Klarinet Archive - Posting 000189.txt from 1994/07

From: Jim Freeman <collnjim@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Slap-tonguing
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 14:58:18 -0400

On Mon, 25 Jul 1994, NICK WINKLER wrote:

> Hi, I'm Wayne Hodgin, and Nick is letting me use this conference to ask
> a question. Hope somebody has an answer...
>
> How do you break the slap-tonguing habit in a high-school clarinet
> player? All other technique is fine--good tone, etc. What should I do?
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Views expressed by this individual are not necessarily
> those of the Tulare County Office of Education
> ------------------------------------------------------
>

I've had students who've come to me with this problem, and, unfortunately,
it's a very hard habbit to break. It's easy to think that the problem is
rooted in what the student is doing with his or her tounge, but I've found
that if you treat it like an air problem, the solution comes a little less
painfully. If you start by doing a lot of slurring with the student on
slow scales and melodic material, taking pains to point out when the end
of a particular note is less loud than the beginning (indicating that the
air is going through slower at the end of a note), this eventually gives a
student an example from his own playing what smooth supported playing
sounds like. After several weeks (or months in some cases), carefully
introduce tounging back into the student's playing, being very careful to
veer far away from the word "attack." Emphasize that the sound is
produced when the tounge is is pulled away from the reed - this way the
student's maximum attention is focused on the "backwards " motion of the
tounge and the consistancy of the air going through the clarinet rather
than the "attack." Start with repeated, easy to produce sounds ( such as
lowest C or D ) and use the standards that you've established for smooth
playing to guide the progress of the repeated notes (no gaps between
articulations, consistant volume from begining to end of the note, etc.).
After smooth articulations are consistant (depending on the student, this
too could take several weeks to several months), work on shorter
articulations by having the student just leave his or her tounge on the
reed for a longer time, making sure everything else (breathing, blowing,
etc.) remains the same. This is a pretty tedious process, but it can make
a big difference in a students playing . Good luck,

Jim Freeman (collnjim@-----.edu)