Many years ago... everything in my life now is "many years ago" I studied for a couple of months with a teacher that had me practice for a few weeks only using the air to start the sound. After that exercise it was amazing how much easier it was to attack a note with the tongue. I actually got to the point that I could make a very clean attack without using the tongue. Of coarse then I got lazy. :) Milton
Milton Kicklighter 4th Horn Buffalo Philharmonic Retired ________________________________ From: Ralph Hall <[email protected]> To: The Horn List <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, June 28, 2011 5:01:01 AM Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Articulation and 'airy' sound issues Hallo William, I think there is some not very helpful advice flying around this topic. Stopping the note with the tongue is a definite no-no because it produces a glottal stop akin to exaggerating the consonant endings of words. If you did this as an actor (and you, too, are a performer) you would be laughed off stage. Milton is right; we should stop notes like singers. Just stop blowing but with a slight closing of the glottis to prevent a drop in pitch. This gives a 'beautiful' ending to the note. This 'tonguing on the lips' is really too awful to consider. I know Dennis Brain once said in interview that playing the horn is easy, 'like spitting a tea leaf off the end of the tongue' but he was such a natural player - and never a teacher! - that he was never concerned with the analysis of others let alone self-analysis. To pupils I describe it like pulling the plug out of the bath water and then letting it be sucked back in the plug hole with a clunk. Unless you are in the extreme low register the tongue should just touch the soft palette where it joins the upper front teeth. Your particular problem sounds, at this remove, to be one of the lip aperture being slightly too large for the pitch you are trying to play. This certainly can produce the 'airy' sound you talk about and under certain circumstances the feeling of a 'vibration'. We are, of course, talking millimetres here, but try closing the lip aperture a fraction more than hitherto and see if that 'purifies' the sound. Another problem arises from using 'too much tongue' and that is relying on the tonguing to achieve the pitch of note required. Any problems in this direction and of note production and articulation can be solved by playing scales without using the tongue at all. Produce separate notes by using the 'tummy' muscles to push the air through. You notice I don't use the word 'diaphragm' as this is a passive muscle. Playing scales this way ensures that the fundamentals are functioning correctly - the exact ratio required for any given pitch between lip aperture and and flow of air. That means the embouchure is working well and allows us then to add the tongue - as an adjunct - not as a means to an end. Best of luck, Ralph R. Hall On 27 Jun 2011, at 04:38, William Bard wrote: > I've been playing the horn some seven years, having just graduated > high school, and I will begin attending the Eastman School of Music > this fall for a degree in Horn Performance. However, before I get up > there and start school, I really thought I should ask the members of > this board for some advice on an issue (I think it's an issue...) > I've been noticing lately in my playing. > > Back in February I had a lesson with Rick Solis out in Cleveland, > and he pointed out that often times, when I articulate, it sounds > almost as though the tongue is rebounding, or something is happening > to make the tonguing not quite so clear and more blatty sounding. > I've especially noticed this when I play loud or technically > difficult passages. > > He and Rich King both pointed out to me in my audition for the > Cleveland Institute of Music that it was something I really have to > work on and fix over the next few years; otherwise it could spell > big problems for my playing. They said it will "hopefully go away" > over time, but this still really worries me. > > In addition, I can't help but notice an extra sort of buzz to my > sound, when I play. At times, it is even very airy sounding. I can't > figure out yet if this is my horn that is vibrating ever so slightly > along with the pitches I'm playing, or if this is an internal sound > that I'm hearing as the note vibrates through my mouth and possibly > through my teeth, or what the heck this is. > > Obviously, when I take the horn away and buzz on the mouthpiece, > it's not just the sound of the note I hear, as I can also hear the > air flow moving through the mouthpiece. Is tongue placement or > something else possibly amplifying the airflow or sound of my buzz, > so that it becomes noticeable IN ADDITION to the sound of the horn, > itself? > > Does anyone have any suggestions or advice regarding this? Or, > furthermore, is this truly an issue, or is it actually somewhat > normal? This is really puzzling to me and I really hope to get it > figured out before it's too late! Thanks so much. > > -William Bard > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at >https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/ralph%40brasshausmusic.com > Ralph R. Hall [email protected] Ralph R. Hall http://www.brasshausmusic.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/kicklighgter%40yahoo.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
