The Clarinet BBoard

Re: Ping-ey tone

Author: mrn  Date:   2010-02-27 21:34 The correct way to position your tongue is the way I do it, and I'm not giving away any secrets... Just kidding...well, sort of. Tongue position IS worth thinking about in this context. It's just that the idea that your tongue needs to be in a specific place for high notes and in another specific place for low notes, etc. is an oversimplification. The main thing you have to be aware of is simply that where and how you position your tongue has an important effect on the quality and focus of the sound, as well as the pitch. Moreover, it plays a critical role in making smooth transitions between notes. In those respects, it plays a very similar function to what it does when whistling. Now, you don't have to think very much about where you place your tongue when whistling--experience tells you what to do on a more-or-less subconscious level, and you simply let your tongue do the work. And when you do this, your tongue is constantly moving as you transition from pitch to pitch. The same thing should happen with the clarinet--you use your tongue to reinforce what you want the clarinet to do pitch-wise and sound-wise. This is something you more or less have to figure out through practice how to do to achieve the best results. As with whistling, there really are no pre-fabricated formulas for success--it's a question of learning to control the instrument. However, it REALLY DOES help to be aware of the fact that you can use your tongue for this purpose. As mentioned above, you also have to have good steady air support, not just during notes, but also in-between them (when your tongue is on the reed). I think some of the "ping" you're hearing is the slight accent that occurs when the tongue is released. When I want to avoid the accent, say on a soft entrance, I will often attack the reed with only the air (a "breath attack") to keep the attack from becoming too explosive. Another thing you need to have in order to make a good attack is a good reed. As Bassie noted, having too hard of a reed will cause you to sound airy. Having an unbalanced reed can also do this. A good reed should be nice and responsive at all dynamics. An unresponsive reed will hesitate and perhaps even hiss somewhat before the sound starts; in that case you don't get a "ping" you just get something like a "hissss..tone," so you never get the nice little attack and decay sequence that creates the "ping."

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