final comments and important information on playing french embouchure

In this video you'll learn about the most critical aspect of how the embouchure should function in French embouchure playing, and how it is not just about "playing single-lip with your upper lip tucked under your teeth."
French embouchure, properly done, is a radically different approach to reed control than the vast majority of approaches to single-lip playing.

[@murraykriner9425]

My thanks William. I'm duly impressed by the seamless phrasing, and the ease in which you achieve the lovely tones you have given us as an example of proper form in playing. Long a student of music after first hearing Jazz and Swing as a child. Returning after three decades inactivity will tax my patience, but brass and wind has long enraptured my heart. I thank you for your efforts and time. Have a happy New Year my friend.

[@ptard7]

Thank you So much, love your sound !

[@ejmarx]

Superb content, generously shared. Thank you kindly, Mr. Ridenour. Am eagerly awaiting a 576bc that Ted recently put in the queue... for your tweaking and final approval. Excitement mounts.

[@AngelInquisitor10]

This is an amazing piece of advice. Thank you

[@ptard7]

Very interesting, thank you

[@LarryShone]

Someone on Facebook pointed me to this video and you seem very knowledgeable so I subscribed and I'm gonna check out your other videos

[@frankmercurio6009]

Does your technique work with synthetic reeds? Thanks for all you do for us. It’s impressive.

[@emjay2045]

🤔

[@nievescarrascobegines3078]

I have had a double lip for a year but I had never thought of introducing that amount of mouthpiece, perhaps I was blinded by the school I am in (Spanish conservatory with a teacher who has sold his clarinet ...) Thank you and I will start to practice it, maybe the problem of my expressiveness came from the fact that I introduce too much, and also that I need to study more, obviously. You always talk about Harold Wright, and he is fine, I also admire him very much, he is a great musician and not a simple interpreter. But what about David Weber or Reginald Kell, who are for you? For my new ears (five years on the clarinet but many years listening to "good music") they are also very expressive, almost on a par with Wright, but I don't find much information about David Weber.

[@avarmadillo]

Less reed in the mouth on the bottom, more mouthpiece on the top...jaw back, NOT forward.

[@carlosacarter]

I very much appreciate this series on French embouchure. But what I don't understand is how does the sound by means of a different embouchure style compare. In other words, what are we trying to get away from? I know that much has been said on the characteristics of sound using French embouchure, but I would further appreciate a demonstration and comparison of the differences between this sound and others as attributed to different embouchure styles.

[@avarmadillo]

As I said in the video ultimately it's not about sound. It's about expressive and highly nuanced and refined PHRASING. It's not about speaking words, it's about learning to speak musical sentences, full of expressive meaning and nuance. French embouchure as a technique, ipso facto, ELIMINATES biting and promotes correct muscular development. Good embouchure mechanics are ENDEMIC to French embouchure, automatic. But these virtues can only be achieved by a constant effort when you play single lip. Single lip players are always fighting biting, which kills the sound. You cannot simply go on playing the same way you have to play French embouchure successfully. If you do you will more than likely experience enough pain to discourage you and to cause you to think French embouchure is an impossible method and unendurable. THAT is why I've spent so much time on the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY to master reed finishing and proper methods of testing the reed. To play French embouchure CORRECTLY THE REED MUST BE BALANCED. Playing poorly balanced reeds will almost certainly guarantee your discouragement and failure. Next, I presented the most effortless approach to reed control using French embouchure. Ultimately, you must listen to these videos, most more than once, and apply them thoughtfully---reflect on your experience and work to develop sensitivities and understandings that will help you more objectively grasp the meaning of your experience in playing and adjust accordingly. The flexibility and increased sensitivity of French embouchure will help you do just that. Again, like riding a bicycle, no one can make you fully understand by words alone. Someone may lead you to an MIT engineer's INTELLECTUAL understanding of the physics of balance and equilibrium. But a classroom grasp will not guarantee your success in riding the bicycle. To fully understand you must experience and actualize the meaning of those words in your senses--your muscles and nervous system---your intellectual understanding must become incarnate by the persistent and thoughtful actions of your senses. Why? Because, like riding a bicycle, playing the clarinet is a PERFORMANCE art---the whole body must be involved, not just the mind. And that incarnational process is manifested by your efforts, your CORRECT efforts; not just with practice, but with perfect practice. Without that you're just continuing to ingrain imperfect methods and behaviors that cripple you, stunt your development, and prevent your from reaching the next level of mastery and skill. You must use those words, my words and those of others as indicators to help you find the way. Words are mere proxies---their ultimate purpose is to communicate meaning leading to UNDERSTANDING. In regard to performance arts it is the totality of the person in a unified harmonious effort that must become engaged to achieve a specific task or goal. That goal is manifested by what we call "our concept." Concept leads and directs technique. So, you're not looking at just an improved method of reed control, you're looking at a real education and greater understanding of the relationship between your playing mechanics and the musical sound phrase that will elevate you, both technically and as a musician. Embouchure, as should be obvious, is just one aspect of the whole that must grow organically together, being led by an increasingly refined CONCEPT. Listening and doing and understanding must work in concert to make you a better clarinetist and MUSICIAN. You do not improve as a musician when you become a better clarinetist. That's a cart before the horse approach that gets you no progress. You become a better clarinetist as an EFFECT of becoming a better musician. I note almost all of the best players I knew in school were the most avid and perceptive listeners and lovers of great music. They didn't listen to trash. Growing to love and listen to great music is not an option. It is a general mandate. My own greatest influences? Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwartzkopf, Alfred Poel---you'll note, they're ALL singers. I'm a big fan of great oboe playing. All these people taught me to sing and the necessity of SINGING through the clarinet, not just blowing through it. Sadly, most of what I hear is players with advanced technique blowing through the clarinet thinking they're making music. They're not. They're just making notes---maybe perfectly, but that's not enough. In that regard, my advice always is to listen to Harold Wright's playing, because he's always making music and singing. The purpose is not to copy what Wright does verbatim. That's a Quixotic goal that is unrealistic. The purpose is to come to be able to approximate what he can do with the control of his sound and sense of timing to expressively phrase the music, communicating not just notes, but expressive musical meaning. IMHO Wright's playing is paradigmatic of what clarinet playing should be, and it should form your conceptual "light at the end of the tunnel" that will help your development. In regard to my own videos on this matter, you should use my words as mere indicators, or pointers, to help you find your own way. Besides providing a few playing examples that's the best I can do.

[@ninocarriglio9054]

What number of reeds do you use?

[@billyboy647]

3.5 usually, Rigotti reeds most commonly, but I work on balancing them. I never play a reed out of the box. There are just too many flaws.

[@joeenglert]

ok,,the big question,,,,whos tone was better,,,wright or mclane???

[@smokingblues5067]

How many hours does an amateur need to practice to become a professional?

[@avarmadillo]

Answer No. 1: How much wood can a woodchuck chuck? Depends on the woodchuck. Answer No. 2 Don't practice---just start performing. As an amateur you'll probably make about as much money as a professional.