 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Lizzy
Date: 2004-04-07 01:39
For years, I have played with my tongue all the way at the bottom of my mouth, thus having to bite in order to get the high notes. I am now a clarinet performance major at college, and I have been working with my teacher to get my tongue high, like I am saying "ee." I have been having many difficulties getting my tongue to go into this position. I was wondering what other people do with their tongues when they play. More specifically:
1: Does your tongue stay completely inside your teeth when you play?
2: Where is the tip of your tongue in relation to the reed?
3: When you tongue, where does your tongue hit the reed?
4: Do you have any tips for correct tongue placement?
Any information on this would be very helpful in making this huge change in my playing! Thank you.
><> Elizabeth <><
[pcf]Fishy-ayB
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Author: hans
Date: 2004-04-07 01:46
For most tonguing, the upper side of the tongue, near the tip,
lightly touches the underside of the tip of the reed. This stops
the reed's vibration (and the sound).
The tone is started when the tip of the tongue drops lightly
downward and slightly back away from the reed while air pressure is
being provided to the mouthpiece.
Avoid tonguing too far down on the reed or placing too much tongue
against the reed because this will result in a quacking sound.
Tonguing is most easily learned by playing a long note and lightly
flicking the tongue against the tip of the reed to stop the
vibration momentarily to interrupt the note. Repeat this until the
starting and stopping of the note is smooth and the stream of
breath is continuous. The tongue should be as relaxed as possible
and as little of it should move as necessary. The lower jaw should
not move with the tongue, and the throat should be relaxed and
open.
Start the air pressure from the diaphragm before the tongue
releases the reed to vibrate.
To play legato or rapid staccato, the tongue's return to the reed
stops one note and starts the next. In finishing the ends of
phrases or in stopping the vibrations of notes followed by
intervals of silence, the diaphragm will stop the flow of air.
Experiment with tonguing the corner, centre, or the entire tip of
the reed to discover important differences in the abruptness and
quality of tone beginnings; e.g., legato is achieved by tonguing
near a corner or by reducing air flow by passing the tip of the
tongue near the tip of the reed, while strong accent is achieved by
covering the tip of the reed from side to side.
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Author: RAMman
Date: 2004-04-07 14:10
Your problem is very common, it's known as anchor tonguing.
Having the tongue at the very bottom of the mouth with also open your throat, so that's the main reason for the trouble on high notes, probably not lack of pressure from you embouchire.
DO NOT start biting thinking it will help, fix the tonguing issue and I think your problem will be solved.
Remember always, tip of the tongue on the tip of the reed.
I know Howard Klug teaches to aim for the top of the moutpiece with your tongue, that way you'll be tonguing in the right place.
Start by making sure your tongue is in the right place when it's ON the reed and work backwards, Rosemary Lang describes the amount of movement away from the reed, required to be no more than the distance travelled by your eye lid when you blink.
The advice on the post above mine is excellent.
Dan.
Remember....
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2004-04-07 14:29
1. tongue stay inside teeth? Yes....I don't see how it could be otherwise, though. 2. Tip of tongue in relation to the reed? Just below it. Having a brief break in performing recently I worked on my tonguing speed by playing slow scales and found that I was hitting the roof of my mouth at the same time as hitting the reed. It doesn't seem possible, but I was. So, I started playing scales with 16ths at quarter note = 80 and working up to 144 on the metronome. My tonguing speed has increased greatly by the correction of not doing too much tongue movement. 3. Where does the tongue hit the reed? Close to the tip. That was another problem I had. For pieces with lots of fast tonguing (say, a Mendelssohn symphony)I was actually cutting my tongue by tonguing right on the tip. No more bloody reeds for me, no sir!
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Author: graham
Date: 2004-04-07 14:53
Hope you don't mind me saying this but I think that, as you are hiring a teacher to help you, you should focus entirely on your teacher's advice and not be blown around by BB opinions. This is too complex to deal with without looking and listening to you play, and you have no way of knowing the calibre of (all) the people commenting. But as you presented the question almost as a point of interest as to what we actually do (for better or worse):-
1. Yes
2. Lying under the reed, reasonably far forward, but not wedged against the teeth.
3. The blade, just down from the tip of the tongue, and this goes roughly speaking on the tip of the reed. No way does this cause quacking.
4. No. I only have tips for the way I do it.
Read the "anchor tonguing threads. There are yards of them, and they can become quite intense.
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Author: coasten1
Date: 2004-04-07 18:24
On/off topic. I had issues with my tongue in general supporting my teeth causing the need for braces a 2nd time. My teeth started to shift. After years passed and I decided to have braces a 2nd time, my new ortho had me work with a speech therapist to correct my tongue posture. My tongue used to rest low in my mouth and against my bottom teeth. I had trouble keeping my tongue high in the mouth. I had to work diligently to retrain my tongue to rest high in my mouth. Most people don't think of where there tongue is at rest. If your tongue is in the correct place, you should feel ridges on the roof of your mouth just behind your top teeth.
With your comment of having a hard time getting the tongue high in the mouth for the 'ee' sound, here are some exercises I learned from the speech therapist:
conscious swallowing - sip some water and anchor the tip of your tongue just behind your top teeth and swallow. The tip of your tongue should not leave the roof of your mouth. This helps raise the tongue higher during the swallowing.
reminders - get stickers or anything to remind you to think of what your tongue is doing? Is it resting low or high in your mouth?
tongue depressor - Get a wide tongue depressor like those at the doctor's office or a butter knife (not sharp obviously). Place the tongue depressor on the center of your tongue and apply pressure down. At the same time push up with your tongue. This isometric exercise will strengthen the center of the tongue helping it rise up higher in the mouth.
This all may sound strange but it works. After repositioning my tongue, my teeth have held their position for years since my braces were removed.
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