commakozzi

I've just somehow developed the annoying "habit" of spitting too much into the horn when I'm doing a lot of tonguing. I'm sure someone knows what I'm talking about without going into too much detail, but for example: I do my Clarke studies once slurred and then once single tongued and it's during the single tongue that I have problems with too much spit getting into the mouthpiece. It really is a problem, but I have no idea how to fix it. I don't have the problem with double or triple tonguing. I've found that lifting my horn up above level (15 degrees or so) alleviates some of it, but not all. Any ideas?

Vulgano Brother

Lifting the horn up above horizontal allows us to distibrute the condensation in our instrument so that it doesn't pool at the end of the tuning slide. I suspect that your single tongue might be scraping your teeth more than multiple tonguing does. (Scraping the tongue is a good way to build up spit when facing nervous dry mouth.) If you are playing the exercises one after the other in all the keys, you'll just need to swallow your spit once in a while, and it isn't as gross as swallowing somebody else's spit!

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jonalan

If you ever figure it out, let me know. I'm a big time spitter.

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entle

whats the issue with spitting? is it just that you ahve to empty the spit valves more often?

eskimojoe

i have the same problem. constantly having to empty the spit valve, sometimes have to remove slides. i'm guessing it's a matter of tounging correctly and not lapping up the spit into the horn

rowuk

Take a glass of water to your practice sessions. External hydration seems to keep the spit levels down in my playing!

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gia.master08

Thanks. Your suggestion helped me to some extent.

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commakozzi

No, it's not having to empty the spit valve so often that bothers me, but I do have to empty it OFTEN! However, it's that my tone suffers from so much spit accumulating in the mouthpiece. I do swallow as much as I can before the next key (Clarkes), but by the time I get close to the end of single tonguing the exercise I'm playing through a pool of spit in the mouthpiece. So again, it's not the spit in the horn I'm worried about. Someone mentioned lifting the horn to get the spit redistributed within the horn to eliminate that gargle sound, but I'm finding lifting the horn a little helps alleviate the spit in the mouthpiece from affecting my sound, but not enough. I need another solution. I'll try your suggestion rowuk about the water.

Vulgano Brother

The need to empty the spit valves often can be a good thing. It shows that we are breathing deeply, and the warm, moist air from the bottom of our lungs is being used. Air pressure is a function of air volume and air speed; lots of slow air sounds beautiful. When playing exciting screaming lead, however, the quicker air adds "zip," and we'll be blowing most of our spit out the bell.

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SpitKey

I too am having this problem. It started shortly after I changed my method of tonguing to anchor tonguing, (or KTM, or dorsal tonguing...whichever name suits your fancy). The saliva accumulates in the mouthpiece, not the horn, and produces a disgusting sound. I've tried changing back to "regular" tonguing, but it's just as juicy. The only thing that helps me is to slightly raise the bell of the horn, but the improvement is minimal and it plays havoc with my embouchure. This problem really has me perplexed. Sorry that the only thing I can add to this discussion is more confusion.