I don’t think either the question or the answer below are entirely correct, but
I have no idea how or whether these FAQs can get modified. So I thought I’d put
it out here on the Digest.
Andy actually wanted the clarinet player to “andy gump” his chin as a way of
hiding his chin goatee, since the musician was one of the Freddy Fleet band
members dropped into the Mayberry Band, and Andy didn’t want Mayor Stoner to
notice the stranger.
HistoryBuff
7. Andy asked one of the clarinet players to try to "andy gumpin' your chin",
as a better method of getting a sound out of the clarinet. Does anyone know
where that saying came from and what does it mean.
Andy Gump was a comic strip character who had no chin. Barney laughed aloud
when reading "Andy Gump" in the Sunday funnies in episode 47, "Bailey's Bad
Boy." What band director Andy Taylor meant in "The Mayberry Band" was that Carl
(the clarinetist in question) should lower his chin to the point where it
nearly touched his upper chest. Years ago, when every kid knew who Andy Gump
was and what he looked like, it was common for band directors to instruct young
bassoonists to make an Andy Gump face to achieve the proper bassoon embouchure
(position of mouth muscles.) However, such an embouchure is not really suitable
for the clarinet, just the bassoon. (For them that don't know, I am a band
director; I don't watch TAGS 24 hours a day!)--Paul Mulik
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