"Buzzing" the upper lip against the tongue seemed to be a frequent prescription for tone and articulation issues in lessons this week.
I often speak of how the upper lip can be strong and flexible, capable of lifting and extending itself well beyond the upper teeth and the tongue.
Did you know that a elephant trunk has over 50,000 muscles and no bones? Imagine how strong and flexible an elephant trunk is!
Try imitating an elephant trunk with your upper lip, surrounding muscles, and tongue.
Here is everything you ever wanted to know about elephant trunks and more:
http://elephant.elehost.com/About_Elephants/Anatomy/The_Trunk/the_trunk.html
Aardvarks have long tapered snouts and long tongues. Picture your "snout"--your lifted and extended upper lip --sucking in air when you inhale.
For more thoughts on upper lip and tongue position, visit Jerome Callet's website:
http://www.super-chops.com/
Happy "buzzing!"
Catherine
2 comments:
Hi Catherine,
Thank you for your info on the Trunk and Snout... I am thinking more about that and have been experimenting a lot with the tongue as well as the upper lip and all it's possibilities... More about buzzing later... Since your wonderful visit with us here in Houston last week, we have all been experimenting with the placement of our tongues. I am always looking for ease, freedom, the most natural and efficient way to play the flute. What I am noticing is that when the tongue rests father forward almost above the teeth and the jaw very relaxed, the airspeed is faster, naturally by way of a more direct route, and so is the neck and throat areas too. I am also aware that the pitch is more consistent and so is the tone quality. When I have my tongue in this position I begin to feel the air stream like a river of air flowing over my tongue, through the aperture and into the flute... Do any of you remember the movie Bill Durahm, with Susan Sarandon? She is a passionate baseball fan and teacher. She tells the Pitcher that he needs to "breathe throughhis eyeballs"... Well, I am feeling like I breathe through my tongue :-) ....
Well, I hoppe that you are enjoying your creative explorations as I am...
Happy Creative Fluting,
Jennifer
Good morning Jennifer,
Thanks for your comments and for your astute observations.
The feeling you are describing --"breathing through your tongue"--is, indeed, the sort of ease and freedom I hope we can all experience when playing.
You referred to the air stream as "a river of air"--interestingly, this IS what I call it! Did you know that the French word "embouchure" means mouth? I define embouchure as "the mouth of the river of air."
I enjoyed so much the time I spent with you and your students at the Creative Flutist Studio and I am delighted that you are having a blitz of awareness and creative inquiry following the class.
Yes, the airspeed is faster with your tongue in this position, because the "tonguing aperture"--the distance between the surface area of your tongue and your upper teeth-- is narrower (smaller).
I look forward to more dialogue,
Catherine
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