Klarinet Archive - Posting 000474.txt from 2000/11

From: stewart kiritz <kiritz@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Air flow - subtone - tonguing
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 21:32:02 -0500

To William Wright

From: Stewart Kiritz

The problem you describe below is difficult to deal with through email. It
has to do with diaphragm support, voicing, and other tongue related issues.
The subtone may be reduced or eliminated (assuming your equipment is not the
problem) by making sure that even when you are playing pp in the upper
registers you are supporting the sound with your diaphragm muscles firmly.
In fact, the softer the note up there, the more breath support is
required,which may be counter to your intuition and natural tendencies to
relax as you play softer. Also, make sure you are voicing correctly, which
means a higher position of the mid-tongue. This creates a narrower air
column so the reed vibrates at the harmonic you are trying to achieve, and
not a lower harmonic (the subtone). Next, it is very common for the
tonguing to help generate a subtone in this register. So it is important to
learn how to move as little of the tongue as possible when you start the
note. You might try the exercise I previously described, but do it pp on
the notes that cause you trouble. See if you can articulate without moving
the tongue so much. If the whole tongue moves around, this can cause these
undertones because your voicing will change with each tonguing. If you
practice with a mirror (very useful), make sure nothing in your embouchure
is visibly moving. So it is just that little bit of tongue stopping the
air, and not the whole tongue moving around.

Also, many players have too loose an embouchure having been told they
shouldn't bite, which is certainly true. Some of the squeeks and squawks
and undertones are the result of wobbling of the mouthpiece in the mouth.
All should be firm but not bitingly so, and not flabby. If you look
carefully in the mirror, you may very well notice that the clarinet moves
when you tongue. This should not happen and indicates too loose a grip on
the mouthpiece.

Hope this helps,

Stewart Kiritz

> For the last couple of weeks, my instructor has been urging me to
> play long tones above the break as pianissimo as I can manage (for each
> pitch) and to listen for when the desired pitch disappears and only the
> subtone remains. This problem becomes more severe as the pitch
> increases, in my case when I reach G and A-above-the-staff.
> The long pianissimo exercise is intended to improve embouchure, but
> it makes a point about tonguing as well. When I was attempting to
> tongue clarion notes today, those unwanted subtones intruded at the
> beginning and end of each note. Clearly this was because my tonguing
> was reducing the air flow at the moment just before the reed stopped
> vibrating. I was 'punctuating' each note with a brief moment of
> subtone, which sounded miserable of course. The cure, presumably, is
> to keep the air movement steady as the tongue approaches and leaves the
> reed.
>
> At least, that's my thought tonight.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Bill
>
>
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