Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Accuracy problems


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Posted by David on August 28, 2003 at 09:49:51:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Accuracy problems posted by js on August 28, 2003 at 00:21:19:

I am certainly not Gene, but my wife the clarinetist gave me this info many years ago. While we like to think our problem is different, the phenomena is very similar. They change the number of fingers put down from 1 to many including the register key. That changes the way the instrument "feels". It changes the timbre of the note being played.

We change timbre in a particular spot or spots. It "feels" different so we compensate for the difference by changing our embouchure slightly. Since it is slight change, we continue to do it. The more we practice, the more pronounced the shift becomes. Not to disagree with Doug too much, but it is a habit that is acquired. The only way to change one habit is to create a newer, better one.

This is one of the ways in which the pivot system developed so easily. Harvey Phillips has used it very effectively I think we would a agree. In the upper register we pivot away from the upper lip and in the lower away from the lower lip. The lower pivot does what is supposed to anyway, allows us to put more jaw forward thus opening up the throat and letting those low notes sing. The pivot system can also hide the embouchure shifts when one crosses one of the so-called "bad" notes.

I am still of the opinion that hearing the pitches, buzzing them, and playing across the "break" many times is the only way to cure the problem. I always thought of the cure as worse than the problem until someone related that I was not curing a problem but rather creating a new habit, or muscle memory as some others might put this.


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