 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Garth Libre
Date: 2014-01-21 16:15
In Mr Hites Progressive and Melodious Studies #5 in D Major, their are 16th notes that are marked with a staccato dots and also tied as if to suggest a slur. How can notes be played both as tongued and slurred? The only thing I can assume is that the tie mark is meant to group a series of tongued notes, however these notes are naturally grouped and the tie mark seems superfluous. Additionally the printer seems to think it was alright to make the dots indicating tongued notes so small that they are easily missed.
Garth, 305-981-4705. garthlibre@yahoo.com
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2014-01-21 11:43
Hi Garth,
A tie is always between two notes of the same note name, combing their value.
Wind players call the curved line above the notes a slur. String musicians, pianists, vocalists, would call it a phrase line. A slur to us means "don't tongue". A phrase line means that all the notes are grouped musically with (often) the same purpose -- in ms 1 these notes are leading to the B.
When you see articulated markings on notes underneath a "slur", it is a phrase line. In reality the curved line is most often a phrase line! As wind players we just have an additional instruction attached to it -- don't tongue, unless we see articulated markings OR have good reason to articulate.
I would articulate these with a separated legato, or a long staccato, however you want to think about it, but with a crescendo so that they are all leading to the B.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2014-01-21 18:16
Tobin wrote:
>
> Wind players call the curved line above the notes a slur.
> String musicians, pianists, vocalists, would call it a phrase
> line. A slur to us means "don't tongue". A phrase line means
> that all the notes are grouped musically with (often) the same
> purpose -- in ms 1 these notes are leading to the B.
>
I think James overstates this a little, at least for strings. The string players I know call the curved lines "slurs" or "legato" and generally take it as an indication to play all the connected notes in a single bow stroke without changing direction - contrasted with separate back and forth strokes or some other kind of detached articulation. In the case of longer slurs, it becomes a question for string players whether the composer really meant it to be played in one bow or treated as phrasing and broken up unobtrusively with bow changes. Sometimes the phrases must be broken up because the notes won't fit in a single bow stroke. There are instances in both string and wind music where there are slurs under a longer slur - the composer is removing the ambiguity and indicating a phrase with the large slur and articulation with the smaller slurs.
> When you see articulated markings on notes underneath a "slur",
> it is a phrase line.
I agree with this *in general.*
> In reality the curved line is most often
> a phrase line!
It depends - often it's both an articulation and a phrase, but if the "slurs" are short - over only a few notes - they are primarily meant to show that the notes are legato - connected - and not separated with the tongue.
>
> I would articulate these with a separated legato, or a long
> staccato, however you want to think about it, but with a
> crescendo so that they are all leading to the B.
String players take the slur to indicate a single bow direction - all the notes under the slur are played either up bow or down bow in a continuous direction - you can think of it as phrasing, but it has a definite implication for how to use the bow. The dots indicate stops between each note, so the bow moves in a single direction with slight interruptions. The effect of this in general - there are all kinds of subtle variations in terms of pressure and note length on how the bowing is actually executed - is a line that maintains a single color and leads, as James suggests, toward whatever follows (I don't have the Hite book handy). In wind music you generally - again, variations are possible in note lengths and style of tonguing - tongue the notes very lightly as James describes, although in a recent discussion on this same topic (specifically regarding one of the Rose studies), it was suggested that it might be done without the tongue entirely.
Karl
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2014-01-21 19:31
I agree with all your qualifications Karl. I think that my response was too strong primarily because developing wind players can interpret the slur as a "cut-and-dried" absolute direction, as opposed to something that is to be interpreted based on the context.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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