LEARN Tongue, air, breath and posture Every note begins with an articula- tion, except when we play slurred (legato). In this article we will discuss Technique Tip: all types of articulation. Before we start, let’s take a look at one of the ba- Articulation sic conditions for those articulations to work smoothly: the airflow. In order to keep the tongue fast and light, we need a steady airflow that supports the tongue. Imagine that your air current is a great river, and the tongue is a little boat floating on that river. Without air, the tongue gets stuck, just like a boat gets stuck on a shallow or empty river bed. WRITTEN BY That’s why it’s important to keep LOBKE This article is the third in our breath support active, without SPRENKELING a series covering basic letting it drop between each note: we Lobke Sprenkeling technique tips for the recorder. must keep the core muscles engaged obtained her all the time. A typical mistake we Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees PART 1: “Use of Air and Breath see in school children playing the as a recorder player and theatrical Control: The Respiratory recorder, led by a teacher with insuf- performer at the Royal Conservatory System” / AR Spring 2021 ficient knowledge of the instrument, of The Hague and Utrecht In the first installment, we is that they don’t use the tongue to Conservatory, Netherlands, She covered use of air in everyday articulate—they drop the air support continued her studies at the Escola breathing and in producing for each note. Even with staccato, we Superior de Música de Catalunya, good musical tone. Exercises should not allow breath flow to de- Spain, with a national scholarship that did not require a recorder crease, but rather keep it active in the from the Dutch Prince Bernhard helped us develop solid breath silences between the notes. Culture Fund. In 2016 she earned support and helped us become A good exercise is to slur a melody her music Ph.D. cum laude at the aware of how the body feels before playing it with articulations. Universidad Politècnica de València. when we use correct breathing That way you check that your breath She also studied multidisciplinary techniques. support is consistent, laying the theater from a musical perspective foundation for a light and efficient (Carlos III University, Madrid, and the PART 2: “More on Breathing articulation. Yale University Summer Program); her plus Posture and Hands” / In a previous article in this series, specific interest in the relationship AR Summer 2021 we covered posture in some detail. between musician and body has led In the second installment, we Now we move inside the mouth, while to her performing in and creating continued breathing exercises staying aware of good posture. multidisciplinary works. She taught using the recorder, followed The tongue should be completely recorder at the pre-conservatory by discussion of good posture, relaxed within the mouth, with only program (ages 8-18) of Conservatorio embouchure and hand position. the tip of the tongue doing the work. Profesional of Valencia (2007-16), The jaw is relaxed and neutral, and and has taught in Europe, the U.S. In this article, we build on those does not make a chewing motion and Mexico. She currently teaches skills to work on articulation. when we articulate. If you’re not sure recorder at the Real Conservatorio if you’re moving your jaw while play- Superior de Música de Madrid. Info: ing, look in the mirror to be sure. https://lobke.world. Where on the palate should we articulate? In principle, the tongue 30 AMERICAN RECORDER FALL 2021 HTTPS://AMERICANRECORDER.ORG LEARN should not touch the front teeth, and Make sure that the tongue is very Legato, portato, staccato certainly not the recorder itself. relaxed in the mouth, with the jaw Legato is the slurring of a number of A rule of thumb is to articulate just and throat relaxed as well. notes in one uninterrupted stream of behind the front teeth, where the pal- When you articulate, think of the air, without articulating each note. It ate is lower. There is some variation tongue as the paw of a cat that wants can be a great tool to work on use of regarding the precise spot, but don’t to touch a stream of water out of air, and on the coordination between articulate too much towards the back curiosity, but immediately pulls back. different fingerings. If the notes are of the palate! In that case, the energy is towards the not separated by articulation, this back of the mouth. exposes all of the imperfections of Noisy tongue? The impulse of the tongue should go unevenly moving fingers. How can we keep the tongue from backwards, away from the palate, and Staccato notes are separated from making sounds when articulating? not towards the palate. There should each other by playing each note as Sometimes we don’t even notice it be a general relaxation in the jaw and short as possible. The breath support ourselves, but if we’re not careful, the throat, and most of the tongue except remains active all the time, and the tongue can make extra noise when the tip. tongue makes the difference: instead articulating, a kind of clicking or tap- With all this information in mind, of Tu, we say a very short Tu(t), the ping sound. This happens when too let’s look at the different types of ar- latter (t) being silent, with the tip of much energy is directed towards the ticulation. First we consider a range of the tongue against the palate. palate, or when the rest of the tongue tonguing effects, then we move on to Portato or nonlegato is everything is too active. single and double tonguing. in the middle, from almost slurred but articulated, to a slightly broader version than staccato. Single tonguing The T articulation closes the gate for the airstream, momentarily cutting off the sound. It’s executed with the very tip of the tongue. The D is normally used to slightly interrupt, but not cut off, the air- stream. This means that we hear an articulation, but the air keeps flowing out in one long solid line. DUD FOR LOW NOTES For low notes, the T articulation doesn’t work: it’s too harsh for these notes, causing the note to jump up an octave. In this case we use du(d). It is a softer articulation, which cuts off the sound for a moment, just like a T would. It also works for other notes if you want to play notes separately, but use soft articulation. R FOR SOFT artICULatION The tongued R is slightly softer than the D, because an even smaller area of the tongue is utilized. ▲ Relaxed posture and good embouchure are necessary for good articulation. HTTPS://AMERICANRECORDER.ORG AMERICAN RECORDER FALL 2021 31 LEARN Technique Tip: Articulation L FOR SOFTEst artICULatION The trick here is to articulate with the example) on one note. On the The softest L articulation can be used mouth as relaxed as possible, with the ninth stroke, move to another to produce a 17th-century tremolo, tongue “floating” on that airflow— note (perhaps up a scale). for example (an ornamental vibrato- imagining that the articulation is as 3. Practice four strokes of the like effect on a single note). With an L far forward as possible in the mouth. tongue (teke-teke) on one note, articulation, the tongue allows air to and the fifth on another note. pass around the sides of the tongue, LERE & DID’L 4. Practice two strokes of the so this is the only articulation where Lere and did’l both work in similar tongue (teke) on one note, and the airflow is not even interrupted. ways, alternating between two po- the third on another note. sitions of the tongue. The L allows 5. Now play a series of eight, four OTHER TYPES OF the airflow to pass by the sides of the and two strokes of the tongue ARTICULATIONS tongue. The d’l adds another part per note, in an ascending and Two types of articulation are often of the tongue to the D articulation, descending scale. used in contemporary music. a slightly wider surface towards the 6. Play a three-note ascending • Flutter-tongue (flatterzunge) con- back. or descending mini-scale (for sists of a rolling rrrrrrrrrrrrrr while It’s best to try this yourself. Sing did’l example, the notes CDE or a note is played. This, as its term and feel where the tongue is if you EDC) with tekete or degede. implies, can be produced with the stay on d’l. Also notice what happens 7. Play a sequence of these tongue, but also with the throat, when you go from that d’l to the di. three-note patterns. depending on the native language Singing helps because we use the 8. Do the same with sequences of of the speaker. same airflow that we apply when we five notes (for example, CDEFG • Slap-tongue uses a T that is artic- play recorder. A steady airflow is even and vice versa) on teke-teke-te ulated very strongly with a closed more important for double tonguing or dege-dege-de; then try nine throat, producing a percussive than for single articulation. It is essen- notes (CDEFGABCD and vice “chiff” sound. The note can be tial for a light and efficient tongue. versa) with teke-teke-teke-teke-te played short with this articulation.