4 STEPS TO BETTER ARTICULATION

If we get questions about one thing more than anything else, it's articulation.

You're frustrated by it and want to know how to make it better, faster, more effective.

In teaching, it's one of the things that often has to be fixed and needs... #work!

It can be an elusive part of playing the clarinet for all of us! And, progress can be slow.

But, help is here! We LOVE talking about articulation. This guide gives you 4 steps to truly
improve the mechanism of your articulation, breaking it down to its VERY basic elements.
Once you understand how articulation works, and feel how effortless it can feel, you will just be
so happy. Praise be!

If you practice these exercises each day, in this order, and are mindful about carrying your
understanding through the exercises, we know your articulation will improve!

1 | UNDERSTAND AIR FLOW VS. AIR PRESSURE

Think of flow as air moving through the instrument.

Pressure speeds up air, although we can have pressure with NO flow!

Take a breath and then hold it and push. That's air pressure.
Release it with an exhale. That's air flow!

Manipulating the flow by putting the tongue on the reed without stopping the pressure
is the key to articulating efficiently.

KEY TO UNDERSTANDING
Nearly all of the time, unless you're purposefully doing an air release or another special scenario,
a note becomes short because the tongue stops the air flow, not because the air flow stops.

2023
4 STEPS TO BETTER ARTICULATION

We're going to practice understanding air flow vs. air pressure by doing this muted tongue
exercise!

Start on the barrel and mouthpiece with a concert f#.

During the circled notes, bring your tongue to the reed. Aim to get a buzzed/muted sound
once the tongue is on the reed with the air pressure remaining exactly the same as when you
were playing the regular note. You need a taste bud of tongue. Like. Barely any. It may tickle!

The goal is to train your tongue to go to the reed without manipulating the air pressure,
understanding that the flow will become less as the tongue approaches and makes contact with the reed.

2 | WORK ON COOPERATIVE INDEPENDENCE OF TONGUE & AIR

In order to successfully articulate, the air and the tongue have to remain cooperative but
independent! It is imperative that you feel confident moving the tongue while keeping the air
pressure consistent. In order to practice this, you're going to master this very simple exercise.
Please don't skip it. We all need this!

When you go to articulate staccato, keep in mind your muted tongue exercise: simply bring
your tongue to the reed to make the note short but keep the pressure consistent. Go as slowly
as you need to to REALLY do this confidently!

Play this exercise up multiple scales. The higher you go, the more finesse you're going to need.
The embouchure also needs to be stable for this to work...!

KEY TO UNDERSTANDING
Focus on efficiency of the tongue, meaning, it should move very little! We're going tip ish of the tongue
to tip ish of the reed. Aim slightly to the side of the reed if you feel the articulation is too harsh. And
please remember: it is a very, very small movement of the tongue!

2023
4 STEPS TO BETTER ARTICULATION

3 | GAIN SPEED
Let's review:

1. There's a difference between air flow and air pressure

2. We must keep the air and tongue cooperative but independent
3. The tongue goes to the reed while keeping the air pressure consistent in order to make a note
short

Now that you're feeling confident about all of those facts, let's work on gaining some speed!
Play the exercise below legato; the faster you go, the shorter it will sound
You're focused on lightness and EASE. If you start getting tense, slow it down
Play this at 3 different tempos: one that feels slow, one that feels good and one that feels almost
too fast

Keep going down the chromatic scale to low E. Then, do it an octave higher.

4 | CONQUER COORDINATION

Now the fun part. We have to introduce more coordination of the tongue with the fingers! There
are obviously many, many ways to practice this. We love this exercise by Dan Gilbert.

2023
4 STEPS TO BETTER ARTICULATION

Observe what adding more technique to the recipe does.

Are you getting more tense?
Are you feeling "bogged down" or like things are getting heavy? If so, check in: is the air
pressure strong? Is the tongue moving too much? Is the tongue touching too much reed?

NOW, ARE YOU READY TO PRACTICE?!

Take 15 minutes each day for 7 days to do these exercises and keep track in the chart below.
Record yourself on day #1 and day #7 to hear your progress!

Exercise Exercise Exercise Exercise

#1 #2 #3 #4

____/____

____/____

____/____

____/____

____/____

____/____

____/____

Thanks for downloading!

Need more help? Want us to listen?

Book a lesson

2023