Fast Notes!

Wouter Verschuren

The purpose of this research is to investigate the different ways of articulating fast passagework on the dulcian in repertoire spanning the period ca.1550 until ca.1700. Prior to 1787, when Etienne Ozi published his first edition of the Nouvelle Methode de Basson, there are no sources known that specifically discuss articulation or (double) tonguing on bass double reed instruments. When we perform music from this era, we are in the dark as how to articulate highly virtuosic passages. What is preferable: Two-by-two slurring? Slurs over more notes, or maybe the use of some kind of double tongue-stroke? During this research I will focus on primary sources that deal with articulation on various non-reed wind instruments of the period in question, such as the recorder, the cornetto and the trumpet. By studying the indications and recommendations given by masters of the past we can deduce their musical intensions. When we accept these authors as our guides, they may be able to help us imagining what articulation on a double-reed instrument could sound like. The moment we envision this concept, we can start to translate their instructions into articulation on reed instruments. The output is threefold: 1. A paper describing the different ways on how to articulate fast passagework on the dulcian and on the bassoon in a way that matches the souplesse and speed of non-reed instruments. 2. Two compositions written for the dulcian, with added articulation-markings by the author. 3. Video examples clarifying some musical examples. With this project I hope to shed light on practical issues of the performance of highly virtuosic repertoire for dulcian and bassoon from the sixteenth and seventeenth century.

About articulation

“A term denoting the degree to which each of a succession of notes is separated in performance; it may lie at either of the extremes of staccato and legato, or anywhere between the two.”^{^[1]}

“The way successive notes are joined to one another in performance. Opposite kinds of articulation are staccato (detached) and legato (smooth).”^{^[2]}

The above mentioned definitions of articulation seem clear-cut, yet the technical implications for players of various kinds of instruments or vocalists are wide-ranging. String players are dealing with bowing, singers with text, keyboard players with fingerings and touch, and players of wind instruments with tonguing.

In various genres and periods, the use of articulations, such as slurs, paired tongue-strokes and double tongue-strokes, can have different functions. In virtuosic instrumental music we might chose to add slurs to reach a certain speed, whilst in vocal music we might use paired tonguing to match the text of a vocal part. In sixteenth century diminutions we might try to avoid slurs because most treatises advise us not to for the sake of imitating the human voice, whilst in classical music we might feel the need to add slurs in fast passages, as without them, it would sound ‘old-fashioned’, as Etienne Ozi points out in his celebrated method for the bassoon.^{^[3]}

Within the family of woodwind instruments we can distinguish important technical differences between those instruments with double reeds, such as the bassoon and the oboe, and those without, such as the cornetto, the recorder and the traverso. Starting a note on a non-reed instrument, one starts the note by touching the palete with the tip of the tongue. When released, the tone speaks. On reed instruments we do not touch the palete, but instead we touch the tip of the reed.

Before we proceed, we should define the different ways of articulation.

This research is about fast passages and therefore about paired-tonguing, double-tonguing and slurring. Single-tonguing is used for slow and moderate tempi and, as a result of this, will be touched upon only briefly in this paper .

Paired-tonguing is a combination of strong and weak ‘single’ syllables and is mainly used for passages in tempi between moderate and fast. E.g. tu du, tu du, tu du
Double-tonguing is a tongue-stroke used by wind players to articulate fast passages cleanly, clearly and without slurs. It is used when the tempo is too fast to use single tonguing. Later on we will focus on double-tonguing more extensively.
The term slurring is applied when we play legato without the use of the tongue.

The term single-tongue stroke is used when we use the same syllable consecutively. E.g. tu, tu,

^{^[1]} White, Bryan. "articulation." The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 24, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e420.

^{^[2]} Music-Dictionary.org, accessed August 24, 2015, http://www.music-dictionary.org/articulation

^{^[3]} Ozi, Etienne. Méthode nouveau de basson (Paris,1803), pg.9 “Il ne faut jamais piquer toutes les notes de l’example ci-après, dans quelques mouvements qu’il soit; cela tiendroit trop du vieux style musical”.

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