The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2007-05-06 01:56
I need a bit of light shed on something that I'm starting to notice in my own playing. I'm starting to pay more attention to the starts and ends of my notes, be it a long soft phrase or staccato or whatever.
I have recently learned a few different ways of starting the sound, tongue positions and syllables to use, etc. and I realise there are probably just as many ways to start and finish the sound then there are starts and ends of notes!
What do you do for different types of sounds, different effects for starting the sound given different styles and situations?
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2007-05-06 13:40
Hi Morrigan - I hadn't seen a thread/post of yours for a while, welcome back [if appropriate]. Is what you are asking related to the "tuh" attack as different from the "huh" attack. and the "tapered-off" note end as differing from the louder, "sudden" cutoff by ?tongue. I'm NO teacher, so Others Please Help . Description here seems to be as difficult as in the thread from our friend in Sweden re: "anti-popping". Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2007-05-06 18:50
Hello Morrigan,
Don, I think you covered all those bases just now. You need to be comfortable beginning and ending notes with and without the tongue.
I have had teachers tell me that the tongue is used to start every note. I have also heard of teachers who are adamant about never ending a note with the tongue.
Ultimately we are attempting to achieve the multitude of articulations that string players are capable of.
This past year I heard a high school regional orchestra performing Schubert's unfinished symphony. The clarinet and oboe soli was out of tune at the beginning of each phrase: the young clarinetist needed to begin each phrase WITHOUT the tongue...then he would have matched pitch.
The opening note of Weber's concertino is also a note that I would initiate without tongue. (Leister said in a masterclass that I saw that ALL cantabile notes should NOT be articulated...I might not go that far, but I'm not the retired principal of Berlin either!)
The last note of Finzi's bagatelles is an example of stopped stacato, ending the note crisply with the tongue.
Of great concern to me with my students is making sure that they learn to deliver a consistent sound from the moment they initiate the note regardless of how it is articulated.
Just some thoughts,
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2007-05-06 22:48
Yes, these are all things that I want to discuss!
My teacher opened my eyes the other week when we were working on the Rach 2 excerpt, and said that a good way to start the first note was with a "Thu" sound. And it works wonderfully! Exploring all kinds of articulations has been really effective so far.
In Debussy's Premiere Rhapsody, at the top of the fourth page, all those runs, I can't quite work out what articulation to use. They all seem to sound a little harsh. Any thoughts?
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