Klarinet Archive - Posting 000133.txt from 1996/03

From: Grant Green <gdgreen@-----.COM>
Subj: Tongue position (was fluttertongue)
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 18:30:03 -0500

> 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.

Just as an aside, it is interesting to see (hear!) just how much tongue
position affects the timbre of a wind instrument. There is even an
instrument whose performance is *based* on the alteration of timbre by
changing the oral cavity, in addition to vocalizing through the instrument.
Think about it the next time you hear a didgeridu ;-)

Grant Green

Grant D. Green
gdgreen@-----.com
http://www.crl.com/~gdgreen/index.html
Still hunting sarussophones!