Beginner's problem

[phuketblue]

Just had my third lesson and I thought I was doing so well but now it appears that maybe everything I have learnt and practised could be wrong.

My teacher has me starting and finishing a piece with the tongue but all notes inbetween, he encourages me to slur the notes or control the note with my breath/diaphragm (or at least that's what I think he's telling me to do - difficult as we don't have a common language). However, today I have read that each and every note should be tongued. This would seem rather more difficult to achieve and somewhat impractical.

Are both methods correct or is there one that should be used exclusively?

Sorry if it is a bit of a dumb question but it is really confusing me and I would like to get the basics right from the very start.

 

[Linky Lee]

this 'tonging' and 'slurring' is known as articulation.

It is the basic principal for expressing rhythm without changing note lengths.

Using the tongue to begin a note and end it is standard articulation. The music will have a little arc between two or more notes if they are to be 'slurred' - This means tongue the first note, but do not tongue the second or any notes thereafter included in the arc.

Once you become adept at the differences between these two you begin to use heavier and softer tongue emphasis in accordance with what is written on the music.

Some basic articulation and it's notation:

- a small dot above or below the note (staccato). - play the note with with your tongue, then stop very quickly creating a gap between this note and the next if no rest is written. (if slurring to a staccato note do not tongue it at the beginning, but still use the tongue to stop it early.

- an upside down 'V' shape means to use a heavier articluation with the tongue at the beginning of the note, giving it more emphasis and accent.

a symbol like '__' over or below a note means to extend the notes value slightly over into the next note or rest, but not so much that the next note isn't played for an accurate length.

often you see rhythms of '_' then '.' or the other way around.

I doubt you'd see anything else on music for a while. Maybe some ghost notes - (smaller printed notes to be played with the larger note within the larger notes time value)
Trills - commonly used as 'tr.' means alternate between that note and the one above (usually).

 

[Lisa]

Don't despair, it's not difficult to learn tonguing and slurring, but I'd agree it's difficult to get in the habit and reading the music in time to actually play it right!

When I started I was tonguing every single note, then when my teacher started playing me through tunes with slurs I just couldn't get the hang of keeping my tongue still for more than one note! It soon comes to you though so don't feel you need to start afresh and learn everything again.

L

 

[jadoube]

What Lisa said, don't despair.

The teaching is a process. At one stage emphasis on slurring and breath control may best address a problem. At another time some other mechanism will be needed to address a different weakness.

If you're not sure why the teacher is suggesting something don't be afraid to ask.

If you're anything like me expect to find many times in the coming months where you suddenly realise you're not doing as perfectly as you thought. Improvement means its supposed to become harder every time you 'get' something 😉

 

[jadoube]

oops double post sorry

 

[mfox]

after a while it become second nature, like reading out loud from a book..
just wait till you get to tripple tounging