William, This is tricky. About the only thing I could suggest is to try a completely different tonguing technique separate and apart from your normal playing for a trial period. You might try tonguing on the lips on simple scales, double tonguing exercises and tunes for about 4 or 5 minutes day, then forget about it and play your regular way for the rest of the day. Do this consistently over time. If at any point this tonguing technique sounds better than your regular tonguing, then you can apply this technique to all your playing. If not, then ditch this method & try something else. But whatever you do, do it systematically & methodically. Don't go monkeying around with all sorts of new things at once. Try one method consistently over time, then try another one consistently over time to avoid confusion.
If you're not familiar with tonguing on the lips (TOL), it's a tonguing method that involves touching the tip of the tongue to the aperture as if you were spitting out a tiny seed or eye lash from the tip of your tongue. You can actually learn this technique by spitting out grains of rice between your lips. TOL is used in various forms in various methods (BE, TCE, Suzuki flute, etc.) both for a normal tonguing method and for developmental purposes. It can be very helpful especially for developing clean, soft attacks in the high register. If you're already tonguing this way, try something different, like the more traditional tonguing on the back of the teeth. About the air tone thing.... I wouldn't have a clue how to help that. Maybe a master teacher like Wendell Rider could help. My 2 cents. Val -- Valerie Wells The Balanced Embouchure Method http://bebabe.wordpress.com/ http://www.beforhorn.blogspot.com/ Message: 10 Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 22:38:41 -0400 From: William Bard <[email protected]> Subject: [Hornlist] Articulation and 'airy' sound issues To: The Horn List <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII 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/archive%40jab.org
