Otto wrote: > Well, I have this lazy tongue which switches to air attacks about c ' above middle c- the attack where you make a plosive " pah!" or "puh" between your lips with the wind. Seems to work pretty good on high notes except when the rhythm gets too fast. I wonder if it's something I should avoid, OR is it acceptable under the "what works, works" rule. Also, I tend to use it on dotted notes, like "(tongue) -puh, T-puh, T- puh--
> So whatdayou think, OK or avoid altogether? Teachers take notice! > Regards, Otto Otto, I think you may have habitual tensing of your tongue, especially as you ascend in range. As we play higher notes, we tighten the lips and aperture. Often we sympathetically tighten the tongue muscles along with the lip muscles. This is similar to the tendency to grimace & strain as we try to open a tight jar lid. Just as grimacing doesn't help us open the tight jar lid, tensing the tongue doesn't help us play the upper register... but we do it habitually. The tongue, like the rest of the body, must be relaxed to move smoothly and efficiently. So we need to learn to relax the tongue even while we exert effort to play higher notes. Tightening the tongue causes excess tension which results in stiff, inefficient tonguing. This could be one reason your tongue seems "lazy" above C -- it's just plain tired & stiffened from excessive tension. I used to have this problem. I was trying to learn the first horn parts of Beethoeven's 7th (B-7). I had the range for the high notes, but I couldn't tongue them due to a stiff, tense tongue. I made up some very exercises using the B-7 rhythms to help me overcome this problem. I took a simple four measure rhythm pattern and played it very slowly on every note in an ascending chromatic scale that started below the staff. As I played each phrase, I payed particular attention to keeping my tongue (and neck) relaxed. At the point that I felt any tension or stiffening, I dropped down a few notes & reduced the tempo. I continued working this daily, gently and slowly increasing tempo and range every few days. If I remember correctly, it took me about 6 or 8 weeks to break the habit of tightening my tongue whenever I played high notes. I still must occasionally revisit this exercise to keep my tongue relaxed. I mentioned relaxing my neck above, because I learned the importance of relaxation for horn playing from the Alexander Technique. One of the basic AT principals is: When the neck is tense, the whole body is tense; when the neck is relaxed the whole body is relaxed. Valerie Wells http://bebabe.wordpress.com/ http://www.beforhorn.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
