 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: potatohead
Date: 2004-07-28 22:20
I've been practicing my scales because I'm auditioning for all-state soon so I'm trying to get it up to speed, etc. But my tonguing is really a problem. Well, sort of.
I play my scales at about 88-92, sixteenth notes, but I can't tongue them smoothly, therefore I fall behind.
I tongue them choppy. However, if you hand me a legato piece of music with a lot of tongued sixteenth notes in a row, then I'm fine at that and I can stay up to speed with a smooth tonguing. My teacher says I have some kind of psychological thing in my brain that makes me tongue scales differently from pieces. (A little weird... I know) Do you guys have any suggestions to help?
Thanks,
MG
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-07-28 22:29
Downbeats, downbeats, downbeats. Mentally know where the downbeats are (for whatever note configuration is floating around in your head that particular time through the scale). Make sure that you arrive on the downbeat, and that it leads to the next downbeat, and so on. Know and feel all the notes of a beat in as part of an oval, and know that beat as part of a larger oval.
Most importantly, know the fingering of the next downbeat. Once you reach one downbeat, be thinking of how you're going to finger the next one, and have your fingers prepared to go in that direction. If your fingers are prepared, your air will likely be more prepared, and, in conjunction with better timing due to knowing the downbeat, everything should begin to synch up.
I'm not saying this is a magical overnight fix. I've been working on this for years, in scales and pieces, and, while it has always made perfect sense conceptually, I'm just now starting to do some of it automatically without significant conscious effort.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-07-29 13:53
MG -
Try approaching it from the opposite direction. Here's an exercise I've posted several times. It comes from Bob Lowrey, who was an excellent player and a well known clinician when I was in high school.
Play a secure note (say, D below the staff), starting it mezzo forte with the breath. Then, move the tip of your tongue up and slightly forward as if saying the syllable LA, but do not let your tongue touch the reed. You want to just barely miss. Move the syllable forward gradually, so that you touch the reed only for an instant, producing the smallest possible "tic" in the sound.
Work on this until you can do it consistently and evenly. Then move to scales, beginning slowly and working the speed up gradually. The feeling should be that of your tongue sweeping - almost bouncing - across the reed, but never stopping. The breath and the sound never stop.
Once you get this extremely light action under control, it's easy to make it more forceful. Equally important, you teach yourself to play with a continuous tone, which is interrupted by the tongue, without interrupting the effort of moving the air stream. This avoids the problems that come when you think of the tongue as what starts the tone, rather than stopping it.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: kdennyclarinet
Date: 2004-07-29 19:37
I second Ken's exercise! This was a problem for me too when I was a young student. I tongued way too hard and tried to make my staccatos too pecky. Lighten up and relax.
Also, if the "scale" thing is a mental issue, try playing your scales descending then ascending. This backwards approach may help you get around some of your mental blocks.
Concentrate on your tone quality as much as possible and really "sing" the scales. If you pretend that it is a beautiful melody, maybe you can fool your sound and technique into thinking so.
Best of luck!
K. Denny
BME, MM, DMA
Post Edited (2004-07-30 06:23)
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