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Re: Stop-tonguing and Light Articulation

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2019-10-29 08:26

I would say your concept of tonguing is backwards. The only thing the tongue can do is to stop the reed from vibrating. It is the removal of the tongue from the reed that starts the note. David Shifrin draws the analogy of the piano mechanism to clarinet articulation. He says that the tongue is the damper (what drops upon the strings to stop or prevent them from vibrating) and the air is the hammer. What you need to achieve more impactful articulation is not more tongue but more air.

So once you have this in mind, you need to practice this as you would any technique that requires lots of work, you practice...........S-L-O-W-L-Y. Just remember, think moving away from the reed to produce the sound.

Now, if you are considering double tonguing at all, the technique is quite different. You actually are just creating perturbations of the air mostly rather than creating full stops with the tongue (forward part of tongue or back part of tongue). In fact when you are in the clarion or above and playing rather swiftly you may not even feel that you are articulating much at all. However, at a distance (or listening back on a recording) you will hear a more distinct sound.I recommend this tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoInFr4b8kQ

...................Paul Aviles

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