Klarinet Archive - Posting 001041.txt from 2002/11

From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Introducing tonguing - was "teaching clarinet"
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 21:25:22 -0500

My voice teacher in college 35 years ago used a similar analogy, aiming to
get me to keep the air flowing while I interrupted it with tongued or labial
consonants. The point seemed to be that the air pressure needed to be
interrupted at the front of the mouth, not back at the musculature that's
used to expel the air from the lungs (we don't use the valve at the wall, or
try to have the water company turn the pump on and off in the illustration,
we shut the water off while it's still under pressure at the hose nozzle).
This actually kind of worked for me, although I was used to the idea from
having studied clarinet and simply was not applying it carefully enough (I
suppose) to singing.

That said, I'm not sure, Eric, what you meant when you wrote "When you want
to tongu[e], you close the opening with your tongu[e]...." Do you actually
block the opening between the reed and the tip rail with your tongue? Or do
you press the reed hard enough that it completely closes against the rail?
Could you clarify a bit?

Karl Krelove

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Wright [mailto:Bi6W@-----.net]
> Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2002 6:25 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Introducing tonguing - was "teaching clarinet"
>
>
> <><> Ok, so, think of tonguing kind of like how this hose / nozzle thing
> works.
>
>
>
> The problem with this metaphor is that it suggests manipulating the air
> flow rather than manipulating the reed. The goal is not to build air
> pressure inside the instrument, nor is it to allow air to flow or not
> flow.
>
> Regards,
> Bill
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Dannewitz [mailto:ericdano@-----.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2002 3:49 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Introducing tonguing - was "teaching clarinet"
>>
>>
>> I usually give this explanation of tonguing to students.
>> Regardless of age.
>>
>> Do you have a pool? (Yes or no). How about a garden hose? One with the
>> nozzle on it where you can spray your friends and enemies with? Ok, so
>> how does that work? (they explain it, sometimes right). Yeah, so the
>> water is under pressure right? And when you squeeze the handle on the
>> nozzle, it shoots the water out. And you hit your friends/enemies and
>> have a good time, right? Ok, so, what if you squeeze the handle, and it
>> takes a second for the water to come out? Not a very effective weapon
>> right? They could see it coming as it would kind of stream out while it
>> builds pressure.
>>
>> Ok, so, think of tonguing kind of like how this hose/nozzle thing works.
>> You have a lot of AIR pressure, and when you blow normally, it is like
>> squirting your friends with the hose. When you want to tonguing, you
>> close the opening with your tonguing, but keep the air pressure going.
>> If you don't, it ends up being like the ineffective stream, where, in
>> this case, it would not sound good, and in the case of the water hose,
>> would not be good in getting people wet.
>>

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