Clarinet Tongue Position: The Secret to a Great Sound

Many clarinetists believe that achieving a good legato and a focused sound simply requires "blowing harder" and moving their fingers efficiently. However, the true secret lies in your clarinet tongue position. Even when you are not playing staccato, your tongue must actively work to direct the airflow.

In this article, we will explore how to master this concept to dramatically improve your sound.

The Garden Hose Analogy

Imagine you are watering your garden with a hose. If you let the water flow freely, it falls right by your feet with very little force. But if you place your thumb over the opening of the hose, the water shoots out with much more pressure and velocity, reaching much farther. As the great clarinetist Sharon Kam explains in her video, your tongue acts exactly like that thumb when playing the clarinet. By raising your tongue, you reduce the space inside your mouth (the oral cavity), which generates higher pressure and speed. This increased air velocity makes the reed vibrate actively and allows your legato to flow naturally, without the need to "push" or force the air.

The Magic Sound: "ee"

The easiest way to find the correct tongue position is through vowel sounds. For an ideal clarinet tone and legato, we look for the high, forward position of the closed vowel "ee".

• When you say "oo", "oh", or "ah", your tongue drops to the bottom of your mouth, creating a large space and consequently a slow-moving column of air.

• When you say "ee", the back of your tongue rises toward your palate, and its sides touch the inside of your upper molars.

Quick Exercise:

Say "oo-ee-oo-ee" out loud without moving your lips or jaw. Feel how your tongue rises and falls internally. For a professional, focused sound, you want to maintain that constant "ee" tongue position while playing.

Fundamental Technical Applications

Eliminating Undertones:

Sharon Kam mentions that in pieces such as the opening of the second movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto K. 622, if we do not maintain a fast air speed, the high notes can produce unwanted undertones (a low ghost note sounding underneath). Keeping the tongue in a high "ee" position helps eliminate these noises and stabilizes the pitch immediately.

Pitch Control:

Raising the tongue naturally makes the pitch slightly higher. Kam argues that this method is far superior to "biting" the reed with your jaw, which chokes the sound. Elevating the tongue achieves the necessary pitch adjustment while maintaining a rich, vibrant tone quality. Even if an extreme "ee" position slightly sacrifices the roundness of the sound in favor of intonation, it remains a much better solution than excessive lip pressure.

Throat Notes:

In the opening of Debussy's Première Rhapsodie, Kam recommends combining a very relaxed embouchure with a high tongue position ("ee"). This allows the notoriously thin throat tones to sound round, full, and perfectly in tune, preventing them from sounding "tired" or airy.

Subtle Adjustments by Register in the Clarinet Tongue Position

Renowned pedagogue Dr. Tracy Heavner  maintains that a high tongue position should be kept as a fundamental baseline across the entire instrument. However, we must be aware of certain nuances to ensure a perfect legato across all registers: Lower Register (Chalumeau):

Keep your embouchure and jaw relaxed to provide depth. Even though you will feel greater internal resonance, avoid letting your tongue drop completely to the bottom of your mouth (stay away from the "ah" position), or the sound will lose its core, focus, and pitch.

Middle (Clarion) and High Registers:

Here, a pure "ee" vowel is absolutely mandatory. As mentioned above, if the tongue drops and the air loses velocity, the clarinet will likely produce undertones or multiphonics. Keeping the tongue high avoids this issue completely.

Altissimo Register:

This requires an extreme position, almost like a cat's hiss or a sharp "hee" sound, reducing the oral cavity to the maximum so that the highest notes speak with total ease.

The "Cold Aire" and Hissing Exercise

To learn how to pressurize the air internally, Dr. Heavner suggests a highly effective mental image: think about blowing "cold air." Hot air (like the air you use to fog up a window or a pair of glasses) is slow and dissipated. Cold air requires your tongue to rise immediately to narrow the air channel.

If you struggle to find this sensation before playing a slurred passage, try the loud hissing exercise (recommended by pedagogue Callie from Clarinet's Cats and Coffee): Before putting your lips on the mouthpiece, blow air through the clarinet making a very loud "shhh" or "shush" sound. You will instantly feel the sides of your tongue pressing firmly against your upper molars and your core support engage. Maintain that exact same internal physical sensation and immediately play your phrase. You will see how the notes connect beautifully.

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