Klarinet Archive - Posting 000385.txt from 2001/12

From: EClarinet@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Exercises for Tongue Position?
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 15:04:07 -0500

Jon said:

<<After having read through Ridenour's "The Educator's Guide to the Clarinet"
and Hadcock's
"The Working Clarinetist" I'm very interested in how to better teach my
students on the
subject of tongue position - particularly in the form of possible playing
exercises. In addition
to the brief overblowing examples in the two books above, I've run across
one from a former Jim Kanter
student in the archives but haven't found any others.

Anyone have any others or other possible written sources on the subject?

Thanks!>>

Then Clark said:

<>

Clark, I think you have got the wrong end of the tongue here! Jon's mention
of Ridenour's book refers to tongue position as it relates to voicing, not
tonguing.

Jon, I personally use a tuner with my students to check their tongue
position. If the needle sinks, then we know their tongue position is sinking
too. I have them play a scale, and we check each note. I show them which
notes the tongue tends to sink on (like around the lower clarion) and explain
why this is happening and what they can do to counteract this tendency.

I also have them start a passage with a good position, as verified by the
tuner, and then they play to the end, and we look over at the tuner again and
see if they have maintained the same basic position. Often when you start
them off with a good back-of-tongue position, they think they've got it and
then let it slack off. This exercise really shows them that they have to
continue to maintain the position.

Hope this helps....

Elise Curran
Orlando,FL

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