Why not sing?

Excerpts from “What can instrumentalists learn from vocalists” by Gwendolyn Hoberg on yourclassical.org. (Emphasis mine.)

• “Phrasing and expressiveness are probably the most important things instrumentalists should observe and try to imitate—or, if they're ambitious, emulate—in vocalists. Instrumentalists can get bound up in the technical aspects of playing like fingerings and bowings—or just producing the notes on the page with the complex contraption at hand…. Technique is essential, but it's a means to an end.
  
  

• “Without attention to phrasing—rise and fall, going somewhere and coming away—musicians can't be very musical. Not every singer is a model of musical phrasing and persuasive expression, but it does seem to come more easily to singers than to those who play instruments.
  
  

• “Breath support and the related issue of sustaining sound are also valuable lessons from the vocal world. Again, an instrument sometimes obscures the significance of fundamentals like a deep breath and good sound sustained through the length of a note or phrase. This is true for strings as well as winds and brass.
  
  

"Many instrument teachers… advise their students to sing when they're playing.“ I do that too, and here's are some technical reasons why:

• Except for some regional and national styles of singing, in which a nasal sound is valued, singing naturally opens up the throat, which is a prime component of a good clarinet sound. 

• Especially in the clarion and altissimo registers, thinking like a singer when playing fights against the tendency of wind players to constrict their throats, pinch their embouchures, and back off on their breath support. It encourages players to "open up" rather than close down.
  
  

• Thinking as a singer encourages the player to articulate in different ways--or not articulation at all sometimes--giving a variety to attacks that are more musical in various contexts than the standard tongue-on-reed, "TOO TOO" approach.

• Thinking of a string of notes as a whole, as a singer would, improves your finger motion, making it smoother and less "clunky".

Try to imagine you're singing when you play 

Good stuff will happen naturally, almost unconsciously. You may not be exactly sure of what you're doing...or even why...but it's happening. "How" or "why" doesn't matter.

It's psychology, not "technique".

Do it, don't analyze it.

Over and out.

B.