How do you Articulate? (breathe, tongue techniques)

[Steve]

I'm really curious on how people articulate notes.

On another forum someone mentioned that they press the reed all the way closed in order to stop air going into the instrument and this was the normal method.

I find that odd because I've never done it that way. Ever.
And I've never been taught to do it that way either when I was first taught, private lessons, well-known college professors, etc.

How do you do that with a hard reed on a very open mouthpiece?

Just briefly, I'll use a variety of methods, such as:

(1) Stop the reed from vibrating / stop the air column
One thing I've learned is to be as light as possible touching the reed with my tongue. I've had exercises in just being as light as possible (and fast) in order to stop the reed from vibrating. This for legato, staccato or just in general. This I do with the tip of my tongue to the tip of the reed. This stops the reed from vibrating thus stops the sound. I also, at the same time stop the air column pressure.

I've seen the more tongue being used then the sloppier the sound being produced from just tongue/reed interaction.
If you put your hand on your stomach while playing you can feel how you use your diaphragm while playing.

(2) on legato, I may keep the air column going while lightly touching the reed. OR I may vary the air column being very light while tonguing and increase after that.
Ever have accents on legato runs? You vary your air column for those.

(3) I may not use the tongue on the reed at all. I may stop the air column via my diaphragm or my tongue blocking the air column. If you have ever played brass or flute there is no reed to stop, only an air column. And since I learned brass and flute when I was young this also is a method I used on sax/clarinet.

If you ever have a ballad you may start without touching the tongue on the reed for a very light introduction. Of even if you are only classical trained to have the sound drop off you don't stop the reed with your tongue, the reed just stops vibrating after the air column pressure becomes too little, and your done.

If you’ve never played brass, then you will find this technique in whistling. When I whistle (which I can do very quickly) it’s all diaphragm with some tongue interaction.

In other words I may use diaphragm pressure on/off with or without my tongue to stop articulate.
All depending upon how I want to do it but normally my diaphragm is very active while playing, not just one steady airstream for all playing.

If you've ever learned to double or triple tongue on the sax/clarinet/trumpet etc it's diaphragm intensive and fast.

Just curious how other people articulate.

 

[Helen]

I suggest reading David Liebman's book, Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound. All of this is covered in great detail.

Sorry for my short answer, but I've got very little time this morning. I just spent some time looking it up on Scribd though, so everyone can read it.

 

[pete]

Just curious how other people articulate.

Poorly

Less humorously, I'd say that I mostly maintain a column of air and when I'm tonguing, I doubt that the reed closes completely -- as mentioned, I used to use Vandoren 3.5s on everything -- but it closes enough to hear separation between the notes. On my Yamaha WX5 electronic wind instrument, it has a hard, plastic reed that doesn't move very much, much less close off the mouthpiece completely.

I've heard some students try to do everything with their diaphragm and it sounds horrid and looks kind of painful.

Back to my technique, I'm wondering, now, if some sax players sound so breathy because they use the same technique with either not good enough air pressure or too hard of a reed. I never sounded "breathy" on any sax or clarinet, tho.

 

[Helen]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that anyone who learned to "press the reed all the way closed in order to stop air going into the instrument and this was the normal method" either: 1. Didn't pay attention in their lessons, or 2. Never took any.

Steve, like you, every single high school teacher, university prof, and private teacher I ever had has taught that the air stream going through our instruments--under normal circumstances--is to be constant. The only thing interrupting the air stream is our tongue. There can of course be exceptions to this rule depending on what the music calls for, but stopping the air flow between each note leads to a choppy, broken-up sound. (Fine if you're playing staccato for example.)

I spent some time this morning putting together a couple of reference pieces from two books that every saxophone player should have in the library: The Art of Saxophone Playing, by Larry Teal, as well as Dave Liebman's, Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound. When I was actively teaching I used these books with my students, and this is how I taught the rather complex concept on tonguing and breath support during that process to them.

 

[jbtsax]

Without going into too much detail, the articulation depends entirely on the style of the music or the musical passage being played. In jazz, the articulations "tut", "dot", and "daught" are common. They all involve starting the tone and then stopping the sound with the tongue. I was taught that articulation, whether staccato, marcato, or legato, is done by touching the tip of the reed.

 

[MrDibbs]

Early clarinet tutors mention using both the throat and the diaphragm for articulation. They played with the reed on top back then so tonguing would have been more difficult. I've occasionally wondered whether it would be worth putting in some practice on these early techniques.

Another interesting one is the unusual double tonguing technique used by Romanian tárogató players. The tongue goes up and down interrupting the air flow on both the up and down stroke.