Klarinet Archive - Posting 000391.txt from 1995/06

From: John Baetens <JSBtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Tongue position - contrad...
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 14:41:51 -0400

Tom Ascher writes:

>I'm inclined to just go ahead as I have been, keeping the tip up
>close to the reed and the back sides curved up in the direction
>of the rear molars but not actually touching, as I seem to play
>best this way.

>But, if I'm doing something that will inhibit my development
>and its really worth practicing, learning to keep the backsides in >TOUCH
with the rear molars, someone please let me know!

I am certainly not an expert in tongue position, but I can say that
the proper tongue position as described in recent posts seems
to come naturally to me. The tongue position that you describe
is impossible for me to do. From this I conclude that the
difficulties you are having is probably due to physical differences
and since you are happy with your tone, maybe you should
not try to force yourself to change. When I first heard of correct
tongue positioning, it was in reference to proper tone and
intonation. While I seem to have a naturally correct tongue
position, I have never been accused of having a particular
good tone quality. Kind of reminds me of my college bowling
class where my teacher gushed over my beautiful 4 step
delivery as I threw gutterball after gutterball.

John Baetens