Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2022-09-02 20:14
seabreeze wrote:
> I believe one of Tony Pay's points was that because we don't
> have a sure and scientifically accurate direct perception of
> our anatomical positions and movement while playing, we have to
> rely on an indirect metaphorical route to get results.
> Our
> bodies are more subtle than our conscious mind in assembling
> the postures and pressures necessary to achieve a certain
> result. So rather than trying to move our tongue to a certain
> position to, say, get a focused tone, we need to IMAGINE that
> focused tone, and the body will do what is necessary (and quite
> beyond our direct consciousness) to produce the desired effect,
> including effecting changes in palate tension, air flow, and
> glottal movement. In some ways, our bodies are smarter and
> certainly wiser than our minds.
Well, yes, and I was too time-pressed and lazy this morning (and still am) to look any of that up and besides, I'm not anxious to try to speak in any way for Tony. But he does, as I remember, stress images (metaphors) that will produce the result we want, not so much images of the result itself, but of things we can control that end up producing the desired result.
You have to be careful about coming too close to Professor Howard Hill's "Think SYstem." Just imagining the result itself that you want won't necessarily produce it. It takes some experimenting to discover *reproduceable actions* that lead to the wanted result, anatomical actions you can reliably control, like pronouncing "ee" or, for many players, the age-old "rubber band" or "gasket" description of the embouchure. Tony's description of the jaw position as a wrench (with a set opening) is also more likely to be effective than "don't bite" or "only apply the jaw pressure you need."
And I think it's more important for teachers who try to convey ways to produce specific qualities to their students. Just telling a student to "raise your tongue" or "open your throat" or "lighten your tongue" or "keep your tone focused" may not suggest the same physical actions to the student that the teacher has in mind (which may indeed be themselves misinterpretations of his own habits). A metaphorical approach involving actions or concepts that teacher and student both understand in the same way, like the pronunciation of "ee," may enable the student's understanding much more easily.
For the OP: I'm not sure whether oboists think about tongue position or not. That would be a question for the folks on the Oboe BBoard. I know, having a son who is a trumpet player, that brass players do think about tongue position as a component of range, which is essentially how it was brought up in my own clarinet training. To ask "Why does the Clarinet require such a high voicing and/or tongue position?" implies that it *does* need a high "voicing" or tongue position as a general condition of playing. I'm not sure that isn't very closely connected to style and specific sound concept more than it is a general requirement.
Karl
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The Clarinet BBoard
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