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 Tenor sax tounging the reed
Author: Linda 
Date:   2002-12-03 20:55

I have been learning tenor sax for about three months now and cannot get to grips with tounging the reed. My teacher says I use my throat and shouldn't, and that I must not stop the continous stream of air going between the mouthpiece and the reed, but must stop the reed vibrating to stop the sound. I'm not sure where exactly on the reed to put my tounge or what part of my tounge I'm supposed to use. My teacher is beginning to show his irritation, I have 2 weeks to my next lesson and nothing I try seems to work. Please could someone help me?

Thanks Linda xx

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 RE: Tenor sax tounging the reed
Author: Theboy_2 
Date:   2002-12-03 22:20

what your doing is called deep throat tounging. try to get out of that habit asap! i did that when i started out and still tend to do that from time to time. I don't toung but if i'm right you lightly tap the reed with the tip of your toung(did I spell that right?). it becomes a hassle later on and people think whats wrong with you when they here you deep toung. it happened to me and i still can't quite get the hag of it. plus if you continue with your way of tounging, if you have an all day clinic, it'll hurt to talk because you strained your throught. hopes this helps.

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 RE: Tenor sax tounging the reed
Author: TigerTenor 
Date:   2002-12-03 22:42

It helps to say a syllable like "tuh", "too", "taa" against your reed. Use the tip of your tongue and touch the tip of the reed. Your instructor is right in saying that you should not stop the continuous flow of air from your lungs towards the mouthpiece. What you do want to do is to stop the <i>motion</i> of that air <i>into</i> the mouthpiece. To create a break in that flow.

Hope this helps.

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 RE: Tenor sax tounging the reed
Author: Gnomon 
Date:   2002-12-04 07:26

The method you are using will work to a limited extent, but you will end up ruining your throat and the sound you produce will never be very good. The recommended way is as your band master says.

Put down your sax for a minute and try the following: say ah ah ah ah. Now say tah tah tah tah. Can you feel the difference? In the first, you use the "glottis" in your throat to stop the sound, in the second, you use your tongue against the top of your mouth.

Pick up the sax again. Now you have to try and do the second one, but instead of putting your tongue against the top of your mouth, put it against the tip of the reed. Only a very slight touch is necessary. Blow a continous note and say tah tah tah tah, puting the tongue against the reed each time for the t sound. Do lots of practice.

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 RE: Tenor sax tounging the reed
Author: sÖmeone 
Date:   2002-12-04 12:48

Well i agree with all of the others comments. But i recommend you use something starting with 'd' instead of 't'
as an example of the tounging action. I mean instead of Tah
or Tuh etc. try using Duh etc. Using Tah etc will make ur tounging hard and later u will face difficulties adapting to softer tounging. The key to good tounging is also related to the speed of ur toungue, which means your toungue should go back quickly after 'tapping' the tip of your toungue. One good way to practise that is to say this toungue twister. 'The tip of the toungue to the top'
Try practising that, it won't to much but you'll basically get the idea of tounging.

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 RE: Tenor sax tounging the reed
Author: mack 
Date:   2002-12-10 15:35

It's like spitting hair off of your tounge. Your tounge should gently touch the tip of the reed to stop the vibration.

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