so much self-contradiction; a kindof double talk. (On perfunctory examination, most paradoxes do.) But as we proceed to analyze embouchure and understand reed vibration the logical solution to this puzzlement will be made perfectly clear.
But before we proceed to discuss the specifics of embouchure function, let's speak briefly about the form of the embouchure, or as it is commonly known: embouchure cosmetics.
Consistent with the concepts just presented, the approach used here to teach and develop embouchure seeks to create the form of the embouchure indirectly by means of understanding and executing the reed control stresses or function as perfectly as possible.
Analogous to steel girders which, though unseen, never the less dictate the outward form of a building, such invisible stresses are what actually determines the ultimate outward, cosmetic appearance of the embouchure. The logic then is simple: get the function (reed control stresses) correct and the form (cosmetic appearance) will simply happen. Ignore function and the form will be gained only at the cost of many hours of tedious labor-with no assurance of a satisfactory musical result.

Parts of the Embouchure
The embouchure is made up of the lip muscles and chin muscles, supported by the jaw and teeth. Let's examine each of these in some detail with regard to their individual roles in creating the proper reed stress functions.

Proper Stress Functions of the Parts of the Embouchure

The Jaw (and lower teeth)
The correct role of the jaw in clarinet embouchure ought to be simply that of a structural support. That is, the jaw should not be used to directly control the reed by biting or clamping down on the reed. Rather, it should simply be a support for those elements that really ought to control the reed. The jaw does this by dropping open and moving slightly forward into a fixed position and remaining there in "neutral."
When the jaw works this way it creates a fixed slot or window, into which the reed and mouthpiece are snugged or wedged. The fixed opening of the jaw prevents the embouchure from controlling the reed by vertically squeezing or closing on the reed (commonly known as "biting.")
Because of this, we can say that the embouchure is fundamentally passive in regard to controlling the reed. It only presents an opening or windway through which the mouthpiece and reed may enter the mouth.
To be of maximum effectiveness in controlling the reed, the jaw needs do no more than remain stationary in a set or fixed aperture, neither opening nor closing. In fact, to do otherwise is to do harm in one way or the other.

The Lips
While the embouchure aperture remains fixed due to the stable "neutral" position of the dropped jaw, the lip muscles must remain firm to resist and cushion the upward, inward snugging movement of the mouthpiece/reed wedge.
The lower lip should not "give in" to the inward force of the mouthpiece and allow itself to be pushed into the mouth and over the lower teeth. (As we shall soon see, the chin muscles will be of great assistance to the lower lip in resisting the action of the mouthpiece.)
The upper lip should also be firm and in contact with the surface of the mouthpiece beak to aid in the effort of resisting the inward movement of the mouthpiece. Most players who play the clarinet with the teeth on the mouthpiece (single lip) find a textured mouthpiece patch to be helpful to the upper lip in resisting the mouthpiece. There are various mouthpiece patches on the market, made in a variety of textures and thicknesses. A little experimentation on the part of the individual will suffice to find just the right patch. The author prefers the Runyon black patches, both for practicality and texture.

The Chin Muscles
The lips are aided in their resistance of the mouthpiece by pulling the chin muscles down and flat against the jaw bone. (This muscular action of the chin happens virtually automatically when the tongue goes into its high/back position.)
Therefore, the lower lip and chin work together. The chin stretching down in turn pulls the lower lip out and helps it oppose the up and in thrust of the mouthpiece and reed. It is this opposition to the "unstoppable force" (the mouthpiece/reed wedge) by the "immovable, immutable object" (the muscles of the lips and embouchure aperture) that creates the needed friction or resistance that controls the reed.

The Upper Teeth
The upper teeth should not "bite" down on the mouthpiece surface. Doing so would ruin the whole equation. The upper teeth should only be a structural support for the upper lip, just as the lower teeth are for the lower lip. A concept that is helpful in learning to do this is to think of "pulling the teeth apart while the lips remain in contact with the mouthpiece and reed." In any case, neither upper nor lower teeth should be closing or biting on the reed and mouthpiece. Vertical closure in the embouchure always destroys the sound!
Some players prefer to use both lips and put no teeth on the mouthpiece at all. This, of course, is called French Embouchure or "double lip", and many, many great players have either played this way all the time or used the technique extensively, especially in lyrical, legato playing.

The Right Hand Thumb
The right hand thumb is obviously not a part of the embouchure. Yet it is critical to the whole equation of reed control in that it is the sole energy source for the snugging action of the mouthpiece and reed. While this lifting of the thumb is gentle it must be both firm and constant. The more experienced player will perhaps find that the snugging becomes firmer when he must play high or softly, and the snugging may relax somewhat if the player has to play at higher dynamic levels. For those students who get lazy and lapse into simply "hanging the clarinet on the thumb" the command "Thumbs up!" can be a quick and effective remedy.

The Tongue
The tongue is obviously no more a part of the embouchure than the right hand thumb, but we must mention it here because of the strong interrelationship it has with the chin muscles. As we have alreadymentioned briefly and emphasize here, the tongue can greatly facilitate the proper functioning of the chin muscles.
The clarinet is unique in that it requires the tongue position to be quite high and back in the roof of the mouth. To demonstrate, try saying "wheeee," or create a hissing sound by bringing the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Notice that the sides of the tongue are touching the inside of the upper-back molars on either side of the mouth.
Without this high tongue position, the clarinet tone will be hollow--wanting of the focus and tonal concentration which causes the tone to carry in a hall. The upper register will also be flat in tuning.Many students who are playing flat in the high register and with an uncentered sound are playing with a tongue position that is low and forward in the mouth--as if they were saying goooo.
If the middle of the tongue achieves and maintains its high/back (wheeee) position properly, the chin will tend to automatically pull down flat against the facial bones into the cosmetically classic "point."

The Reed and Embouchure Stress
Finally, one might ask how this approach actually affects the reed's vibrations and why it is superior to other approaches to reed control.
First, as the reed/mouthpiece wedge is snugged into the mouth, increasing pressure is created on the reed surface by the firmness of the lips and the fixed embouchure opening. It is this pressure that creates the needed control over the shape and response of the tone. However, this pressure is oblique and does not clamp or close the reed directly on to the mouthpiece by direct, vertical pressure. This enables the reed to vibrate more completely along the full curve of the mouthpiece.
Secondly, at the same time control pressure is being increased on the reed surface by the snugging of the reed/mouthpiece wedge, the tip of the reedis being snugged past the pressure point, remaining open and free to vibrate and respond instantly to the energy of the air column. Thus, control (on the reed surface) and freedom (at the tip of the reed and along the mouthpiece curve) are both maximized in the single action of snugging.
The snugging or friction method of reed control creates control without compromising freedom and allows freedom without compromising control. It is this optimizing (not compromising) of both control and freedom in a single action that makes this method superior, and doing so in turn realizes our stated goal of making the enigmatic elements of music more vividly present in the tone itself.
Once the player master's this method of reed control he or she will not only find a qualitative improvement in tone quality and tone production, but also a new dimension of expressive freedom and joy in making music.