 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: bethmhil
Date: 2012-04-22 05:34
The key to articulating fast is keeping the tongue relaxed. Most of my students (and many of my colleagues) make it a habit to tongue harder & louder when they have to tongue faster. Not only does this make the articulation sound heavy, but it brings a lot of tension into the tongue and slows it down. I am always consciously aware to try to do the complete opposite-- make everything even lighter and more relaxed when articulating faster.
Another important factor is to ensure that you are tonguing with the tip of your tongue at the tip of the reed. Most often, I see students using not necessarily the tip of the tongue, which leads to a heavy and mushy attack.
The most effective syllable I use to teach tip of the tongue is "dah", rather than 'tah'. Try saying 'tah' really fast in 16th notes... It doesn't work! 'Dah' is a lot more effective because the tongue does not cut off the sound on the back of the teeth.
Think of a box fan. If you stick something (small) into it, the object bounces off the blades instantly, and the blades are (hopefully!) not stopped. The vibrating reed is the same thing-- when articulating, the tongue should just bounce off the tip of the reed, not stop it from vibrating.
BMH
Illinois State University, BME and BM Performance
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2012-04-22 12:28
In addition to working good single tongue habits, it may be helpful to know that we are not all born with a fast tongue. I could muster sixteenth notes at 120 beats per minute, maybe.
If you are limited and need a boost you can try your hand at double tonguing technique. Instead of just having the "TEE" syllable at your disposal (tongue damping the reed briefly), you also add the "Kee" syllable which is accomplished by briefly interrupting the flow of air with a point further back on your tongue coming in contact with the roof of your mouth.
So, four sixteenth notes become, "TEE-KEE, TEE-KEE," instead of just "TEE-TEE-TEE-TEE."
.................Paul Aviles
P.S. I just noticed that you are the poster of the 'Etude.' You should take Beth's advice FIRST since developing a light correct tongue is part and parcel with developing AIR SPEED.
Sometimes you just need to be a little patient. You can't learn everything all at once.
Post Edited (2012-04-22 12:32)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2012-04-22 15:50
Check out my website and read some of the articles on basics and tonguing. It might give you an idea or two. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2012-04-22 16:07
And most importantly is not necessarly tonguing fast, but making sure to keep it even. Being able to tongue 16th notes fast is one thing, but keeping them very even is VERY important. That's why I believe in starting out slow and use a metronome EVERY time, for the duration of, well, pretty much every practice session. If you can't tongue consistently and evenly, you're starting too fast.
Also, keep track every day/week/etc of where you're at. It'll seem slow at first, but after a few months, you can see where you started at (for example starting at 80 bpm), and maybe in a few months you're at 108 or 110, and you can physically SEE the larger number and KNOW what you've done has paid off.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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