 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: moolatte
Date: 2011-12-02 00:58
I can't keep my sound from getting spread while playing.
And plus, my lesson teacher makes me say the sound "Myuuu". It doesn't help. She's tried all she can, and I'm just not getting it. I'm supposed to keep my tongue in an EEEEE position, right? WTF does that mean?
I've tried, and it ALWAYS drops within like 15 seconds. And the sound gets really spread too. I won't have a lesson with her until next week and region auditions are soon. I want to do my absolute best, but I don't want to go in there and sound so spread that it honestly is just the worst good player the judges hear.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2011-12-02 02:09
If you say "shhhhhhhh" like you're shhhing someone -- you will have successfully blown air while keeping your tongue in the EEEEE position.
If you then form your embouchure and do the same thing -- instead of "shhhhhhh" you'll get a "huuuuuuuuusshh" sound.
You'll find the air goes all over the place (spit on your chin and everywhere nearby -- keep your friends away) when you're "huuuussshing". Do this for a while and explore how easy it is.
Insert instrument -- repeat.
This part may take some time. It may happen instantaneously. Your teacher is doing their best to help you with the tools that normally work for them -- clearly this doesn't work for you -- yet.
You can do it. Either you have a lot of work to do to maintain the tongue position OR once you've thought of it the right way (for you) it will happen quickly.
All that said -- I wouldn't be changing anything major before an audition. Once you've established a new position for your tongue in the back I find frequently that students have to reorient the tip of their tongue. Go in and be the "worst good player" the judges hear.
This presupposes that a focused, rich, ringing sound is the one you want.
James
Gnothi Seauton
Post Edited (2011-12-02 02:11)
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2011-12-02 03:36
Try approaching it from the opposite direction. Rather than making a particular position with your mouth expecting a certain result, explore the sonic possibilities that different tongue and mouth positions have to offer. Use a random position, then see if you can do something with your mouth that makes the tone different. Get comfortable with the entire range, not just the "pretty" or "desirable" ones.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Trevor M
Date: 2011-12-02 05:22
Not to knock her, but you might look for a different teacher. Sometimes two personalities don't gel for whatever reason, even if they're both talented and committed to the process.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2011-12-02 07:04
This is the time to dig out the metronome. Start around 100=a quarter note.
Get the feel on what your tongue should be doing while playing an open G or an F just below.. Keep practicing at that speed until your tongue becomes automatic. Then increase the speed and add more notes. Don't increase the speed about 20 minutes later during your first attempt!It should take a bit of time. Learn to tongue very lightly. Don't push this, because it's pretty much like working out. Don't give yourself a time limit, because this is one of the studies that requires a lot of time. Sabine Myers (spelling)plays well with very clean articulation. She said it took her years to really master.She said her teacher was on her case for many years.
Practice this in front of a mirror. A lot of players move their jaws all over the place. It you watch the top pros the jaw hardly ever moves.
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Author: mrn
Date: 2011-12-03 16:33
Alex (EEBaum) is right. It's nearly impossible to learn how to position your tongue correctly (and correct is relative to what kind of sound you are trying to produce) by following a verbal description. Like with speech, tongue position is something that you develop through aural feedback.
I am reminded of a book I bought several years ago to teach myself some Mandarin Chinese (Modern Chinese: A Basic Course--published by Dover). They offer this description of how to make a certain sound in Chinese:
"It is produced by raising the front blade of the tongue towards the hard palate, with the mouth a little open and the lips flat, and letting the breath come out between the hard palate and the blade of the tongue."
It's supposed to sound like "ee," but the description doesn't really help, does it?
What I would recommend you do is engage in some "mindful" listening ("mindful" in the Buddhist/contemplative sense of the word--that is, listening with maximal conscious awareness of the sound and its characteristics). Listen to yourself this way, and also listen to recordings featuring a variety of good tonal characteristics. See if you can learn to imitate the sounds they make.
Don't think consciously about where your tongue is--just try to imitate the sound. Your brain is pre-wired to do this kind of thing--you learned how to speak your native language in your native accent, after all. What you're doing now is, essentially, learning how to speak in new accents.
Some of the recordings I grew up listening to that I think were helpful for this purpose are:
Jost Michaels w/ Westphalian Symphony-- Mozart Clarinet Concerto
Hans-Rudolf Stalder w/ Cologne Chamber Orchestra -- Stamitz Clarinet Concerto in Eb
Eddie Daniels -- Solfegietto/Metamorphosis (on his "Breakthrough" album--incidentally, Eddie Daniels is very good at varying his sound to fit the music--what he does with his tongue position has a lot to do with it [or at least that's what I found when I tried to imitate him])
I think it's also not a bad idea to listen to not only classical players, but also jazz. Jazz players often use quite different tonal vocabularies than classical players, and even if you are only interested in playing classical music, developing an ear for other timbres and how they are produced will help you understand how to produce the kind of classical sound you want. (Ever notice that people who can do impressions/accents are often good at more than one accent/impression? It's because they are good listeners and more fully aware of the range of different sounds out there.)
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Author: Simon
Date: 2011-12-05 01:25
Get on to youtube and type in clarinet lessons. Here you will find infrmation which is demonstrated. You can visually see it as being explained and here it being performed. However, keep in mind to review lessons from highly experienced professionals, like Eddy Daniels, David Ethridge, Michelle Gingras etc. You will be surprised what you can learn from these peopel, I certainly have been and it's free, apart from your interenet usage.
Good luck.
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