[Dixielandjazz] Clarinet Embouchure - French/Double Lip

[Steve Barbone]

 Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis at larrys.bands at charter.net wrote:

> You would have to have chops of iron to play French style on a clarinet or
> sax.  I would think that embouchure would be very sloppy and incredibly
> tiring.  I played Oboe for a long time and that basic embouchure does build
> some strong chops.

Yes, you do need good chops for it.

The British and the French classical players were quite adept at it. Funny
story about that. Reginald Kell who was a Double Lip clarinetist, advised
Benny Goodman to switch to Double Lip when Benny took some lessons from him
circa 1950s. Benny made the switch.

There is a good read, for clarinet/sax players, about this embouchure at:

http://www.theclarinet.co.uk/articles/doublelip.shtml

and a good read how Kell changed Goodman's embouchere and fingering at

http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/Benny%20Goodman_1.htm

Benny. always the perfectionist, apparently knew he had some deficiencies in
his playing and so he did something about them.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone