Klarinet Archive - Posting 000270.txt from 2011/01

From: Richard D Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] suggestions of channeling water
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:03:38 -0500

Moisture that runs into woodwind instrument tone holes is usually
mostly condensation from the breathed in air. It is made very humid by
being in the lungs.

Saliva can also sometimes be a part of the moisture that ends up in an
instrument. I think improper tonguing is often the cause of this. If
one allows the tongue to be flat at the front edge of the reed, or if
one thrusts the tongue forward onto the reed edge and mouthpiece tip
end when tonguing, saliva that is on the tongue will shoot directly
into the instrument. The most obvious result is a sizzling or popping
sound as tones are blown.

Most of this saliva inundation can be avoided by moving only the tip
of the tongue, curling the tip of the tongue upward and touching the
reed just behind its front edge. When toughing the reed this way, any
moisture that is on the tongue will not blow into the instrument and
the sound will stay "dry."

The second advantage is that only a small part (tip) of the tongue is
moving vertically. The whole tongue mass within the mouth and going
down the throat is not moving forward and backward in the mouth. The
tip only movement is therefore potentially a lot faster.

Also, the size and direction of the air stream remain constant when
any note is tongued and blown. There is no diphong (changing vowel
effect) or pitch change taking because of the changing displacement
within the mouth.

Yes, the vowel sound within the mouth does change when tonguing from
low to high...being flatter when playing low pitches and more arched
in the back when articulating and playing high notes, but these tongue
formations usually don't or shouldn't change for any given note while
a given note is being blown.

I hope this adds to the conversation.

Yours truly,
Richard Bush

On Jan 25, 2011, at 8:20 AM, Steve Hartman wrote:

Has that actually been scientifically tested? The "water" in tone holes
seems to me to have the consistency of water, not saliva.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Gentry" <peter.gentry@-----.uk>
To: "'The Klarinet Mailing List'" <klarinet@-----.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 10:16 AM
Subject: Re: [kl] suggestions of channeling water

> But most of it is spit(saliva) not condensation and it contains more
> than
> just water being quite strongly antiseptic. Your Mum knows best.

>> From: Steve Hartman [mailto:sdh902@-----.net]

>> There could be a tiny chip in the tone hole or the pad may not be
>> seated
>> perfectly. I prefer to refer to the water as "condensation."

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