Doublereed Archive - Posting 000094.txt from 2006/01

From: Tim Hunt <tim@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Single tongueing (Bassoon)
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:07:46 -0500

Thank you all for your suggestions and advice.

Isaac Bull wrote:

> Unless you are faced with opposition in your section and/or conductor to
> sluring some notes (which I expect would be rare) I suggest there is
> nothing wrong with this at all - in fact far better than attempting to
> tongue the whole thing and making a mess of it - cleaner is better and
> if adding a slur or two helps go for it.

Our conductor has very high aspirations, and when I asked him, he said
he though it really ought to be tongued if at all possible. However, the
other bassoon player is more pragmatic, and we think that in this case
we will get away with slurring.

> Of course it also goes without saying that a lot of building up speed is
> from gaining confidence so start slower - you've got 80 - try starting
> at 72 and then increasing in small increments using a metronome - using
> varied rhythms (dotted etc.) to give some variety.

As well as playing with the metronome (speed), I though up another
exercise: at a given speed start by playing an easy to blow note
repeatedly, and then move to tougher notes, for example gradually
heading down the bottom octave of a C major scale. Does anyone have any
opinions on whether that is likely to be a worthwhile exercise?

> I know some may think that bassoons aren't heard and it's not worth the
> effort

In the case of this passage, bsn, viola, cello and clarinet are all
playing the same thing, and I don't think it would be possible to tell
whether the the bassoons were slurring or tonguing under all that. I
would never argue that bassoons are not important.

> but if IMHO you can play this kind of passage with confidence it
> makes a very big difference in the average Beethoven size orchestra.
> Bassoons are a big boost to the cello / bass sound and a nice added colour.

I am now treating passage a way of practicing any tonguing, just to see
how far I can get (so far 90), but not really caring if I ever get as
far as 120. I realise that I have never really practiced tonguing
before. My old teacher used to prefer scales slurred, on the grounds
that it encourages precise finger movements from note to note to get
clean slurs. He retired just before Christmas, and now I have a new
teacher who prefers scales tongued to encourage coordination between
tongue and fingers.

Tim.

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