Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2019-10-29 06:53
I listened to a video of an interview with Stanley Drucker; it was sometime after he retired from the NY Phil. If I recall, he was asked how fast his tonguing speed was. His answer was better than the question: he said words to the effect that there were different kinds of articulation, and you used the right kind for the music you were playing.
About light tonguing (p.s. I'm no expert) I have two thoughts. Light articulation is taken to mean the tongue lightly touches the reed, not enough to bend it or press it to the mouthpiece, but just enough to interrupt the vibration. Idea one is to listen to the Robert Spring warmup video where he plays one of the Langenus studies for light articulation. When he gets to the faster speeds, that's light articulation. So, do that :-) (I'm not entirely joking - it's useful to try it.)
https://youtu.be/3YYk8okEQ10?t=355
The other idea is, practice barely interrupted legato, where the notes are articulated but remain as close to full length as possible - legatissimo, barely more interruption than a slur. To do this, the tongue tip must just barely brush the reed for the briefest instant, so you almost can't hear the interruption. The reed does stop vibrating during that instant, but so briefly that your tongue doesn't even have time to bend the reed, it just blocks the amplitude of its vibration. That, I think, is light articulation. Then the next step is to slightly increase the length of interruptions, but not the force of the tongue. Keep the tempo the same but increase the interruption lengths in gradual steps.
For example play a scale two octaves slurred, then again with barely noticeable interruptions between notes, then again with clearly noticeable but still brief interruptions, then with distinct interruptions, then with noticeably separated notes, then staccato, then short staccato, then staccatissimo, then ridiculously short blips, keeping tempo the same, keeping air flowing, always barely touching the reed.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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