Volume 33 Number 3 June 2006 - International Clarinet Association

PART III: THOUGHTS
ON ARTICULATION
The author has surveyed early clarinet
specialists from around the world while
writing the D.M.A. dissertation “Early
Clarinet Performance as Described by
Modern Specialists, with a Performance
Edition of Mathieu Frédéric Blasius’s IIe
Concerto de clarinette,” under the supervision
of Dr. Kelly Burke at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro. Third in a
series, this article will examine techniques
and performance practice of articulation
on the early clarinet. Following articles
will discuss reeds, instrument selection
(originals, modern replicas), and selected
repertoire with reference to performance
practice of the early 19th century.
Studying the early clarinet has enhanced
and clarified my understanding
of the essays by C.P.E.
Bach, Lefèvre, Leopold Mozart, Quantz
and Türk. Playing through the musical
examples with a boxwood instrument
changes the perception of notation, articulation,
accentuation, phrasing, and suggests
many parallels to rhetoric. The descriptions
and illustrations are materialized
by the natural response of the instrument.
This experience has consequently
helped me appreciate the lesser-known
works of the clarinet repertoire.
With respect to articulation, the discourse
is analogous between string, keyboard
and woodwind treatises. Period
bows and keyboards were not designed to
play sostenuto, and therefore a natural
decay of sound occurred after each articulation:
“Leopold Mozart taught that ‘if in a
musical composition two, three, four, and
even more notes be bound together by a
half-circle [slur] … the first of such united
notes must be somewhat more strongly
stressed, be the remainder slurred on to it
quite smoothly and more and more quietly.”
1 The narrow bore and soft reed of the
early clarinet respond in a similar manner.
When a performer attempts to eliminate
the naturally occurring decay — blowing
through it — the instrument sounds choked
and unresponsive.
Woodwind articulation is analogous to
bowing for string instruments, fingerings
for keyboard players, and text for vocalists.
Lefèvre makes this parallel in his Méthode:
Page 38
Early Clarinet Pedagogy
for Modern Performers
by Luc Jackman
L’articulation des instruments à
cordes se fait par le moyen, ou de
l’archet, comme le violon, ou des
doigts, comme la harpe, [et] la guittare.
Celle des instruments à vent se
fait par la langue: sans la langue il
est impossible de bien jouer de la
clarinette, elle est a cet instrument
ce que l’archet est au violon; l’action
de la langue qui determine l’articulation
s’appelle coup de langue,
pour donner les coups de langue il
faut boucher l’anche avec la langue
puis la retirer pour introduire l’air
dans l’instrument en prononçant la
syllabe TÛ. 2
The beginning of a tone and its relationship
to the preceding and following
ones is intimately related to the quality of
a sound. Proper articulation is perhaps the
most important parameter for successfully
playing music from the 18th and early
19th centuries, as it is used to stress dissonance,
clarify harmony, emphasize melodic
line, define rhythmical structure, and
separate phrases or sections of a phrase.
Performers are responsible for crafting articulations
that will ultimately “sing” the
musical phrase.
The main differences between articulating
on early and modern clarinet arise
from the wider angle at which the former
is played, which places the reed lower in
the mouth, thus reducing the distance traveled
by the tongue from a neutral position;
the reed position, if one chooses to veer
from the comfortable untersichblasen
(mandibular embouchure); the variety of
resistances between notes and fingerings,
and the greater flexibility of the reed, used
to counterbalance the high resistance of
the instrument. The early clarinet offers a
great variety of articulations: Backofen
describes three ways of articulating on the
early clarinet, using the tongue, lips, or
throat. Another technique described in
early clarinet methods is the air attack, or
chest articulation: It is produced by lightly
pushing the abdominal muscles out, as
when pronouncing a gentle yet firm “ha.”
THE CLARINET
The later is especially useful in soft entrances,
or in combination with other
types of articulation.
With the reed-under technique, tonguing
is done largely the same as with modern
reed instruments — produced through
different syllables. Consonants influence
placement, motion, and release of the
tongue. Vowels place the middle and back
portions of the tongue at different heights:
An “ah” sound brings about a lower tongue
position than an “ee” or French “u” sound.
The early methods describe two basic consonants
for tonguing, which are a “t” sound
and a softer “d” sound. It is also possible to
articulate with the tongue using “l,” “n”
and “th.” With the reed-above, these consonants
may be performed by the interaction
of the tongue with the hard palate.
Lip articulations are performed by tightening
the grip around the reed and mouthpiece.
The consonants visualized for this
technique are “p” and “w.” The jaw may
assist the lip muscles in this technique, but
if too much pressure is needed to close off
the air input, the reed is probably too hard.
Throat articulation is the opening and closing
of the soft palate to let the air through.
This is performed with the “gu” and “k”
sounds, or by pretending to cough gently
into the clarinet.
Experimenting with the above-mentioned
techniques provides the clarinetist
with a wide palette of articulation for musical
expression: They can reach a level
of subtlety that is not possible on the modern
instrument. Where to start was the
main issue for me… The instrument itself
led the way at first, however playing
within a chamber music setting proved to
be the most educational experience in
developing my palette of articulations.
The aforementioned techniques will be
illustrated through the clarinet literature
in subsequent articles.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bach, C.P.E. Versuch über die wahre Art
des Clavier zu spielen. Translated by
William J. Mitchell. New York: W.W.
Norton & Co., 1949.