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Re: staccato after slur

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2022-07-24 21:37

SunnyDaze wrote:

> I'm really confused. I thought we weren't meant to stop with
> air. It took me three years to learn not to, as I used to
> articulate only with my diaphragm. I can tongue now, but I
> still have to fight the instinct to do diaphragm articulation.

As with so many things, it depends on the context.

You don't as a rule (there are always exceptions) *start* a note with just the air and no tongue release to give it definition. Some players do start a very quietly entering note (like the first note of Weber's Concertino) without a tongued "attack." Some players (the things I've read bring Marcellus to mind, but I never studied with him so I can't attest to how rigid his attitude was) warn *never* to start a note without a tongue release at the beginning.

But ending a note depends on what comes next. Is it part of a series of fairly quick notes? It may create a more linear effect to tongue on a continuing airstream. Is it the end of a phrase? Tapering the air (as time allows) may give it a more lyrical and graceful effect. Is it marked staccato secco? It will be drier-sounding if you stop it with your tongue. Is it an eighth-note passage in a Sousa or comparable march or (Heaven forbid) one of those articulated exhibitions in the Nielsen Concerto? You really can't do that by ending the air between each note.

Rules, to the extent they are taught for convenience, always have exceptions as the musical context requires.

Post Edited (2022-07-24 21:40)

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