Klarinet Archive - Posting 000515.txt from 1996/09

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Embouchure Help.
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 23:10:11 -0400

On Mon, 23 Sep 1996, Fred Jacobowitz wrote:

> I have a student with the exact same problem you do. What you are
> doing is called "anchor tonguing", I am told. In any case, hasn't anyone
> been able to explain the correct way to tongue? If not, you have been
> taught by seriously inept clods.

I also have great difficulty in dealing with students who come to the
University tongueing this way, or slap tongueing, after having reinforced
those habits over and over for several years. However, I wouldn't be too
quick to judge their teachers quite so harshly. It's not always easy to
tell exactly what kind of articulation a student is doing when they are
sitting beside you in the studio, and it's obviously much more difficult
when there are 30 or 60 or 100 students playing simultaneously in a school
music setting. Perhaps Michelle, like some of the students I have
encountered, never had private lessons.

> 3) You hit the reed SHARPLY AND QUICKLY. That is, don't let your tongue
> linger on the reed. Don't worry about how hard you tongue. The sharper
> and quicker your articulation is, the cleaner the articulation will sound
> to the listener.

This, to me, is a definite no-no. I _very strongly_ object to ever
telling a student that the tongue HITS the reed. It's not the forward or
upward motion of the tongue that starts the sound, but the movement _AWAY_
from the reed. The tongue is like a valve. It touches the reed just
enough to stop the sound, either by stopping the vibration of the reed or
by interfering with the air stream, or both, and then it _pulls away_ from
the reed, thereby allowing the reed to vibrate and the sound to begin.

As someone has said, there are 57 varieties of articulation, all the way
from the gentlest and most legato-like beginning of a note, to the driest
and most strongly accented staccato, but in every case, the tone begins
when the tongue leaves the reed.

I have often said that I spend more than half my time in the studio trying
to get students to relax. They bring to instrumental performance such a
significant amount of tension, anxiety and guilt, that getting them to
overcome such approaches is usually a major effort. In order to
facilitate that process, I _NEVER_ use words like "tight," (use "firm"
instead), "hard," (use "strong" or "energetic" instead) or "hit" (use
"touch" or "contact" instead). We have to carefully measure our words to
students - they might take us literally.

Ed Lacy
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Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
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