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A brief description of some advanced techniques
Flutter tonguing, vibrato, glissando and lip flexibility, using harmonics to
facilitate the upper register, Multiphonics.

Flutter tonguing requires the player to be able to roll the R with the tongue or the back
of the throat. If you can master this then you are half way to learning the technique.
Simply blow into the instrument as normal but do not allow the tongue to touch the
reed. Keep the tongue raised, the tip pointing at the back of the top teeth and extremely
relaxed. Roll the R by blowing fast air between the raised, relaxed, tip of the tongue
and the hard palate just behind the teeth. With practice this will disturb the airflow
and produce flutter tonguing. It is vital that the tongue is relaxed and the air is very
fast and pressurised, using correct diaphragm support. Practise this firstly without the
mouthpiece and produce a controlled, aggressively rolled R. The sound produced when
mastered is very effective and several composers have utilised this technique in their
works, notably Alban Berg in "Fier Stucke".
Vibrato is the oscillation of the tone above and below the correct pitch in almost equal
measure. I recommend lip vibrato as this seems to be the easiest to control and to teach.
Start by taking the normal embouchure, blowing and then relaxing the tension on the
lower lip and muscles at the side of the mouth. This should produce a drop in pitch. If it
does not, then your embouchure is too tense. If the required drop in pitch occurs,
increase facial muscle pressure (at the sides of the mouth) again until you make the
note slightly sharp. Check this by using a tuner. Practice dropping and raising the pitch
until you can gradually speed up the process and achieve discernible rhythmic patterns.
Firstly raise and lower the pitch in crotchet beats, at about 60 per minute, this will give
an exaggerated effect but if you slowly increase the tempo you can try doing triplets at
crochet = 60 then, semiquavers, until you have complete control of speed and amplitude
of the oscillation. Jazz vibrato is generally wider and faster than vibrato used for the
music (for instance) of the Romantic era. I am very careful how and when I use vibrato.
It should only be used when you have completely mastered the technique. It is well
documented that Mozart liked the winds to use vibrato and Brahms was so inspired by
the sound of Richard Muhlfeld who used vibrato that he wrote some of the finest music
in the repertoire for him. It takes a long time to master where to use vibrato and where
not. Some players produce a throat vibrato which is undesirable and sounds like a
bleating sheep! Guard against using vibrato unconsciously and always be aware of
when you are using it. Musical integrity is most important so be very careful that
vibrato is not just a gimmick.
Glissando literally means slide and that is just what it is. To begin try playing thumb C
with the register key and thumb, then lower the tongue to create a marked drop in
pitch. Combine this with excessive relaxation of the embouchure. This is the same as
the exercise for vibrato except we take it to the extreme. Try to lower the pitch to
somewhere around A or G (three fingers L.H.) if you can do this you are well on the
way to achieving good lip flexibility. Having dropped the pitch, bring it back up to C
again by raising the tongue and firming the embouchure. Now try starting on G and
with a really low tongue and very loose embouchure try the scoop up to C but this time
sliding the fingers off to the left to assist the upward rise in pitch as you firm the
embouchure and raise the tongue. This is the beginning of glissando. To master the
technique requires hours of patience. Few people manage more than a few tones at first
but with practice you will be able to slide an octave at least.


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