Taught by renowned clarinet player
Kimberly Cole Luevano
Is anything more important for clarinet playing than the strength and flexibility of one's embouchure? Does anything else feel more shrouded in mystery? In this course, clarinetist and pedagogue Kimberly Cole Luevano takes you through all the parts of your embouchure and how they work together to make a clarinet sound. She presents a detailed and easy-to-understand overview of the anatomy of the embouchure and gives you dozens of exercises to try for strength and flexibility. If you're looking to improve your tone, this is the place to start!
The Anatomy of the Embouchure
Kimberly Cole Luevano shows you how your jaw - using an actual skull! - works to support your embouchure. She shows you how the facial muscles work, how your thumbs actually support your embouchure, and how the hard palate, soft palate and the angle of the head all have an impact on your playing. Don't let this list overwhelm you: Kim's clear, concise teaching will give you everything you need to finally understand how your anatomy supports your clarinet tone!
Developing your External Embouchure
In this lesson, Kimberly Cole Luevano shows you how your orbicularis oris - that is, the muscles around your lips - work to produce a great sound on the clarinet and keep you from biting. She gives you seven different exercises to help you strengthen the different parts of this muscle. Get ready to work out!
Developing your Inner Embouchure
What Kimberly Cole Luevano refers to as the Internal Embouchure, other clarinetists may refer to as voicing and tongue position - in this lesson we are working on the placement and awareness of the tongue using another great series of exercises. These will give you great flexibility, particularly as you explore the higher registers of the clarinet!
Experimenting with Double Lip
Here's a great exercise from Kimberly Cole Luevano for really doubling down (so to speak) on embouchure strength. She explains when and how to practice this, that some players use it all the time (and why you might not want to). This exercise is going to take your stability in playing to the next level!
A Brief Word on Posture
Here Kim gives a brief overview of posture and how your overall posture might affect your embouchure. As ever, she recommends remaining curious and practicing with a mirror to really get to know how you play.
Click here to download the course workbook PDF and see the full syllabus →Click below to access hundreds of exclusive cello courses, available only on tonebase.
Unlock Course →Her tone and technique described as "breathtaking" by the Clarinet, Kimberly Cole Luevano is also one of the most distinguished clarinet pedagogues in the United States.
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