by Sir James Galway - posted with permission
The French school of articulation. Posted by: "zawagreen" zawagreen@yahoo.com zawagreen Thu Nov 5, 2009 1:24 pm (PST)
Dear Friends and Nina,
I studied a year with Jean-Pierre and he never once mentioned this "pop" or anything like it. He often demonstrated tonguing but it was more of a "do it like this" sort of instruction.Tonguing is a very personal, difficult and long drawn out road to embark upon.
I learned the most about tonguing from William Bennett, Geoffrey Gilbert, Gaston Crunelle and Marcel Moyse.
William saved me from the sort of tonguing my teacher at the RCM, John Francis was using and it was not the greatest. William played me recordings of Moyse and demonstrated how Geoffrey was teaching him. I soon got the hang of it and began to travel the Articulation Road.
Moyse was the best teacher for tonguing or at least I was at a stage in my life when I got it together with him. He had the knack of teaching anybody everything and he certainly taught me tonguing. I also listened to him in Boswill teaching people tonguing and it was always interesting and successful.
One thing I have to say straight away is that you are certainly not going to improve your tonguing by practicing the Ibert concerto or a difficult Leclair concerto. And it is not going to get better straight away. There is definitely no secret way of doing it. You just have to stick at it and gradually you will find your way, the way which suits you best.
Tonguing has to be learned as a separate item. Playing the famous Bach C major sonata is not going to improve the clarity of your tonguing but it will speed up the tonguing you already have. Here you have to choose between clarity and speed. In my opinion the speed will come but the clarity must be practiced separately and in single tonguing to begin with. This is most important.
There are many places to begin to learn the art of single tonguing.
My first serious foray into the world of clarity and single tonguing was with Gilbert and he used the Bach A minor solo sonata first movement to do this. He had me play this without tonguing and just with the diaphragm using the word "ha". Very short and with a good attack.. Keeping the embouchure still and open at all times. We would then practice it with single tonguing that is to say with the tongue. The idea was to use the diaphragm in conjunction with the tongue to get the clearest and crisp articulation we are all looking for.
This took a very long time to get to where I really wanted it to be. I know that you are going to ask me where i put my tongue and I can tell you I put the top sides of my tongue against the top of my teeth holding it still so the tip of the tongue is free to do the job. This way the complete tongue does not move but only the tip and this is far forward.
My next encounter was in the Class of Gaston Crunelle at the Paris Conservatoire. We were learning the famous Anderson Studies Op. 15 and study number 9a is where he had us learn the famous French detaché. We learned one study a week and learned 9a and 9b for the same lesson. I thought at one point my tongue was going to fall out of my head. Most tiring, like study 4a and 4b. I don't need to tell you that this was a great class and it still is in my experience of listening to flute classes.
Learning with Moyse was the next step in perfecting my tonguing. I had to develop my flexibility in the embouchure to make certain that the lips were in the right place at all times. This is one of the most important aspects of playing the flute with a good tone and perfect intonation.
If you get out your Sonorité and turn to page 15 I will explain what I mean. Here Moyse says "with the tongue out" ! I never understood this and only played the exercise with the tongue well forward. He did not object to this and I continued my way and got better as you can hear on my recordings. The main object in playing this exercise was to get it to sound vibrant, in tune and with a great tone. . It is also a great exercise for the ear!!
Doing this exercise helps you to put the embouchure in the right place so that when you are playing something you are going to have the technique to play in any register and to go from one octave to the next with great confidence, knowing that your embouchure and tongue are going to be in the best and correct place for the job.
For example in the famous Leonora overture by LvB you will never miss the low D as you will have played it many times in the Moyse exercise and there will be no doubt in your mind as to how you should do it. The same applies to William Tell, and other famous solos.
Page 15 will work wonders for your intonation and your ear. You will learn where to place your middle C sharp so that you will never have trouble to play solos beginning on this note like l'apres midi the Griffiths Poem and son on. With this sort of training your ear will simply not let you play out of tune.
All of this takes time and you have to spend a lot of time working on part three of the Sonorité. It is well worth the effort and time spent on it as you will slowly begin to play with a new controlled intonation, a great attack and a dead sure embouchure. I this not what we are all desire?
Then there are the exercises of the great Taffanel but I think this is enough on tonguing for the moment.
Wishing you all a clear vibrant tone and sparkling articulation.
Best wishes.
Sir James,
At Home.
