[patton45]

Hi, I'm a high school student who has played tenor saxophone primarily for the past eight years. I picked up the clarinet a year ago and now I play both in multiple groups. I play clarinet twice as much as I did last year and I've noticed that I get very easily fatigued when I play clarinet. The front of my throat begins to tighten and then the back and top of my mouth constrict until I can't physically blow any more air through the instrument. It is really frustrating when I have to stop playing in the middle of a song so I can relax everything.

When I play sax I rarely have this problem and I'm really good at using my abdominal muscles to control my air flow. It's mainly with clarinet that my air flow diminishes because my throat constricts all of my air. I've discussed this with my private teacher and he said he's never heard this happening before. We practiced some long tones and even then I could not hold them without my throat tightening up. His only suggestion was that I drink some warm tea while I play and rehearse so I can keep my throat relaxed. Are there any other remedies I could look into? Or are there other explanations of what is happening when I play clarinet and why?

Thank you.

 

[bandmommy]

Odd... How much resistance to you feel when you are 'blowing'? What about head and horn angles? When was the last time your clarinet was in for a check up? Reed strength/current mouthpiece?
Is your 'teacher' a clarinetist?
You may just have to concentrate on lowering the back of your tongue and relaxing your throat while playing long tones for a while.
Start with the lowest notes. They need a more open throat anyway.

You really need to give more info so we know where to start other than 'my throat gets tight'.

 

[patton45]

To clarify: I don't feel too much resistance when playing certain notes, but it's really my throat that is affected. What happens is the longer and longer I play, my throat tightens and starts to hurt. Then the back of my mouth becomes hard and air just doesn't come out. I've had this problem on a Student Yamaha and a newer Buffet R13. I've played on Vandoren reeds 2.5 and 3. I've worked with my teacher, who is a clarinetist and reed player, with different positions and none seem to make a considerable difference. He also suggested that while I'm playing, I should think about saying "kee" to open up my mouth and throat when before I was thinking about "dah" and "do".

 

[bandmommy]

Don't say 'kee'. It raises the back of the tongue and closes up the throat. Kee is good for altissimo.
Say 'kaah'. Lowers the back of the tongue and opens the throat. Best for middle register notes.
Say 'koe' for the lower register.
Put the mouthpiece in your mouth but don't blow. Say each 'vowel sound' and feel what is going on back there. You'll see what I'm talking about.
Are you sure your teacher is a clarinetist? And by 'clarinetist' I mean that the clarinet is his primary instrument.

 

[Dog Pants]

I'll chime in by playing devil's advocate.

I'd bet London to a brick that either

A) You're playing with a sax embouchure rather than a clarinet one.

or

B) You got leaks. As a result you're forced to over blow. The clarinet will only take so much air. Trying to force more than it will take is just gonna cause you grief and sound bad to boot.

Ask your teacher to play your horn. If it's leaking, your teacher should notice.

Your default tongue position should probably lean towards the high "Kee" syllable mentioned earlier. What Bandmommy says is true but it's a subtle thing. As a beginner on clarinet, you want to learn to get a fast and focused airstream first and foremost and the high tonge position will help. It's totally different to playing the tenor sax. I'm guessing that you're unconsciously tightening your throat instead of raising your tongue. I find it common among my students to mistake a tightening of the throat for the high tongue. It takes a while to become aware of the all the subtle tension that goes on and learn what's helping and what's hindering.

It will pass.