 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Asheeka
Date: 2006-01-10 01:23
hey veryone!
i have been playing for about 1 1/2 years, and my tonguing on the high notes, (after middle c) has begun to sound very bad! my teacher says that i am tonguing the wrong spot on the reed, but i have no clue how to fix that! i have tryed everything i can think of and nothing has worked! please help! i am trying out for the All-state band, and if i don't get this tonguing right by the auditions, i am afraid i'm not going to make it in! PLEASE HELP ME! any thing will be appreciated!
thanks,
asheeka
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Author: clarinetgirl09
Date: 2006-01-10 02:58
This is something that seems difficult, but in all actuality, it's VERY simple. I used to think it was too hard to tongue fast. But just looking at it from another point of view can help. All it is is a mental problem. Or a mindset that you're in that you just refuse to believe is simple to get out of.
It's possible that you could be tonguing lower on the reed, closer to the heart of it. You need to be tonguing the tip of the reed. Don't think of tonguing "fast" as "making the notes MORE seperated". Just look at it like "You're stopping the reed, and then releasing it." And say "eeeee" while you're embouchure is set. And just lightly tongue. You can start out with staccato 8th notes first, and speed up the 8th notes, and then eventually go to staccato 16th notes. One thing that might help is playing the Bb major scale, starting on Middle space C and playing staccato 8th-16th notes on each note. Just to get the feel of it. Then you can do the chromatic scale like that, or you could practice you're required scales for All-State Auditions using various tonguing excersises.
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Author: vjoet
Date: 2006-01-10 19:51
Howard Klug on page 64 of the Clarinet Doctor has an exercise in the clarion, from G to C, staccato 16ths. He writes that if that if the throat/back of tongue are not correct the notes won't sound easily.
So, if you can tongue well, but the upper clarion and above are troublesome, then I'd suggest trying different positions with the back of the tongue (mine was initially too high, when I lowered the back, the problems vanished).
The other culprit he points out is a too open throat, and suggests using an index finger to press the point where the floor of the mouth meets the neck. (You can do this single-handedly since only the left hand needs to be used to play G to C, with the bell on a knee.) If there is marked improvement in the response of those staccato notes, then your throat is too open.
If either of these works for you, the credit goes to Dr. Klug. I'm an amateur, and am just pointing out what that teacher has written. :-)
vJoe
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-01-11 07:10
As with all skills, I think it's fair to say 'it's simple when you know how', Clarinetgirl. What is skill? Skill is 'making it look easy'. The thing is, skill can be difficult to obtain.
Aim to do it as gently as possible. At the end of a phrase, you might need to close the note off completely. But in between, as Clarinetgirl says, it's just a matter of spoiling the vibration of the reed with the gentlest of nudges.
Remember how hard it was to make any sound at all at the beginning?
Think how finely balanced that reed must be.
Now think how easy it must be to disturb that balance by the gentlest touch on the reed.
It can help to think 'tatatatatata' or 'dadadadada' - note the continuous stream of sound with gentle interruptions - but personally I need somewhere in between. Everyone has a different mouth so slight variations work for different people.
Find a fast piece and try singing it to yourself with these t's or d's on every note. Can you do it? Now try it with the instument in your mouth. Does it still work, or is it a mess? Vary things slightly and try again - but not so you get frustrated.
Sounds like you've learnt something new that has pushed a skill you once had out of your brain (rather like Homer Simpson). And if you start thinking about the skill, it only gets worse! It's a common complaint - don't worry, it'll come back!
At the moment I'm having trouble with clean entries on the low notes. Not sure what I've done, but I'm sure it'll come back with practice and a bit of thought.
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Author: sdr
Date: 2006-01-12 20:49
Thinking of ta-ta-ta or duh-duh-duh tends to make my tonguing a little too "cruel" -- the attack tends to the "explosive". I get a better articulated legato sound with na-na-na.
-sdr
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Author: Asheeka
Date: 2006-01-14 00:11
thank you, i will try this, it has gotten a little bit better, but not really!
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Author: William
Date: 2006-01-14 15:00
Here is an excercise (given to me many tears ago by Russell Dagon) that may help. Starting with C6, tongue four notes and, without taking a breath or stopping, repeat those same tongued notes without the register key. On C6, you should have immediate success with all eight notes sounding mostly the same. Then, proceed down the C major scale--B5, A5, etc--alternating four with and four without, each time trying to make all eight notes articulate clearly with no subtone. Ultimately, you should be able to tongue eight notes on C5, but for starters, the farther down from C6 you can go, the better. Practicing this a little every day should help reconfigure your oral cavity (back of tongue and throat) for improved tone production as well as articulative efficiency and help eliminate your tonguing problem.
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Author: Asheeka
Date: 2006-01-14 19:28
ok, that sounds like a good idea, i have tried something like that, and it helped for a while, but then it died on me! lol! i really don't know why i can't ge this!
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