Klarinet Archive - Posting 000131.txt from 2005/04

From: "Margaret Thornhill" <clarinetstudio@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] legato
Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2005 15:44:37 -0400

Tony Pay wrote;
> The usefulness of the 'slow finger' legato teaching metaphor has nothing
> to
> do with how the action of the finger affects legato. That's very much a
> second order effect. It is simply a psychological device to distract the
> attention of the player from his or her airstream, so that that can
> continue
> through the change.

Ah! Now you're talking... This was basically what I meant by "looking
relaxed" though you say it much better. Psychological. Exactly.

but the less developed players I see truly don't need to be distracted from
their airstream--they need to focus on it. They need to find ways to
separate it from the finger motion: that's the trick. I don't think this is
too difficult to teach or learn; it's a concept....the rather well know
exercise I call the "two person clarinet" helps get this across quickly.
Student blows (with eyes shut); teacher fingers (you have to turn the body
of the instrument 3o degrees to get this to work); student continues to try
to duplicate that sensation on his own. It's an oversimplication, of course,
but a dramatic one.

>Why most people fail to have an effective legato is that they change the
airstream between one note and another, thinking that they have to *create*
a
legato.

Right.

and, if a player isn't keeping a consistent airstream and has been told
that backswing is the fix-- I think it's a trap. Many poorly developed
players *do* change the airstream subconsciously along with whatever fingers
movements they make, resulting in a chewy sound. Respectfully (because so
many swear by it)I think the teaching that originally caused this
discussion--that we use one set of finger motions for normal playing and
another for slow, legato passages--has a big potential for reinforcing this
problem. ( In fact, it's hard for me to see the value of trying to teach
anything having to do with fingers in twenty minutes of contact at a
masterclass, where most talk about technique is really triage)

If a mature artist chooses "backswing" for relaxation while playing lyrical
passages, that is, as we say,a whole different ballgame.

Margaret

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