Klarinet Archive - Posting 000158.txt from 2011/06

From: "James Leonard Hobby" <jhobby@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] difficulties tonguing in clarion register
Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:39:06 -0400

Jane,

It's hard to make an internet diagnosis, but ... I had a student who came to
me several years ago who wanted to fix a similar problem. Try this:

1. Use a mechanical tuner. Starting on third-space C, check notes
C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C for pitch. Then try the same thing with someone else
watching the tuner. Work to hear the pitch.

2. Try tonguing these same notes, legato, slur two, tongue two, three
different
ways. Shape the tongue as though you were saying (A) tee-tee (B) tah-tah
and
(C) kah-kah. Start slow, and then speed up. The first two are the tip; the
third
is the middle. If all three ways have the same problem, use a rubber band
to be
sure the register key stays open. (There is also a small possibility you're
bumping
the Ab key just a bit. Have your tuning friend hold the A, Ab closed.)
Check
the tuning each way.

He had a combination of one of these problems, plus not keeping his throat
open all the time, which can definitely cause the starting sound to be
muffled.

Using this method might help you find what the problem is -- or at least,
possibly. It took a fair amount of plugging to find this student's problem,
and
this is a package of some of the things we tried -- and we finally fixed it.

Good luck.

Jim

> Hello - I would be grateful for any suggestions or help anyone has to
> offer on
> this topic.
>
> I have decided to take up the clarinet again after a gap of several years.
> When
> I stopped playing I wasn't particularly experienced (about 2 years of
> learning). One of the reasons for giving up was that when I tongued in
> the
> clarion register, the start of the note was never clean and always seemed
> to be
> preceeded by a muffled sounding other note. This is most obvious when
> playing
> scales with each note tongued. I had two different teachers work on this
> problem with me over a period of months and neither was successful in
> helping me
> make progress.
>
> Of course, they checked my embouchure but couldn't find any problems with
> it and
> the clarion register notes sound completely fine when slurred. I'm keen to
> find
> a way to overcome the problem this time as its quite a serious limitation.
> I
> should possibly also mention that many years ago, I played the oboe and
> did
> initially find that I had to think about clarinet embouchure quite
> differently
> compared to the oboe.

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