Klarinet Archive - Posting 000595.txt from 2003/08

From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Tony=20Pay?= <tony_pay@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Articulation Problems
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2003 17:37:48 -0400

--- Anne Lenoir <AnneLenoir@-----.net> wrote:

> Against my better judgement, I start off from the very beginning with
> "du-du-du-du-du-" because the band program is geared towards
> articulating. Someimes i feel as though the band directors are trying to
> have each note sound as though they are stabbing it with a knife.

Annie, I'd say that the only way to achieve that effect when you want it -- and
you quite often do, think of the Stravinsky Three Pieces last movement -- is to
follow the fundamental principle that a strong attack can *only* come about as
the result of the sudden application of strong air pressure.

You can do that in one of two ways: either (1) by releasing the reed to be
acted upon by an already existing strong pressure -- you're already blowing
hard, and you suddenly 'stop stopping' the vibration of the reed, so that you
get the attack, and moreover the amount and strength of tongue contact to have
stopped it in the first place depends on the register you're in (as I try to
make clear in my 'long' post) and is anyway almost always much more gentle than
you think necessary; or (2) you use an already set up opposition between
abdominal and diaphragm muscles -- what's called, 'support' -- and suddenly
relax the diaphragm muscles.

(That subject is dealt with in 'All that stuff about the diaphragm', at

http://www.woodwind.org/Databases/Logs/1999/04/000786.txt )

A strong attack can *never* come about solely by a strong tongue movement. The
strength of attack is always produced by the strength of the air pressure, and
though you can sometimes get away with a strong tongue movement too, it's not
necessary, and is almost always what causes the difficulty.

The idea is to use the minimum tongue action consistent with the register
you're in.

The best way of thinking about the whole issue of articulation is to separate
out the notion of continued staccato passages from the notion of beginning
notes. Then, staccato passages are *always* interrupted legato passages, even
though they may not sound like it. (You can produce machine-gun, ultra-short
staccato using the lightest possible tongue contact in the upper register, and
need only a little more contact in the lower register.)

Tony

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