It's interesting that you bring this up. For the first 3 or 4 years of playing the horn, I literally didn't know how to tongue! Everything I played was started with the breath. Frustrated my teacher to death, but then one day it just sort of hit me, how to tongue, and from then on I was fine. Now it's just me getting down to the details of how I do what I do, and how I can better do it. But gosh, I'm so glad I finally figured out how to tongue in the first place!
-William On Jun 28, 2011, at 9:20 AM, Milton Kicklighter wrote: > 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/wdbard%40me.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
