 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: johnhcl
Date: 2014-07-05 01:36
Anyone have suggestions, tips, or exercises they like for improving single tongue speed/articulation?
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Author: maxopf
Date: 2014-07-05 02:37
When I first picked up the clarinet in middle school 4 years ago, I wasn't really taught proper technique (beyond "put your lip over your teeth, close your mouth around the mouthpiece and say "ta"), so lately I've been working on fixing my embouchure and articulation. The most important points my teacher has taught me concerning fast articulation are:
-When you're tonguing fast staccato (i.e. Mozart 1st and 3rd movements), it doesn't really need to be short, "spiky", detached staccato. Use a softer, quicker and connected dadadadada syllable instead of a hard, detached ta-ta-ta-ta, and just interrupt the airstream with a flick of your tongue.
-Keep your tongue quite close to the reed to make tonguing more efficient. You won't be able to tongue quickly if you have move your tongue a great distance to and from the reed.
-Use more or less the tip of your tongue on more or less the tip of the reed (I believe there's some variance between players.)
-Don't use bursts of air for each tongued note; this is a very inhibitive habit I used to have. Say dadadadada with your tongue, but don't go huh-huh-huh-huh-huh with your air. Keep the air flowing constantly and just interrupt it quickly with your tongue.
-Make sure your fingers and tongue are in sync with each other. Sometimes you focus so much on tonguing quickly that you disregard efficiency in your fingers and your fingers fall out of rhythm. The tonguing doesn't sound clean even if it's done well because the fingers are in between notes.
-If it's necessary, add in a couple of slurs. For the Mozart concerto which I've been working on lately, I use a lot of slur-two-tongue-two in the first movement and slur-two-tongue-four in the 3rd movement.
The best way to piece all of this together for me is by practicing passages very slowly with a metronome, paying close attention to using a soft "flick" of the tongue and synchronizing my fingers and tongue. Start super slow (slower than you think you need to be), then increase the speed a very small amount after a few repetitions (maybe by 2 BPM at a time) and keep doing this until you've worked it up to speed.
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Author: personwithaclarinet
Date: 2014-07-05 09:06
Practice, practice, practice. One exercise I know is to hold a note with a steady stream of air, after several beats articulate a decided number of times evenly in rapid succession, go back to holding the note, and repeat. (Taaaatatatataaaaa.) Work up to more articulations at a time.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-07-05 09:21
But just to add a caveat. There are physical limits to tonguing speed, and some of us are just slower. If you are at an accurate, steady limit around sixteenth notes of a quarter note equalling 120 beats per minute, you would be a good candidate to learn double and triple tonguing to augment your speed.
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: TJTG
Date: 2014-07-05 17:11
Michele Gingras has some good things to say in this video. I used to do this exercise all the time. It helped me a great deal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fi4G1JwvKE
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2014-07-06 05:36
The key to faster single tonguing is to minimize motion and effort.
Play chalumeau C and flick the tip of your tongue up, but just miss the reed. Gradually move your tongue tip closer and closer until it barely brushes the reed. Do this until you can make a steady stream of brushes.
Then play a 5-note scale, C-D-E-F-G. When that's smooth, play it up and down, C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C. Then do an octave up and down.
Keep your air stream moving constantly and evenly, with the tongue tip totally relaxed and seeming to ride on the air.
Concentrate on keeping your tongue movements as small and light as possible. Check yourself occasionally by backing off and missing the reed tip again. Even a really light articulation will be clearly audible.
Ken Shaw
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