The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C.R
Date: 2001-11-02 18:15
Hi... Can somebody please tell me how to tounge, because I don´t know why I can´t or what I´m doing wrong. Thanks
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Author: Julia Meyer
Date: 2001-11-02 19:42
whoa--kathy....
C.R. could you give us an idea of what you think you are doing wrong as far as "tonguing" is concerned? If you give us some info, we would better be able to help you
good luck,
Julia
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Author: John Gibson
Date: 2001-11-03 00:20
CR...(and the rest of you)
I just re-started my clarinet "experience" a year ago....after more than 30 years of not playing....
My "personal" teacher was Anthony Russo of the Houston Symphony. At that time I/we never practiced "anchor tonguing". Just "tip of the tongue". He used to give us exercises involving the tongue against the teeth and roof of the mouth. A pushing of the tongue against them to strengthen the muscle. Somethng we could do in class...at home...at the movie...and he used to emphasize, rather loudly for an 80+ year old..."NO TONGUE TIE...NO TONGUE TIE!!" He'd say just touch the reed lightly. He also recommended sticking your tongue out of your mouth as far as possible (ala Gene Simmons, whom he never heard of ) and "waving" it about. There are of course plenty of things you can do with your tongue to strengthen it....but the bottom line is, it's a muscle and must be exercised to give it strength.....
Oh....he also used to say the sound should be "ta ta ta ta" and sometimes "tee tee tee tee", depending on the music.
Best...and good luck...
John
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Author: C.R
Date: 2001-11-03 18:11
thanks for your answers,
this is what I´m doing wrong. I used to tounge stopping the air flow with my tounge against the reed like this: tounge-air-tounge this way I never stopped blowing. But my teacher told me this was wrong and that I should tounge like this: tounge-air- as if I had a small piece of paper in the tip of my tounge and wanted to spit it into a window (I hope you understand) and that after each tounged note I should stop blowing (like on the release of a note). The problem with this is that when I do this I get an in-out movement in my stomach and throat my teacher says that I´m only using the air to articulate and not the tounge. I hope this explains my problem. Thanks.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-11-03 19:42
That's a very interesting technique. I believe most teachers nowadays don't want you to stop blowing at all - the tongue releases the reed and then stops the reed, letting the note out, but the blowing never stops.
There are, of course, exceptions to releasing the tongue to start the first notenote, but they aren't all that common.
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Author: Emms
Date: 2001-11-04 12:14
You should keep blowing as you tongue. Don't let the air stop or you do end up using your throat to produce the notes. At the end of phrases, you let the air diminish, but then build up the pressure before you start the next phrase again. Tonguing the other way could cause discomfort. Check with your teacher again.
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Author: Emms
Date: 2001-11-04 12:17
Another thought- are you tonguing too hard, so that it sounds like an accent? if this is so, don't blow too hard when you start to tongue the note, then you won't have to come down afterwards.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-11-04 12:44
Except when you breathe, you should never stop blowing. Think of the tongue as a little valve that stops and starts the air. Just don't tongue too hard. The tongue should just gently touch the reed even when doing very staccato notes.
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