Klarinet Archive - Posting 000103.txt from 2001/11

From: Mike Dowler <syo@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: voicing/was "Band vs orch eefer range"
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 14:45:43 -0500

Hi, Elise (and the list :) )

I do understand what you're saying about voicing now. The back (and
perhaps the middle) of the tongue rises to help the intonation and
bring out the desirable harmonics in a certain note (ie. good tone).
I like the way you introduce the tuner to your students, and I think
I will use it in the same manner with a group of 13 high school
students I have recently started teaching. One thing to be careful
with when using the tuner is that they are in fact using "EEE" (or
the french EU, which brings the front of the tongue down where it
should be, but I find difficult for Americans who haven't studied
French to produce. Suggestions?) and not just pinching the reed to
force those harmonics out (and causing a number of undesirable things
to happen at the same time!)

What I still don't agree with you on is the fact that it is the "EEE"
that is the main contributor to making the different between an F
(played with the thumb, in the first partial) and a C (thumb, 3rd
partial). Throughout my first year of my undergraduate degree, I had
difficulty with "ghosting", where the 1st partial could be heard
almost at the same time as the 3rd partial on many of the left hand
notes. I was "EEE"ing until I was blue in the tongue, but it was
doing no good. I see this problem in the majority of the 13 high
schoolers I am teaching, and the solution is always to push up with
the right hand thumb and "jam the clarinet in your mouth". Have you
tried this method? This is somewhat dependant on the angle of the
clarinet, but I've yet to sit down and figure out exactly how. I
usually leave the angle up to them to find the "sweet spot". Next
time one of your students is having trouble getting to a higher
partial, ask them to push up gently with the thumb until it "pops"
out (jumps to the next partial), as an experiment.

Mike

At 2:33 AM -0500 11/1/01, EClarinet@-----.com wrote:
>
>Hi Mike!
>
>I'm not sure if you saw the definition of voicing I gave to Luby in that long
>post I made, so I wanted to let you know it was there. To further answer
>your question about bringing out certain harmonics, yes, it does do that.
>That is what Ed was referring to, I think, when he said: "I suspect that a
>lot of people are aware of the importance of vowel sounds, shape and size of
>the oral cavity, etc. in determining tone quality on wind instruments."
>
>It is usually the higher partials that are lacking in young, inexperienced
>players' tone, and voicing helps bring them out. But when I speak of
>voicing, I am mainly talking about teaching it to beginners so they
>understand that the clarinet uses a fast airstream, and that the way to
>acheive the proper air speed is to 'funnel' the air when it gets to your
>mouth by raising the back of your tongue---you 'voice' a particular vowel,
>"eeee", to acheive this. Ed also mentioned raising the center of the tongue,
>and I know I do this to color certain notes, although I am not aware of using
>the center of the tongue to reach certain high notes.
>
>The idea of the fast air is essential for the students to understand if they
>are going to be playing an instrument where they are overblowing all
>registers above the fundamental. It's not just a matter of tone, but of even
>being able to play the notes. For instance, usually all I have to do to get
>the typical beginner to be able to play a high C is to tell them to use fast
>air, to say "eeee", and 90% will get the note. For the others I have to talk
>about the lower lip stretch allowing the reed to vibrate, etc.
>
>Recently we have been having discussions on the list about when to introduce
>the clarion register to beginners, and I did not chime in, but I will now,
>because it relates to what I am saying about voicing. I usually have a kid
>try the clarion register after they have been able to play an in-tune (by the
>tuner) open G. I have them play low C, and then I say that if they are using
>fast air, they will get a high note to pop out when I reach over and hit
>their register key. If they get the note, I have them watch the tuner needle
>to see where it goes. I call the tuner, at this point, the EEE-O-METER, and
>I tell them that it will show whether they are using "eee" or not. This is
>very effective for my visually oriented students....it helps if they can see
>a representation of what they are hearing. For my aurally oriented kids,
>it's always best to play the note and have them match pitch, which I
>eventually do with the visual kids too. After all of this, I explain that
>the fast air they use to make the higher notes will make their lower notes
>sound better, and I always have the tuner out in the beginning so they can
>see this. I also play along with them a lot so they can hear it.
>
>Tom Ridenour says that often when you focus on voicing (airstream shaping)
>first, the student will make a natural embouchure without too much explaining
>from the teacher. I have definitely observed this to be true in about 75% of
>my students. The rest require specific embouchure work apart from voicing.
>
>I hope this is a better approximation of what I was talking about with
>voicing and that it proves enlightening in some way. :-)
>
>Elise Curran
>Orlando, FL

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