Klarinet Archive - Posting 000226.txt from 1996/04

From: Nick Shackleton <njs5%cam.ac.uk@-----.BITNET>
Subj: Re: K.622 and tonguing
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 12:29:07 -0400

In the very useful list sent out by Bruce Currie, add (*) to the Tony Pay
recording.
I haven't listened to all of these but there is something relevent to the
tonguing issue here (some of which I learned through my involvement with
that recording). The modern clarinet is designed to permit slurring between
virtually any pair of notes. There are many pairs of notes between which
slurring was physically impossible in Mozart's day. There are other
transitions that sound rather indeterminate if slurred (for example if you
are required to adjust your lip pressure going to a cross-fingered note).
This means that tonguing was the only means of articulating some passages
cleanly whereas now we can articulate clearly while slurring.
Worth remembering also that there is a lot of emphasis in early wind
treatises on different sorts of tonguing.
Nick