Joined
·
490 Posts
It is not the way most of us are teached ....even my teacher would check this out...:mrgreen:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vqDtff6QoeQ&t=17s
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vqDtff6QoeQ&t=17s
I learned anchor tonguing and used that method until my first year of college. So for 7 years. No one taught it to me but that is just how I learned to tongue on my own. When I got to college my sax teacher could immediately hear that something was off with my tonguing. I was really heavy sounding and "thuddy". It had a thick sound to it and I was a lot slower with my speed of articulation than the rest of the saxophone students. He asked me some questions and figured out that I was anchor tonguing. He taught me how to tongue correctly and it made a world of difference to me. It was hard work and took me a few months to transition but once I did my tonguing was much faster, had more clarity, sounded cleaner and was more precise. I would never go back to anchor tonguing. The guy in the video has made it work for him and I would probably sound similar if I had kept anchor tonguing all my life but I do not agree that it is the "correct" way to tongue on the sax. In high school, I won a ton of competitions and did well on the sax so you can sound great and still be anchor tonguing. I will just say that the benefits that I experienced after I switched to "correct" tonguing were so huge to me that I am a firm believer in tonguing the correct way and trying not to anchor tongue.What are the advantages/disadvantages of each technique ?
My only criticism is that he presents the anchor tongue technique as the one and only "correct" way to tongue. It would be far better if he presented it as an option that works for him and might, or might not, work for others.He does a video on vibrato that's different from how others teach it. Some of what he does is unorthodox but it seems to work for him.
"The method used should be determined by the shape and size of the player's tongue and oral cavity. The important consideration in the use of the tongue is that the point of the reed be contacted, regardless of the portion of the tongue used. Persons with a large oral cavity and short tongue will find that tip-to-tip tonguing is advantageous, while if the cavity is small and the tongue long, the third method works best. The great majority of players find that the best results are produced by touching the tip of the reed with the top part of the tongue at a point slightly back from its tip."
I hope you aren't referring to me, although I actually do that. But I don't go out of my way to recommend it, ie I never tell people they should do that, I just say it's something I do.There is a poster here who recommends taking less mouthpiece in as the size of the sax gets bigger instead of positioning the lower lip at the break , which I think is less than optimal but an accommodation to a larger than normal tongue (but the opposite accommodation - using the tip of the tongue to articulate but having a more forward tongue position to keep the airway clear as opposed to tonguing much farther back on the tongue to keep the airway clear).
Yes, I always find it rather arrogant when people say this is how it must be done when there are viable and well known alternatives. Unless they can give examples of how it is superior and show real results.My only criticism is that he presents the anchor tongue technique as the one and only "correct" way to tongue. It would be far better if he presented it as an option that works for him and might, or might not, work for others.
Larry Teal in "The Art of Saxophone Playing" describes on p.79 the three general types of tonguing as: 1. Tip of the tongue to tip of the reed. 2. Slightly back of tip of tongue to tip of reed. 3. Anchoring the tip of tongue on lower teeth and bending the tongue to the tip of the reed. He writes:
My only criticism is that he presents the anchor tongue technique as the one and only "correct" way to tongue. It would be far better if he presented it as an option that works for him and might, or might not, work for others.
Since birth I've had have a lingual frenulum (tongue tie) which prevents me from sticking my tongue out as far as most people; my tongue goes out barely beyond the bottom teeth. This doesn't affect speech, swallowing, or the ability to tongue the reed.... Anybody else have weird things like that going on?
I thought they could fix it easily, it's just a snip I was told as a kid and you go home after another 30 min. But if you like it! Of course "Earth Girls Are Easy" comes to mind LOLSince birth I've had have a lingual frenulum (tongue tie) which prevents me from sticking my tongue out as far as most people; my tongue goes out barely beyond the bottom teeth. This doesn't affect speech, swallowing, or the ability to tongue the reed.
I actually like the tied tongue.
And I find myself alternating, depending what style of music I play and what type of sax, i.e. sop, alto, tenor etc. But it's mostly between 1 and 2 and even "a sliding scale" between them. And I appreciate Scott's videos, I learned a lot from them but he tends to be a bit dogmatic where it is not really necessary.Larry Teal in "The Art of Saxophone Playing" describes on p.79 the three general types of tonguing as: 1. Tip of the tongue to tip of the reed. 2. Slightly back of tip of tongue to tip of reed. 3. Anchoring the tip of tongue on lower teeth and bending the tongue to the tip of the reed. He writes:
Yes, the "fix" is easy, but my parents elected not to do it (most likely did not want to spend any money). But I'm very happy with its restricted movement.I thought they could fix it easily, it's just a snip I was told as a kid and you go home after another 30 min. But if you like it! ...