Klarinet Archive - Posting 001195.txt from 1998/09

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] TONGUE POSITION
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 18:24:54 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 1998 4:09 PM
Subject: [kl] TONGUE POSITION

>TONGUE POSITION
<snip>
>It is always easier to go into the upper register but more difficult to
>move down. For instance, one can play from low A to clarion E. But it's
>difficult to do this in reverse.
>There is a famous clarinet solo in Strauss's Don Quixote, where at the
>end, one has to slur from Middle B down to low E. Not easy at all.

Is this all because of the changes of tongue position, or does the physics
of the vibrating reed itself at least part of the cause of this? The reed's
inertia should cause it to tend to continue vibrating at the higher
frequency until some force slows it down or stops it. When you descend over
a large interval, air resistance will eventually supply the force, but not a
force great enough to slow the reed instantly. As a result many players
brush the reed with their tongue to slow the reed's rate of vibration more
quickly. When you jump up, the situation seems different. You're actually
opening a vent and forcing the air column to divide.

This is not to minimize the importance of tongue position to optimal tone
and intonation in either situation - playing large intervals up or down. I
was just surprised to read that you seemed to attribute all the difficulty
of that Strauss excerpt to tongue position. Can you or anyone else please
expand more on this?

Karl Krelove

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