Klarinet Archive - Posting 000042.txt from 1996/03

From: Armand Ferland <Armand.Ferland@-----.CA>
Subj: Re: fluttertongue
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 13:03:14 -0500

At 15:33 02/03/96, Nick Shackleton
<njs5%esc.cam.ac.uk%UKACRL.BITNET@-----.CA wrote:
>When I fluttertongue up the scale it works up to about clarinet register g
>but not at all above that. Same problem with double tonguing. Does anybody
>know why this should be so? Nick

Hello Nick,
As you know, there is a lot of adjusting of the oral cavity going
on as we play. This is done mainly by moving the tongue backward of forward
depending on the register we play in. An X-Ray film I saw many years ago,
showing the tongue position in the entire clarinet range, made me
understand this more than anythig I had previously imagined on my own. The
player performing on the film is Joseph Marchi, who was then professor of
clarinet at the Marseilles Conservatoire.
You state that flutter tonguing and double tonguing become
difficult starting on G in the clarinet register. What strikes me is that,
as you go up the scale, it is precisely when one reaches the G or A in the
clarinet register that the tongue moves back perceptibly to adjust to that
area of the compass. Coincidence? Perhaps not. You can verify this on your
own by playing G'' and E' alternately (using the G'' fingering for both
notes), then A'' and F' using the A'' fingering, and B'' and G' using the
B'' fingering, without changing your embouchure (lip pressure) but allowing
your tongue (it feels like a throat movement) to accomplish the required
change.
So when you play in that area of the clarinet register or higher,
your tongue may no longer in an ideal position to roll your Rs like a Scott
or a Russian. Moving the the tip of the tongue further back on the palate
will help and should not be too difficult if you are using a "tip of tongue
to tip of reed" articulation. If not, you may find that the mouthpiece is
in the way, so using a guttural R (French and German) will probably be your
answer.
By the way, I think the fact that the tongue moves back when one
plays high notes expains the difficulty of tonguing in the very high
register or "suraigu". (I do not use the word altissimo because all
anglophones do not seem to agree on the meaning of the word.) That is why
"breath attacks", simulating normal articulation, are commonly used when
playing above G'''.

Whether or not this will help, I do not know. But hopefully, experts
such as Eric Mandat, Robert Spring and others, who occasionnaly show up on
this list, will offer solutions based on their own practical knowledge of
extended clarinet techniques.

Armand

Armand Ferland
1196, rue Eugene-Hamel
Sainte-Foy (Quebec)
Canada G1W 4G4
Home: (418) 651-5017
e-mail: Armand.Ferland@-----.ca