Klarinet Archive - Posting 001050.txt from 1998/09

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Position of tongue
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 14:33:24 -0400

On Sun, 27 Sep 1998, Doug Sears wrote:
> I have always assumed that "tip to tip" meant that the tip of the tongue
> touched the flat surface of the reed near its tip, but now I'm starting to
> wonder. You don't mean to touch the very tip of the reed edge-on, do you? As a
> recovering anchor-tonguer, I'm still searching for the best position.

All these controversial discussions......fun hmmmmm?

Some people like to tongue slightly below the tip of the reed.......some
do not. I prefer to teach students tip to top (as in top of the reed)
tonguing. Yes.....it is the very tip of the reed edge-on........HOWEVER,
it is not with the clarinet angled in such a way as to achieve that goal.
Rather, it is just below the tip of the tongue (slightly toward the
underside) on the top edge of the reed. My philosophy is that it is the
very tip of the reed (top edge) that is vibrating and the part of the reed
that is most suceptible to the quality of the actual articulated sound.
When the tip of the tongue touches slightly below the tip of the reed (on
the vamp), it is not actually stopping the reed's vibration......it is
slightly on the top of the tongue that is stopping the top edge of the
reed that stops the vibration. This is when there is controversy - if
more of the tongue is hitting the thinnest part of the reed (the part that
vibrates most easily and stops vibrating most easily) then it stands to
reason that there will be more tongue sound (or a heavier articulation).
The controversy is that everyone's tongue is a bit different......what
works for one person might not be as effective as for another. This is
why so many people do just as well with anchor tonguing - because there is
no advantage (because of the physical makeup of THEIR tongue) to tip to
top tonguing. *whew* sorry to get so long winded.

It will be interesting to see others' posts.

Roger Garrett
IWU

-------------------------------------------------------------------------