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Question: Flutter tongue on Clarinet!? !?
I'm trying to learn how to do it, but have absolutely no idea how!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Oh man!.!.!. flutter tonguing on clarinet is the hardest thing in the world!

I have been trying to do this for YEARS! I can do it about 50% of the time, but it's going to take another couple years of practice for me to make it any better! What makes it so difficult is that you are fighting a foreign object in your mouth while doing something not very common with your tongue!.

First, it helps if you speak Spanish (which I don't- I know like 5 words, lol)!.!.!. you roll your tongue in the same manner as when saying "R"!. Practice this for a while!. The thing is that your tongue has a tendency to push forward in your mouth!.!.!. if you do this while the mouthpiece is in your mouth, your tongue hits the reed before it can vibrate!. SO- you need to work on rolling your R's, but pulling your tongue back towards your throat!.!.!. this tightens the tongue and makes it hard to roll!.

You can try opening your throat a bit like you're yawning!.!.!. this naturally pulls the tongue back!. BUT be carefull that it doesn't change your pitch!. It is best to start trying this with throat tones (the notes F# through Bb, on the staff) as there is little resistance, and it is easy to hear variations in pitch!. The higher you go, the harder it is to do, and the harder it is to control- squeaking is common!.

Try rolling your tongue without the instrument in your mouth!.!.!. keep it going, and move your lips into the clarinet embouchure position!. Then slowly bring your clarinet up and slide it into position WITHOUT stopping your roll!. Make sure you have GREAT breath support, or you will not get very far! This requires a TON of air, so you may get dizzy at first!. Once you have the clarinet in your mouth and are still rolling, try to concentrate on how it feels!.!.!. where does your tongue hit, where is it positioned in your mouth, and so on!. Then try to start a note, tonguing as usual, then speed up your air and almost slur into the rolling (I hope that makes sense)!. If it doesn't come out, go back to the beginning, rolling first without the clarinet!.

In college, I was assigned this god-awful 20th Century solo (where techniques like this are commonly employed) that had flutter tonguing, quarter steps, bends of more than an octave, double tonguing, runs of tri-tone intervals, multi-phonics, and jumps from low E (3 ledger lines below the staff) to high altissimo D (an octave ABOVE 2 ledger lines above the staff)!.!.!. it was supposed to sound something akin to a dying goose!.!.!. and I think I only made it as far as a hemmoraging pigeon!. LOL
BUT- I did learn how to at least FAKE some of this stuff!.!.!. enough to pass a jury, anyways!. For flutter tonguing, I found that it sounded similar to (and I know this is gross) gargoling!. I didn't have to put any voice to it like gargoling mouthwash, but I set pools of spit at the back of my throat, then opened my throat slightly to get the effect!. The downside to this is that if you have to breathe quickly, you will choke (trust me!.!.!. it happens)!. I know it's not the "correct" way to flutter tongue, but it has a very similar effect- it even fooled my private instructor the first couple times I did it in lessons (he figured it out because I inhaled quickly and choked- lol)- however, HE told me that if it worked better than actually flutter tonguing, I should go ahead an use that technique (at least to pass my jury) because no one would be able to tell the difference!.

Anyways!.!.!. good luck, and it just takes time!. This is something that requires lots of practice, and a lot more patience!. Have fun! :)

EDIT: I actually found a snippet of an article detailing how to flutter tongue!.!.!. BOTH of my suggestions above are apparently the correct way to flutter tongue!. It does note too, that the gargling method isn't as crisp, but it can cover a larger range of the clarinet!.
http://userpages!.umbc!.edu/~emrich/chapte!.!.!.


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