 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chalumeau
Date: 2016-12-11 05:38
Hello all,
I am currently learning the Nielsen concerto and am planning on using it as an audition piece in about a month and a half. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to achieve faster articulation at rehearsal 10? (Or just faster articulation in general). My articulation speed has been very inconsistent. On a good day I can tongue sixteenths at 132, but other days I can barely get 120. I have been doing short spurts at faster speeds (144) but could use some other advice!
Thanks!
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-12-11 06:58
Maybe Eddie Palanker will pop in. I think 132 is a perfect speed for most or all of the Nielsen; single tonguing it.
I can offer this advice. When your tongue screws up, it's not your tongue moving too fast, it is your fingers are almost always moving too slow. Just the opposite of what you'd think. Needless to say practice a lot of scales and 3rds in that key signature. Often players use the flat part of their tongue. Most players use the tip. I kind of use both, trying not to get set in just one way of playing. This can also help "Lead," you to double tonguing with less difficulty and perhaps you can sneak in some flat and tip tonguing together, perhaps double tonguing, since you have time to practice this. When flat tonguing some players will tell you that they use the part right side and part the the left side on their tongue. It works for some. Not so much for others, but learning to be flexible and taking your time, using the metronome all of the time, might be the key to getting through this wicked hard piece. I hope this helps, it's coming from personal advice, not something which was taught. Just sitting in a practice room for hours and hours. 144 is too fast for a nice steady rhythm pattern as it's best to play this clean at 124 and nail every note. Too many players screw up the Copland Concerto trying to play it too fast and Copland himself said he didn't want it played that fast, but played with a jazz feel; thus the reason for writing it for Benny Goodman. Both were from NYC and grew up hearing that 1940's Big Band sound. So Nielsen, his friend kind of went "Nuts." That's the basis of the piece. He lost his mind. So is speed necessary to show this? Ask your teacher how to play some of these sections. Speeds throughout this piece are all over the place. Hope I helped a bit? Oh knowing that he was going crazy the speeds may be taken with some liberties as long as the articulation is pretty clean. I think you can slow it down a bit if needed. I've heard David Shifrin play it and he doesn't get too wild with it. Yet we know he can play it pretty much at any speed he wishes.
Best of luck.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2016-12-11 07:09)
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Author: TomS
Date: 2016-12-11 19:38
I think Bob is correct about the sync of fingers and tongue. I attended a master class with Mitchell Laurie and he made the following suggestion: "my tongue will move only as fast as my fingers" ... In other words, it may be that often our tongue is plenty fast enough, often getting ahead of our fingers. Use the fingers to trigger the tongue, effectively coupling them. Of course, normally in staccato, the tongue is on the reed while the fingers jump ahead to the next note, but there is a communication and cooperation between the two, even if the actions are slightly offset.
So try that little mental suggestion. Sometimes it immediately works wonders.
Tom
Post Edited (2016-12-11 20:19)
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-12-11 21:38
Hmmm Maybe it was Mitchell that told me about this. We were friends for 18 years before he passed on. Thanks Tom.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-12-11 22:10
Hmmm Maybe it was Mitchell that told me about this. We were friends for 18 years before he passed on. Thanks Tom.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Agomongo
Date: 2016-12-14 09:14
I know that Bonade has a great section in one of his small books. They're very basic exercises, but considering that fact that he's used this method with all of his students with great success is probably a good sign. Shoot me an email and I can take a picture of it and send it to you, if you want.
Post Edited (2016-12-14 09:15)
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-12-14 09:28
Also, I seem to recall that Mitchell said that playing faster was kind of like simply turning up a rheostat which was used for speed control.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2016-12-16 18:17
Finger before tongue. Read my section about tonguing on my website. Keep in mind, it doesn't happen over night. May I suggest you put in a few two and two's in that passage just to keep it up to the tempo you want it to go. There's no shame in throwing in a couple of slurs. Gives the tongue a chance to catch up to your fingers, or fingers a chance to slow down to you tongue. :-)
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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