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Re: Which is the default: tonguing, or slurring?

Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-03-24 18:42

Definitely slur things where and as much as you like, as long as it's within the context of the piece and the phrasing (or your interpretation of the phrasing). If you think of singing, the syllables of words are slurred and each word is usually articulated (not like these manufactured act members that breathe in between words and syllables as they're not trained singers).

You will know where a comma or full stop is needed in a sentence, and musical phrasing is like speech in that it needs rests and breaths at certain points in a phrase, and you can feel when a sentence or musical phrase is about to finish.

There are people that will tongue everything, and it just makes phrases sound all fragmented or even nervous. It's. Like. Say. Ing. Each. Word. Or. Syll. A. Ble. As. A. Se. Par. Ate. Word. Instead of joining each word up to make the sentence feel as a whole. Keep the melodic phrase flowing, and blow through the phrase.

There are instances where you will need to tongue within a slurred phrase, such as a large downward interval to the lower register to be sure the lower register note speaks, but just a light tongue is needed to get the lower register note to speak without breaking up the smooth line of the phrase.

So there are varying degrees of articulation in between a smooth, flowing legato and a spiky staccato, and phrases still have to be phrased even if they're specified as all tongued - I've got the prattling oboes from the last movement of Sibelius 5th in mind here.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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