 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sarah
Date: 2001-10-27 23:53
When you first start to practice a piece where the articulation is a little awkward do you just concentrate on the notes and rhythms and work on the articulation later?
sarah
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Author: Sandra Franklin Habekost
Date: 2001-10-28 01:24
Absolutely, and the slower, the better. When your technique is flawless, then practice the articulation, the slower the better.
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Author: Kyle
Date: 2001-10-28 03:49
I work on the notes and make sure I have them down, then I can work on articulation and other stuff I don't get in it.
~Kyle~
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Author: Ashley
Date: 2001-10-28 14:12
Are those replying saying that when you practice it slower (before working on articulation) you slur the whole thing? I'm a bit unsure of what you mean. I really believe that an articulated, technical passage should be practiced with the correct articulation ALL THE TIME. If you practice it to get the notes right by slurring it for a while, you are actually practicing playing the passage wrong. The most effective way is to start practicing very very slowly, with a metronome. I think 95 percent of students, when practicing, don't spend nearly enough time practicing at the slow end (and it shows). Start at a tempo that you can play the entire passage, articulation and all, cleanly. This may mean at a tempo like 40, but it's really important to start correctly. Once you can play the whole thing cleanly and consistenly, then slowly inch up the metronome, repeating the process until you reach your goal tempo. It takes a while for the whole process, but in the end you will be able to play the passage very well.
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Author: Kim L
Date: 2001-10-28 16:23
I concentrate on learning the notes first. After I have the notes down, I then learn the articulation by legato tonguing. Once I am comfortable legato tonguing the passage, I practice tonguing the passage. I think that it would be bad to practice tonguing and learning notes at the same time because you are trying to learn to things at once. Concentrate on one thing at a time and you will learn the passage really well. Also, always use a metronome.
Kim L.
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Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2001-10-28 17:46
I don't think that it's a waste of time to practice slurred first. It's actually very helpful, and shouldn't be considered as playing 'wrong.'
My old teacher used to say that most tonguing problems are actually fingering problems...ie. uneven rhythm. Practicing a passage slurred forces your fingers to work rhythmically on their own with no assistance from your tongue. This helps to battle a codependency that most younger students are not aware of.
Another advantage of practicing slurred is that it exposes all sorts of sloppy fingering habits that tonguing could easily hide. Slurring creates a necessity for good technique that younger students might not otherwise see.
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Author: Ashley
Date: 2001-10-28 19:45
I agree with you, Allen, that slurring "unmasks" technical problems with fingers. That's why when I do my half hour of scale exercises, I slur them all and ignore the articulations in the books. It allows you to completely focus on your tone and the evenness of your fingers. However, I think that while that is an appropriate time to slur everything, I don't think that learning an articulated passage of a piece by slurring it is a huge benefit. You essentially have to learn it twice, once with the wrong articulation and once with the right one. I believe that if you want to isolate parts of your technique to improve them, it is best to use etudes like Rose or Kell Staccato studies. But there must come a point where the player can put all of their skills together and learn it all at the same time. Students need to learn to read and play music all at the same time, not learning different levels such as notes first, then articulation, then dynamics, then phrasing. I know that you did not suggest this, but the ideas are the same. As for trying to learn two things at once, if you start your practice slow enough, you will find that it is okay to do both at once.
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Author: Julia Meyer
Date: 2001-10-28 22:04
Rather---you should practice a passage with many different articulations and starting very slow, to truly master it.
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Author: Carmen Izzo
Date: 2001-10-28 22:34
Since ashley summed up what i was going to say, ill just mention a method that i use with articulation. Usually the problem is in the coordination with the tongue and fingers. So in order to fix such things there is a method called prepared fingers. Slow your metronome to a slow tempo. After you play each note stacatto immediately place/remove fingers for the next note, this should be done significantly before the next beat. To make sure such is accomplished, you should make the tempo have what ever type of notes you are dealing with equal one beat. The key is to set up the next fingering after the short note is played. After you play the note pattern at a give tempo several times, then increase the tempo.
~Carmen
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2001-10-29 00:42
Actually Sarah the method being refered to here by Carmen is properly named "slow synchro-motion staccato". One key ingredient was omitted from this description that defines the method as such.
When the tongue moves, stopping the note, the finger moves AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME as the tongue - hence the term, "slow synchro-motion staccato". The finger muscle is coordinated exactly with the tongue muscle in order to therefore "synchronize" the two. When the passage is sped up gradually, the discipline is kept and the tonge and fingers are automatically synchronized.
This was a method invented by my teacher's teacher, Daniel Bonade. He developed and taught it to the finest clarinetists of the day, one of whom was my teacher - Robert Marcellus. This method is sometimes misunderstood because of the lack of understanding about this important last ingredient that I've mentioned above.
Best of luck Sarah!
Gregory Smith
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Author: Sue
Date: 2001-10-29 21:17
I think that slow practice in this case is the correct method. When undergoing sight reading tests, do we ask to play them twice? Once slurred and the second time with correct articulation? Playing the piece later with various articulations may be of benefit, but slow correct practise is the right way and quicker in the long run.
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