METHOD

I have more than 15 years of teaching experience from music schools, workshops and private students. My teaching focuses on giving the student a higher awareness of the body and how we use our muscles when we are playing clarinet. 

I am a huge fan of breath work as I believe that being able to consciously control and focus your airstream is the most important fundamental when playing a wind instrument. I have studied the art of pranayama and breath holding in order to gain full awareness of my breath and how to employ it in my own playing. This has affected my playing tremendously being able to maintain longer phrases, playing with a greater range of dynamics and reaching those dreaded high notes with ease and control. 

A good airflow starts with good posture and an active pelvic floor. All too often I see really good players not draw enough air into their lungs simply because of an inflexible ribcage. We want to fully utilize our vital capacity by giving the lungs the freedom to expand as much as possible. Having a slouched back, rounded shoulders and stiff upper body muscles restrict the expansion of the ribcage and limits the function of the diaphragm. Training you core and intercoastal muscles to build strength and flexibility will help with this. I can show you how.

WORKING WITH PHYSICAL TRAUMA

I have been paralyzed in the left side of my face for most of my life and I didn't have the awareness until I my late 30's. When I was around five I fell on the floor, head first, and scraped most of my lip out of my mouth. It left me with a nasty scar inside my mouth and a big chunk of meat hanging down from my lip. It affected my speech and I was afraid of smiling, showing that ugly lump of meat attached to my lip.

I had the big chunk of meat removed from my lip, when I was nineteen. But every concert was a huge struggle and I worked on my embouchure a lot. Like in a lot. Like in a very, very lot.

When COVID-19 came I spent two years every night massaging and stretching the scar tissue in my lips. In the spring of 2022 I went to see a voice therapist. I asked her to see what tensions I had in my left side of the face. Just below the eye, next to the cheek bone, she found a small knot. She massaged it for twenty minutes. Suddenly I felt a big jolt spreading from the knot down to my lips. I started crying. I could feel my lip for the first time, and I instantly knew what I have been dealing with my entire life.

Today I have recovered from my injury to an extent where i feel very flexible and strong in my lips. I spent a lot of time strengthening and gaining awareness of my facial muscles. Hence the the funny faces.

On top of this I work a lot on developing strength and flexibility in my body. I am very keen practitioner of astanga yoga and I work very closely with body therapists to remove tensions in my muscles. 

TWO CASES

During my career I have worked with children with physical trauma. I have seen how playing the clarinet have improved restricted or poor body functions. All it takes is repetition and awareness.

One of my former clarinet students was a young girl. She was paralyzed in the left side of her face. She had nerve damages after surgery. She had courage. She insisted on playing the clarinet even though she knew of her physical challenges. The girl developed a technique where she would use her left hand to squeeze the lip together, so she could produce a note on the clarinet. Otherwise, she would just blow her lip out. We did a lot of lip exercises. We did a lot of funny faces. It was such a strong moment the first time she played a note without squeezing her lip with her hand. And she was so cool about it. Like, of course I can do this. All we have to do is keep on trying.

Another student was a teenage boy. As a child he suffered from chemical pneumonitis, which caused damage on his lung tissue. His lungs became less elastic than normal functioning lungs. He had trouble following the other kids when playing sports due to his breathing, so he turned to music. He thought playing a wind instrument could improve his breathing. We worked hard on gaining body awareness, strengtening his core muscles and making his muscles around the rib cage more flexible. One day his mother told me that the doctors had tested his lungs at the hospital and his lung function had improved to an extent they would lay off his medicine. It was a very proud moment. When you hear him play today you wouldn't think he has a challenge with his lungs.