Klarinet Archive - Posting 000139.txt from 1998/11

From: musicgirl82@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Professional Clarinets
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 17:08:19 -0500

Thank you very much, Miss Heril! :) Just today I lost my solo to a second
chair person because of my tongueing. If only I had this message sooner!
Oh well. . nothing's set in stone.
Here's a new topic for ya~
My father fixes clarinets in his spare time. Several years ago, my
Grandfather gave me his Selmer series 9 wooden clarinet. Sure enough, my
Father decided to "fix it" and he basicalls slaughtered the thing. It's
looking better now, but I'm still looking for a professional Clarinet.
Would anyone like to comment on what the best choice might be? I have
played on Artleys, Buffets, Selmers, Signets, and Yamahas. . and quite
frankly I have trouble telling the difference. I think I'm tied between
the Selmer and the Buffet. What would you suggest?
Hey, i've got until college (almost 2 years) until I REALLY need a new
clarinet, but for now i think it's good to start looking.
:)~Ginger

>
>No, you do NOT sound stupid. :) In fact, that you're asking the
>questions
>shows that you are anything but.
>
>Articulation. Learning the correct way to use your tongue with your
>airstream
>can take a while. This is something you and your teacher will spend
>much time
>on. The best thing you can do is to be patient, and above all,
>RELAX.
>Because, if you start to get worried about it, you will get tense. If
>you get
>tense, then your throat and muscles will tighten up and you won't be
>able to
>use them the correct way.
>
>And know that in ten years of teaching, I have YET to find a tongue
>that I
>can't fix, (knock on grenadilla!) now matter how bad it was when the
>student
>walked in the door. The best thing you can do is laugh if during the
>process
>you sound like crap. Just relax and do the things your teacher says,
>even if
>you don't see any immediate results.
>
>The first thing I work on for articulation is air. Often a student
>uses
>inadequate air, and without a good airstream, the tongue can't work
>properly.
>Instead of "riding" the tongue on the air column, the student tries to
>force
>the tongue to move. The minute you force it, too much of it moves.
>The less
>you think about actually moving your tongue, and the more you think
>about
>blowing a steady airstream, the more your tongue will relax and just
>the tip
>will move. (The trick to the "t" sounding staccato you are after.)
>
>Beyond that, you and your teacher will have to work together. Don't
>make
>yourself crazy working on it for long periods of time. I'd say no
>more than
>ten minutes a day. (But ten minutes a day adds up fast!) And also,
>mix those
>ten minutes into the rest of your practicing so your tongue doesn't
>get
>fatigued. Do like two minutes, then do scales or something, then do
>another
>two minutes, and so on.
>
>Good luck!
>
>Teri Herel.
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roger S.~

I'm not sure if that "this looks good" was sarcastic or not. Should I be
worrying? :) Anyway, I've got the air. . . my problem is my "fat tongue".
When I play i feel like I have too much tongue in my mouth. I've been
told several different things such as "open your throat, pull your tongue
back. . etc. .". I think I might take Teri Herel's advice for the time
being and see if it works! :)

~Ginger

>This looks good. I hope musicgirl isn't trying to start the air going
>by
>tonguing - that's the sort of bad thing I did before I had any
>lessons.
>Roger S.
>

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