Posted by joe exley on July 30, 2000 at 19:40:37:
In Reply to: grunting ? posted by ken k on July 27, 2000 at 18:09:48:
I too have had students with the same issue.
I think it is related to what is known as the "Valsalva Maneuver" as Jacobs talked about it.
Some people naturally have a tendancy to raise their inner pressure by closing off with the epiglottus. This causes enunciation and vocalization with the throat etc.
Jacobs said that some people just do it naturally. (I personally think it is related to stress)
How to deal with it: Make sure there is NO delay in the exchange between inhalation and exhalation. Many players will take a big breath and then "hold it" until they are ready to play. This will cause and or increase the problem. Basically what you want the student to do is to not give him/herself time to let this phenomonon creep in there. If there is no delay in the exchange, there will be no time for these issues.
Jacobs had an excercise where you used a metronome and breathe in and say the word "one". Then breathe and say "two" (with no delays)... all the way to twenty or so... to give the player a more correct habit of no delay... becuase we almost never delay between breathing and talking. Check out "Song and Wind" as well as the mp3's of his 1973 masterclass (located on this site) I think he talks about similar stuff in both places.
Pressure to a minimum, quantity to a maximum.
Another way I combat it (it will creep into my playing) is to simply have my chops in tip top shape. Have your student do lots of slur excercises... ones where there is no time for silly stuff to creep in. Excercises that I have found are really helpful with this issue in both my students and myself is the Arban grupetto preparatory excercises and do them as fast as you can with no breaths. Doing these everyday keeps the grunts away.
:)
good luck,
joe exley
nyc