Klarinet Archive - Posting 000136.txt from 2001/06

From: Shouryunus Sarcasticii <jnohe@-----.Edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Question
Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 16:24:39 -0400

On Sun, 3 Jun 2001, Anne Lenoir wrote:

> available in many music stores. Proper articulation involves blowing
> through your clarinet, (not into it) and stopping the flow of air with
> your tongue, not stopping and starting the air with little "stabs", but
> continuing the flow flow of air.

Hmm...that's a different technique than I learned. I don't think I can
even stop my airflow with my tongue. What I do with the tongue is stop
the reed from vibrating...I rarely press the reed hard enough to actually
halt the flow of air, or position my tongue in other ways to do so.

I'm not saying your method (which I don't have specifics on) isn't valid,
Anne; just that it's different from mine. It certainly wouldn't hurt
Rachael to have several perspectives to choose from.

Rachael, I learned that when you have the instrument to your face, the air
becomes constant - it is always flowing at a high rate of speed (support),
and you alter the AMOUNT of air to change volume (dynamics). The
continual support/high airspeed is VITAL to all articulation, and
especially to articulate quickly. The tongue only interrupts the
vibrations of the reed to form articulations...nothing else. For the reed
to vibrate properly before and after the interruption, the air must be the
same throughout the interruption as it is when the tone is held out. The
air speed is also vital for the tongue to move. The faster the air, the
less force you have to apply to the tongue to move it; this is
demonstrated if you drive onto the highway at 50+ mph and stick your arm
out the window, keeping it relaxed. Instead of just dropping and banging
against the door, it will bounce and float along the air stream, and
slight push here or there with different muscles or changing the shape of
your hand a little causes it to bounce or ride the air differently. The
same principle applies to the tongue. I find that a crisp, clear, "teeh"
syllable works best for this.

Hopefully, these concepts are of some use to you...now, applying these
concepts will ALLOW you to tongue fast, but they don't automatically
make you tongue faster. You still have to train the tongue to react, but
it will take less effort if you utilize your air properly. Set your
metronome, and go to town. Practice in numbers of tongue strokes, since
the more strokes you add, the slower you will be (the tongue is a fast
twitch muscule, meaning it tires quickly, but recovers fairly quickly as
well...you have to train it to last longer and longer). Start with five
tongue strokes (4 sixteenths and a quarter), and work that up to a goal
you set for yourself. Then start over and add two more strokes, work it
up, start over, add two more strokes, etc etc etc. It's a long and
tedious process, but it pays off.

You can also add the system into scale practice (adjusting the rhythms to
match the tongue naturally) so that you can practice lining up the fingers
with your tongue.

Other people have different methods and excersizes that are also worth
trying, so keep on reading what other people have to say; there are a lot
of people here who are way smarter than me, so it may be worth your time
to listen to them instead. *grin*

J. Shouryu Nohe
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
Professor of SarCaSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
"I think we have a ghost in our house." - Kaycee Nicole

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