Klarinet Archive - Posting 000364.txt from 2002/04

From: Larry Paikin <larrypaikin@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] breathing bags/slaptongue
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 12:19:29 -0400

re Slaptonge: Have you talked to Daniel Rubinoff in Toronto?
He performs jazz/classical concerts using slaptongue.
416-534-3022
http://www.joyofsax.com/

Peter Stoll wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> (man it's hard to type with a 12-pound tabby cat
> leaning on your arm!)...does anyone else recommend
> breathing bags a la Arnold Jacobs (great Chicago
> Sym.tubist) to develop students' awareness of the
> breathing mechanism? I tried one again myself and was
> amazed at the temporary change in air and sound: much
> fuller and a more centered altissimo. Try it! I get
> students to grab a plastic shopping bag and a handful
> of straws, squeeze the air out and then blow in and
> out through the straws pinching the bag around them to
> make a seal. The idea I believe is that this allows
> increased air movement without over-oxygenating the
> blood and thus hyperventilation.
>
> I wonder: is this change more the changed O2 content
> of the air or the breathing mechanism? I'd love to
> hear of any success stories finding ways of making
> this effect more permanent.
>
> 2nd issue: any success stories with slaptongue? I've
> heard the occasional high school student who naturally
> gets a great slap (but usually can't produce any more
> gentle articulation ;) ) but while I can get a strong
> whack out of a standard accented staccato, the "full
> Monty" pop/slap just isn't coming. Any ideas that have
> worked for you?
>
> I took a lesson from a jazz bari sax player with an
> amazing pizzicato-bass slaptongue. To show how he
> dealt with low notes on the sax family so well, he
> took up a snare drum stick, put one end into his gut
> below his ribcage, and then told me to push. "No
> harder!" "No even harder!" My eyes were wide as I
> jammed the thing in (don't try this at next week's
> lesson kids!) but when he exhaled, out shot the
> drumstick and STAYED there, no "toothpaste tube"
> breathing (a la Tom Ridenour's great book), total
> muscle flexion the entire breathing cycle. What an
> impression that made!
>
> Just some thoughts from "the end of term"... Hope all
> are well,
>
> =====
> Peter Stoll
>
> University of Toronto
> Toronto Philharmonia
> Continuum Contemporary Music
> ERGO ensemble
>
> Music, Movies, Sports, Games! http://entertainment.yahoo.ca
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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