 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Richie
Date: 2017-01-18 05:10
The past few days I have noticed that my tongue is mainly on the left side of my mouth, and when I articulate it's on the right side of the tip of my tongue (not the side of the tongue, but I think you know what I mean). I have only noticed it the past few days, and I'm pretty sure I haven't been doing it all along, but I could be wrong. Is this something that would affect your playing? And how could I go about getting my tongue more centered in my mouth?
Post Edited (2017-01-18 05:10)
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-01-18 05:29
When you articulate 't' or 'd' with your tongue in normal speech, where does your tongue start, where does it touch for the consonant sound, and what part of your tongue touches? In other words, do you have the same tendency in speech that you've described when articulating on the clarinet?
And, perhaps incidentally or not, what age group do you belong to? Are you still in school? Retired and returning to clarinet?
Are you having any kind of jaw pain or other evidence of a recent change in the alignment of your teeth or jaw?
You describe what part of your tongue you feel touching the reed, but where on the reed is it touching?
What you describe might affect speed or clarity of your articulation, but you'd know that better than we would, since you hear the result.
Karl
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2017-01-18 06:46
You do what works. For example, I can flutter-tongue easily on the left side of my tongue tip, but not at all on the right. It's never gotten in the way of playing or led to any complaints.
Of course you should experiment and try to tongue as you have always done, but if this is what you've always done, and your articulation is OK, don't worry about it.
Ken Shaw
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Author: SarahC
Date: 2017-01-18 07:38
Do u like the sound of your articulation? If so...
Then
If it ain't broke, then don't fix it
:)
Otherwise... If u really want to centre your tongue, then the takahashi spitting rice exercise in front of a mirror should help u gain some awareness of tongue position (and help centre it)
:)
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Author: Richie
Date: 2017-01-19 07:29
The tongue strikes the reed right below the tip, and near the center, if not slightly to the left. To me I can't tell a difference in articulation, but would it affect tone or my airstream?
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-01-19 08:06
Richie wrote:
> To me I can't tell a
> difference in articulation, but would it affect tone or my
> airstream?
Again, if the question were, "could it affect...," the answer would be "yes." But as you've asked it, no one here can answer, because we can't hear your tone.
If you're pleased with the way your playing sounds, and this is the way you've been playing for a long period of time, then you can probably leave things as they are. If you've just recently noticed both a change in your tongue position and a deterioration in the sound of your playing, then you have the answer yourself and probably need to find the correction for yourself as well.
In general, most players are most comfortable when their tongue motion when they play mimics the way the tongue moves in speech. We learn to speak long before we're capable of thinking (or over-thinking) about it and it ends up feeling natural. The problem that keeps us as reed players from moving exactly as we do in speaking is that the mouthpiece juts into our mouths and the reed isn't in the same place or at the same angle as the parts of our mouths the tongue contacts (lips, teeth, hard palate, etc.) so we have to accommodate those differences, which can lead to destructive tension. But those accommodations are highly individual. If this off-center approach is an accommodation of long standing for you and your playing is controlled and musical, then it may for you be the best way.
The only way you can tell for sure is to try consciously to change it and see if things get better or worse. The best someone else can do is tell you what changes for the better or the worse as you experiment, obviously based on what he hears, which really disqualifies any of us here.
Karl
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Author: JasonOlney
Date: 2017-01-20 00:42
Because of the shape of front teeth, I play with my mouthpiece slightly twisted to the right. It's not dramatic but it results in my tongue naturally touching slightly to the left of center. However, my articulation (clarity, variety and speed) is probably one of my stronger attributes. People vary quite a lot. The goal is to follow what makes you reach your sound concept the best.
Get someone to listen (are you working with any teachers) or record yourself. Test different ways of holding your tongue and see if you can hear a difference. I know I've spent too many hours chasing what I thought would help but wasn't really necessary.
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