 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kalierenee16
Date: 2014-05-23 21:16
I have recently discovered a few months ago that I have been anchor tonguing my whole 7 years of experience playing. I have never had private lessons and I'm completely self-taught so music can be difficult at times for me. I have looked into "tip to tip" tonguing and I can't seem to even get the slightest hang of it!! I have a really really long tongue and it seems like when I try to properly tongue, my arch is too much in the back of my throat and blocks my airway a lot. With anchor tonguing I actually have GORGEOUS tone and phenomenal range into the altissimo octave, I have made honor band groups through audition and gotten high chair positions, and I am a high chair in my highschool band(superior with distinction rated band). I can actually tongue pretty fast and clearly with the anchor tongue technique, but my main concern is that I want to go to college in 2 years for music performance and become a professional musician one day.. Are there other professionals who have difficulties properly tonguing like me? I need tips! I don't think it's possible for me to "tip to tip" tongue, so are there any exercises I can use to strengthen anchor tonguing?
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2014-05-23 21:29
Check my web page, I have some good articles on that subjust. My question to you is can you tongue at different speeds, slow, medium as well as fast? Peter Hadcock, in his orchestral except book, mentions that he anchored tongued all his life, If you don't know who he was goole him, very respected player and teacher. He said he had a problem tonguing at a medium speed so he had to develop a "standard" way of tonguing as well.
I have a long tongue too, so I've always had some problems too but I never anchored. I just worked through it and experimented with the positions of the front as well as the back of my tongue and was able to find what worked for me, and had a very repectful professonal career. I never had fantastic speed but fast enough to play what I had to play. Check my site, you may get some hints. In short, I keep the back of the tongue up around the molars and the front of my tongue is not as high as "the book" says to do it. And I tongue just a tiny bit back from the tip and slightly lower on the reed from what's "perfect". I worked out what worked for. Everyone is different, experiment. By the way, if it sounds really good it shouldn't matter how you tongue, but the question is does it sound like you're tonguing "the right way" or differently?
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-05-23 21:55
One of my old clarinet teachers, Paul Orton (now deceased) used anchor tonguing. He had a Godzilla tongue and said it was the only way he functioned. Paul could single tongue faster than most could double tongue. He studied with some big names including Russianoff and Gigliotti and apparently his technique wasn't altered in the course of his studies.
The only issue seemed to be tuning ... I remember if he tongued a long string of fast notes, the pitch would start rising ...
Tom
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Author: Kalierenee16
Date: 2014-05-23 23:30
I can tongue at all speeds pretty easily, it only gets a little to tongue clearly when going fast between c-f inside the staff, and above that into altissimo is easy. Those notes give me trouble on occasion, depending on the piece, dynamic, and style of the music (could be a clarinet problem, I play on a school wood clarinet). My tonguing actually sounds exactly like "the right way" on the whole instrument, all speeds, except for c-f inside the staff, they can sound fuzzy. I don't think I anchor tongue as bad as it could be though, my tongue is barely touching my bottom teeth when I play, and the part I use to tongue is approx. 1/4 inch from the tip of my tongue. Thanks so much for the tips!!!
Post Edited (2014-05-23 23:35)
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Author: Kalierenee16
Date: 2014-05-23 23:37
I've learned my tendencies for the most part on tuning, so a lot of the time in right in the center
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Author: Clarinet4hire
Date: 2014-05-24 02:40
Interesting. I studied with one of Gigliotti's students when I was in Denver. When I learned I was anchor tonguing. I brought it up because it was a bad thing according to the most literal Bonade approach to music.
My teacher looked at me and told me that he realized I was anchor tonguing, however, I had no issues with articulation, and since I could tongue cleanly through the Galanta Dances at a M.M. of 1/4 note = 152, he simply felt there was no need to alter what I was doing. I think the general feeling was that if I could be that consistent and rapid, there would be no need to employ double tonguing.
But... Now that I am learning how to double tongue, I am definitely being forced to change this. There are just some things I want the faster tongue for.
It seems the Philadelphia school understood that everyone was constructed differently and one approach may not be the best approach to every individual based on how they are framed themselves. I remember hearing that sentiment from Gigliotti once as well.
For the OP... I would recommend getting your hands on "The Clarinet Compendium" by Daniel Bonade. I hope you can find it. If not, let me know.
It can be very helpful in these matters.
Brian
Post Edited (2014-05-24 02:42)
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