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Posture, Breathing and Embouchure when Playing the Clarinet
The session guide for beginners
Inhaling and exhaling are not only vital in everyday life, they also play an important role when playing the clarinet. They are the origin of every tone.
The right breathing technique: much more than just inhaling and exhaling
To get a beautiful, clean and consistent tone from your clarinet, it's not enough just to learn the different fingerings — you also need above all a good breathing technique. Only a constant airflow can make different, well-coordinated tones develop inside the clarinet by opening and closing the various tone holes. Unlike natural breathing, which usually happens through the nose, when playing the clarinet you inhale sharply through the mouth and then exhale back through it in a rather steady, somewhat pressured stream.
An upright posture is essential when playing the clarinet
Because breathing when playing the clarinet goes hand in hand with posture — like ebb and flow — you should make sure to keep a straight back. Only then can the diaphragm — the most important breathing muscle, which also separates the abdominal cavity from the chest cavity — expand downwards to create space for the lungs. The lungs can expand much better downwards because their space is restricted to the left and right by the ribs and other organs. For beginners it's advisable to play the clarinet standing up at first. Breathing comes more easily that way. Playing the clarinet while seated is more suitable for advanced clarinettists, as you often find in orchestras. If you choose to play seated, sit well forward on the edge of the chair and also keep your upper body straight while seated.
Know-how
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Accessories for the perfect embouchure!
…not so bad in terms of embouchure!
Once you've internalised the correct posture, you can turn your attention to the clarinet embouchure. Embouchure doesn't just mean putting the mouthpiece into the mouth — setting it up — but the complete process of producing the sound. Finding the right position for the mouthpiece isn't that easy and requires some practice. Ideally the mouth shapes an "o" around the mouthpiece and encloses it, as if you were trying to drink through a straw. The mouthpiece should sit far enough in the mouth so that the lower lip doesn't hinder the reed's vibration. However, if the mouthpiece is too far in, you won't be able to produce any sound. With the correct embouchure the lower lip slightly covers the lower front teeth so that the reed doesn't come into contact with the teeth. The upper front teeth rest directly on the mouthpiece or on a mouthpiece patch (bite pad), not only to protect the surface but primarily to give the clarinettist a better grip. The chin muscles should be slightly tensed. We recommend that you, as a beginner, take your first steps with the clarinet together with a clarinet teacher. A wrong posture or an incorrectly learned embouchure are difficult to correct later.