 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Garth Libre
Date: 2012-03-15 02:42
For a while my tonguing was horrible. Everytime I tried to tongue, I heard horrible pitch fluctuations, slap sounds and uneveness of tone. Last week, I stumbled upon a kind of tonguing which seemed effortless and resulted in a clean brisk sound with the ability to do these in rapid succession. I was happy with my new found progress until I read Mr. Pino's fine book on clarinet technique. According to him, the tongue should actually gently touch the tip of the vibrating reed, but I don't feel that touch at all. In fact, it feels that the tongue is touching the roof of my mouth and coming just shy of actually touching the reed. I want to do things correctly but to my ear, the kind of tonguing I'm doing now is very effective and satisfying. Is it possible that my tongue is touching the reed and I just can't feel it? Is it possible to do proper tonguing even if the tongue doesn't make contact with the reed?
Garth, 305-981-4705. garthlibre@yahoo.com
Post Edited (2012-03-15 02:44)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2012-03-15 06:01
The resulting sound is what's important. That said, the method you say Mr. Pino describes, if done correctly, should generally produce a cleaner result without pitch fluctuations, slap sounds or unevenness of tone than any other way unless the physical characteristics of your tongue and mouth are very unusual.
The chances are, if your were getting "horrible pitch fluctuations, slap sounds and uneveness of tone" when tonguing conventionally, as Mr. Pino describes, you were not touching the reed gently or lightly enough and were moving parts of your embouchure along with your tongue. We haven't heard you play, so it's hard to judge the result of your way of tonguing (or even to be sure exactly what you're doing, since you don't seem clear about it yourself). I don't think you could be touching the reed without feeling it.
Karl
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Author: JHowell
Date: 2012-03-15 11:57
Considerable variation exists among humans with respect to tongue shape and size, jaw shape and size, palate width and height, and so on. A clean articulation that does not affect pitch and/or timbre requires that the breath support, oral cavity, and embouchure remain stable while the reed's vibration is interrupted, then restarted. The same tongue position/contact point doesn't work for everybody, and I've known plenty of players with great articulation who do it "wrong."
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Author: Garth Libre
Date: 2012-03-15 14:42
I understand that there are many differences in technique, but are there people who tongue at a high level and who also do not feel any actual contact with the reed itself? Recently I've re-tried actually grazing the reed tip and the result for me seems slower than tapping the roof of my mouth. So apparently things are changing for me on a constant basis. Just a few weeks ago when I tried making actual contact, the result was unmusical. So now I guess I could do it either way, roof of the mouth tonguing and reed tip brushing but the roof of the mouth still seems cleaner and faster.
Garth, 305-981-4705. garthlibre@yahoo.com
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Author: gsurosey
Date: 2012-03-15 16:43
I'm still looking for consistency in my tonguing, but some my cleanest tonguing happens when I'm hitting above the tip of the mouthpiece (I'm not sure how this is effective, since I'm essentially tonguing into the air above mt setup). This also happens when I'm getting tired and that's when the mouthpiece starts moving out of my mouth and I'm closer to the tip (trying to correct that, too). For me, if I can find the "sweet spot" in tonguing on the reed surface (which is farther down the vamp than I think it is), it works well. I just have to be more consistent.
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Rachel
Clarinet Stash:
Bb/A: Buffet R13
Eb: Bundy
Bass: Royal Global Max
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Author: CuriousClarinet
Date: 2012-03-16 02:07
So... not that I'm anywhere near a professional, but I'd say I have a decent amount of knowledge about trying to find the best way to tongue, since I've always had troubles with it myself.
First, I would NOT start tonguing on the roof of your mouth. I accidentally learned to play clarinet tonguing on the roof, not touching the reed at all. A year ago, I probably would have agreed with you that it sounds so much cleaner then everyone else's tonguing, and you can single tongue at pretty amazing speeds. However, four years ago, at my first high school solo/ensemble competition, the judge told us we would have qualified for state if my tonguing had been cleaner. Which surprised me, because no body had mentioned it before. (Although I had always known that tonguing on the roof of your mouth produces a slight "clicking" sound) So I then went about trying to change it, but after eight years of tonguing wrong I found it near impossible to change. This drove me away from clarinet, which is the main reason I tended to prefer bass, since the tonguing problem is not nearly as obvious. When I did play clarinet, I got really good at tonguing incorrectly well, (if that makes sense.) The clicking sound was nearly nonexistent. About a year ago, my private teacher finally banned me from tonguing incorrectly, and it took me the better half of that year I to realize the problems with tonguing on the roof of your mouth.
When you tongue without hitting the reed, you're really not tonguing at all. Tonguing is the act of stopping the reeds vibration. When your tongue hits the top of your mouth, all you're doing is producing an effect that SOUNDS like tonguing. (which is why the clicking sound is quite obvious.) And like I mentioned in the above paragraph, you CAN barely touch the roof of your mouth, and the clicking sound practically disappears. Problem with that is, so does any separation/clean cut offs of notes. Tonguing on the roof of your mouth might work for legato passages, but staccato just sounds too... clicky and unclean.
I can now tongue on the reed and on the roof of my mouth (both ways) somewhat effectively. I purposely make sure I always tongue on the reed. However, Sometimes I switch back to my old habit when I get frustrated with how sloppy tonguing on the reed seems to be, and I'm amazed ever survived tonguing that way. It throws the tone off and still sounds pretty slurred. I'd never get into the habit of tonguing on the roof of your mouth, if I were you. It's way too hard to break the habit once it has formed, and in the long run it'll handicap your playing.
That's just my experience, though. Perhaps the way you are hitting the roof of your mouth is different then how I was, and is working better. I don't know, but I'd tend to stick to the most conventional way, if I were you. It might take more time to learn how to tongue correctly with the same immediate effects of tonguing on the roof of your mouth, but it'll be worth it in the long run.
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