 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Probe
Date: 2013-01-07 01:17
Hello,
I am a clarinet student of 5 years, and one thing that bothered me consistantly through technical pieces is staccato tonguing. Long runs of staccatos are exhausing to play because of the halt in air that occurs when tonguing a staccato. Is this a problem for any other clarinetists or am I doing something wrong?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2013-01-07 02:03
Could be a few things.
The basic premise to keep in mind is that the 'attack' is only the term used for stopping the sound. The actual movement to concentrate on is the movement of the tongue AWAY from the reed. Stopping the sound is accomplished solely by the tongue's presence on the reed (as your air continues to flow). For clean staccato just practice S-L-O-W-L-Y at first.
you may already be doing this
The other side of the house is muscle speed. Many of us are not gifted with a fast tongue. 16ths at quarter note equals 120 might be as fast as most can do reasonably well. So the only option to speed this up is the use of double and triple tonguing. This is accomplished by thinking 'TEE-KEE' as you tongue two duples in succession. The 'TEE' sound is our tonguing described above. The 'KEE' sound is accomplished when a spot further back on the tongue is used against the roof of the mouth and released for that articulation. Double tonguing is easier practiced (slowly of course) at first in the chalumeau register.
...................Paul Aviles
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Author: gsurosey
Date: 2013-01-07 03:11
What do you mean by "the halt in air"? Are you stopping the air flow when you're tonguing, then starting it up again? Keep the air flowing as you're tonguing the notes. Your tongue on the reed stops air from going into the clarinet, but don't stop pushing the air out of your lungs.
(Geez, I sound like my teacher; we're working on some of the same stuff now.)
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Rachel
Clarinet Stash:
Bb/A: Buffet R13
Eb: Bundy
Bass: Royal Global Max
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2013-01-07 10:56
>> Your tongue on the reed stops air from going into the clarinet, but don't stop pushing the air out of your lungs.>>
Strictly speaking, your tongue on the reed rather STOPS THE REED VIBRATING. Thinking of your tongue as 'stopping the air from going into the clarinet' may result in an over-vigorous action of the tongue.
In general, people do better by minimising tongue/reed contact -- provided, of course, that the contact does actually stop the note.
The other part of your post, about maintaining blowing pressure, is of prime importance. That pressure is what STARTS the reed vibrating, and any delay in that happening slows staccato quite independently of what your tongue does.
Tony
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Author: gsurosey
Date: 2013-01-07 14:06
Thanks for the clarification. I know what I want to say, though I don't always know how to say it.
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Rachel
Clarinet Stash:
Bb/A: Buffet R13
Eb: Bundy
Bass: Royal Global Max
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2013-01-07 15:56
Tonguing has always been the most difficult thing to teach because one can not actually see what the student is doing inside their mouth right or wrong. You have to go by what you hear and what the student discribes they are doing, many times not discribing it correctly. There have been many good articles written on the "proper" way to accomplish this but nothing works for everyone. I do have several suggestions on my website, perhaps something there will ring a bell and help you, take a look. Remember though, just like any physicial feat, some people just can't run as fast, or throw as far no matter how much practice and coaching they get. BUT, you can always improve.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Probe
Date: 2013-01-07 19:16
I am not sure if I am halting the air when I am playing.
With that said, my interpretation of tonguing lightly to only stop the vibration of the reed does not create a staccato because there is no space between the notes.
Fast, short runs of staccatos are much less of a problem than longer, slower, staccato passages. For example, I am having trouble with 16th at tempos as slow as 80, where playing a short note becomes more of a strain because of the length of the space between the notes (where your tongue is interfering with the reed in making a sound).
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2013-01-07 20:14
>> With that said, my interpretation of tonguing lightly to only stop the vibration of the reed does not create a staccato because there is no space between the notes.>>
What do you mean?
Tony
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Author: Probe
Date: 2013-01-08 00:45
I meant that being told to tongue lightly was usually confuse me because I associate it with a legato tonguing. I re-read your comment up top and "decreasing the amount of contact" between the tongue and the reed makes a lot more sense now.
Tonguing like this means that the staccatos require my reed to spring back up in a timely fashion, so would a softer reed make staccato tonguing much more difficult?
Also, if I found that I reduce the amount of air blown slightly at the ends of a staccato at the slower tempos, because playing in a single stream volume of the note would balloon up after the my tongue releases the air but before the reed is held for the next note, as you would do for, say, staccatos in 8th or quarter notes. This is what I found to be exhausting.
I appreciate your help
Post Edited (2013-01-08 01:13)
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2013-01-08 03:42
I see -- that makes sense.
I think myself that it's best to separate the problem of playing a fastish staccato 'run' from the problem of playing an isolated note, or a slower sequence of notes.
In the latter case there's the time and often the need to 'shape' each note, whereas in the former case there isn't; moreover, the 'shaping' works best when it's allowed to occur outside the awareness of HOW you're doing it.
That's the subject of another conversation, about the diaphragm and the concept of support.
Anyhow, you might find it worthwhile to read:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=316748&t=316712&v=t
The first couple of paragraphs, plus the metaphors 1 and 4 ('Mud' and 'Fairy Princesses') are the most relevant bits for you, probably -- but any of it might be helpful, and you seem to be a thoughtful sort of person:-)
I realise that I could profitably attach some diagrams to that post -- I'll get around to doing it sometime soon.
Tony
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2013-01-08 10:22
And here's my Klarinet list post about the use of the diaphragm, and support, that you might find useful in 'shaping' the notes in slow staccato:
http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/lookup.php/Klarinet/1999/04/000786.txt
...and there's another slant on it under the post 'Support' in the Keepers section of the BBoard, plus an incredibly overextended discussion there under 'Blowing terminology'.
Despite all that, the idea in practice is very simple. It's just that the diaphragm rounds off the ends of each slow staccato note -- though, 'magically', you don't feel as though you're doing anything except blow continuously.
Tony
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