After I started recording and listening to myself play, I became very dissatisfied with my playing speed (and my phrasing and my breath pauses, etc) on some tunes. I have been an avid tonguer, articulating each and every note and it was slowing me down.
So, I decided to try tonguing just the first note in a beat but slurring the rest - again only for the tunes that benefitted from it. Lo and behold: my speed picked up dramatically and my phrasing seemed to improve. When a tune is played fast, sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s slurred and what’s tongued.
Now, I know that slurring is a requirement for ornamentation, but is it considered bad form in folk or classical music, when no ornamentation is added? Are there any guidelines for tonguing/slurring outside the ornamentation context?
It is generally not adviceable to tongue too much in ITM fluting. I just use it to give emphasize on certain notes in some passage. In a normal tune I might be tonguing maybe 5-10% of the notes and slurr the rest. Also, glottal stops is often better than tonguing. Your best bet is to use a little tonguing or glottal stopping just to give a small emphasize to some notes and the ones you want to emphasize stronger you cut or tap. Tonguing can be used together with ornamentation, and sometimes to great effect.
Hmm if you are playing trad this is not really a good policy. Try in jigs to tongue the second two notes and start the first with a cut or a breath pulse, repeated notes can be separated by taps. In a reel you might tongue the second and last note of a group of four with the breath pulse on the first note to make it chug along. This isn’t a set rule but a good place to start from.
Thanks everyone. Tonguing on the first note in a beat comes naturally to me, especially when the other notes in the beat are so short, they all buy trip off the tongue anyway.
However, tonguing the 2nd and 3rd notes seems less natural - though I have not tried it yet. Is this technique only for jigs? What about for other types of tunes?
I tried glottal stops, but I can’t get the same crisp responsiveness that I get from tonguing. Of course, maybe crispness isn’t everything in ITM? Then again, I am using the Bill Ochs book - which has a variety of tunes from Yankee Doodle to Morris dances to military marches. For whistle, tonguing is important - at least for these types of tunes.
I frequently tongue notes as a variation of the tune, some times it can help to add rythme and interest, it is also a good way to concentrate on the weaker notes on the flute and give it the feeling of strength, however it isnt something that should be abused or you could end up sounding like a marching fife player. I also tongue notes when playing ornamentation especially crans and long rolls, it gives them a crisp and clean quality, and I always tut when playing cuts. I suppose its a matter of taste and personal preference, but there are very few flute players this side of the world who wouldnt use breath control as a condiment to the tune. As Lesley Bingham says its not just about flapping your fingers in the relevant key, its about taming the beast and making it do what you want it to do`.
Listen to recordings of master musicians more carefully and pay attention to their phrasing, style, sense of where the music is going, and what it is they’re doing to the tune, or better yet, what the tune is doing to them! Then fear of knowing where to tongue or slur will eventually become a trivial non-issue.
maire, yes, I agree (after recording myself tonguing and slurring on various tunes) that I do sometimes sound like a military fife player (whatever that is ). I am still experimenting to figure out a good, consistent tongue/slurring style, particularly one that may carry me from ITM to popular music to classical. Certainly one practical use of slurring is to play short notes faster than I can tongue them.
I have tried that suggested technique of slurring the first note and tonguing the second and third (on a reel - the Old Grey Cat - and Kemp’s Jig), but it does not come naturally to me. In Bill Ochs whistle tutor, just about everything is tongued until he’s into ornaments.
Headwizer, I think your problem is that you havent yet settled into your own personal style of playing yet. Dont force the issue or be too hard on yourself as regards the ornamentation. Find a way of playing that you feel comfortable with first. when you do that, the ornamentation has a way of dropping into the tune in ways you wouldnt have thought. You sound to me like some one who is hungry for the music, and Im a great believer in sensible building blocks where tunes are concerned. Learn the basics of the tunes until you can hum them in your sleep, then when you have done this, the rythme of the tune will be firmly in your head, tutting notes as an emphisis will come naturally, and you will be the first one to notice if something sounds wrong. Good Luck
). I am still experimenting to figure out a good, consistent tongue/slurring style, particularly one that may carry me from ITM to popular music to classical. Certainly one practical use of slurring is to play short notes faster than I can tongue them.