Klarinet Archive - Posting 000085.txt from 2005/03

From: "Vann Joe Turner" <medpen@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] At Tony's request
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 16:24:22 -0500

Tony has asked me both on this list and via private email to explain what I
find deficient in his chapter in *The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet*.
This stems from my having labeled it gobbledegoop. I asked him if he'd like
me to send it to him privately, but no, he wanted it publicly posted here. I
personally would have preferred to send it to him privately, but I'm sure he
has his motivation for wanting it here. (I bet I know what it is.)

His chapter is titled "The mechanics of playing the clarinet". Such a title
makes a promise to the readers that what follows is a How-To encapsulated
into a single chapter, and he does address the major elements: breath,
embouchure, tone, articulation, intonation. While there is the occasional
brilliant observation, the reader comes away scratching his head wondering,
"What did he say?" (For excellent instructional material, though in book
form, I can recommend Keith Stein's *The Art of Clarinet Playing* and David
Pino's *The Clarinet and Clarinet Playing*, and as complementary material,
Barry Green's *The Inner Game of Music*)

The problems start with his first area of explanation, "Abdomen and
diaphragm: support". He tells us "to play on top of" the opposition of
abdominal muscles and diaphragm. I don't know what that means, and he goes
on to say:

"The unusual part of the experience of playing on top of the
abdomen-diaphragm opposition, and the one that I want to bring out, is that
when you play in this way you can make a crescendo, and perhaps even more
clearly, a diminuendo, without anything else at all happening in your
experience."

Perhaps he is right, and perhaps this is the golden grail in my playing I've
been looking for. But I don't know what he means, "playing on top of". On
this topic David Pino talks about constant abdominal pressure, and variable
air speed. That I can understand. But what does "playing on top of" mean?
Without explanation it is gobbledegoop.

The next section in the article, "Mouth and tongue - sound and nuance"
contains this paragraph:

"The shape of the inside of our mouth is not often thought of as having a
strong effect on the sound of the clarinet. But though pressure waves inside
the mouth are not audible in themselves, they clearly have some effect on
how the reed behaves, just like the waves in the instrument, and therefore
they indirectly make a contribution to the sound of the clarinet. Strong
evidence in this direction is that in special circumstances we can
completely change the 'normal' behavior of the clarinet: simply by altering
the position of the tongue we can glissando down from the one-thumb plus
register key 'c' through a sixth or more. Mouth shapes control intonation in
other parts of the instrument too, provided the reed is sufficiently
responsive."

Unfortunately, he does not give a single suggestion as to what the shape of
the inside of the mouth should be. He does NOT mention that many students
find the syllable Aaah useful in the chalameux, and an EEEE in altissimo. He
suggests no syllables at all. He writes but doesn't communicate, and from
the title I thought this was a brief "how-to". (I wonder if anyone can
glissando from C down to E by change of tongue position alone. Perhaps if
Tony had written what change does it, it would have been helpful. As it
stands, it is gobbledegoop.)

In his embouchure section he writes:
"There are many different types of basic embouchure because there are many
different types of mouthpiece [sic, singular], and it is evident that the
strength of the reed also makes a difference. I think it is most useful to
imagine the embouchure as controlling the reed by touching it almost exactly
over the point where it leaves the mouthpiece facing. As we play louder or
softer, the length of the part of the reed that moves away from the
mouthpiece tends to change. We must compensate with our embouchure if the
pitch is not to be affected."

Huh? Since this is a how-to, some direction as to this "compensation" is
needed.

In the intonation section, there is again a lack of useful instruction, no
discussion of changes in pitch relative to volumn, or sharp in chalameaux or
flat in altissimo or anything else.

And so it goes: words, words, words, without any of the promised how-to. It
is gobbledegoop. He makes promises of presenting instructional material, but
doesn't following through in offering the instruction itself. Gobbledegoop.

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