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Author: C. Hogue
Date: 2000-12-15 17:38
I'm gearing up for a holiday concert on Sunday but the tip of my tounge is sore! This occurred after our last two rehersals, when our director told us bass instruments to make our oft-repeated notes (dotted eighths & 16ths, etc.) staccato or -- or more staccato -- in three of our pieces. My tounge muscle isn't sore, just the bit on the end that contacts the tip of the reed.
This happened using a nicely broken-in Vandoren #3 reed on a Bundy 3 mouthpiece. I recently switched from my year-old C* mp, which just doesn't sound as good on my bass as the ancient Bundy does (much to my chagrin).
Is my sore tounge possibly due to a difference in mp tip opening? What can I do?
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2000-12-15 19:34
Does the tip of your tongue contact the actual end of the reed (the sharp part) or does it contact just the flat part near the tip? It should be doing the latter, unless I have been tonguing incorrectly for many years. If you are stabbing your tongue with the reed, a greater tip opening might cause the problem to be worse because the tip of the mouthpiece isn't as close and is less able to blunt the stabbing.
If the tip opening of your Bundy mouthpiece is greater than that of the C* and you are using your tongue to push the reed completely against the mouthpiece, I could see where you might be working it harder. But you shouldn't have to do this either, but just stop the vibrations with your tongue.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-12-15 21:06
Don't worry. Everybody gets this once in a while, especially after a long session.
Nothing heals faster than the inside of your mouth. Two days is more than enough time. Lay off until the concert, and everything will be fine.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-12-16 00:47
You could soak it in a jigger of "Ol' Rebel Yell". It'll be pickled in no time. Just kidding. We just played our Christmas concert last night and my tongue got a bit sore too from a lot of low repeated legato notes where I had to tongue but not sound like it. The old contra actually made it to the end without loosing middle staff B for a change.
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