Horn Matters | A French Horn and Brass Site and Resource | John Ericson and Bruce Hembd

Continuing on the topic of tonguing, we finally turn officially to staccato tonguing.

Two approaches

There are speaking broadly two approaches to staccato presented in horn methods. One of those approaches I strongly agree with and the other I can see their point but … well, more on what I think later. First up are two big name horn pedagogues, and they will be the focus of this part I on the topic of staccato. I will give them both long quotes to make their cases.

Staccato needs to be “dry”

Philip Farkas in The Art of French Horn Playing notes that

The prime consideration of staccato is to have space between the notes; and the faster the passage, the less time there is to produce the notes and the spaces. Therefore, if we can learn to play rapid staccato passages we should be able to play all staccato passages.

There is a great value to being able to play as short as possible. One of my teachers was fond of saying “you never know how short some idiot, I mean conductor, will ask you to play it.” Farkas noted that for these extremely short notes

…the player makes both ends of the note as “dry” as possible and the middle of as short duration as possible. The tongue forms the articulation “too” in a very definite and hard manner, touching well forward on the upper front teeth. The object is to get the note started immediately and as cleanly as possible.

Farkas in this brief passage clearly notes a different general tongue placement for staccato than he did for regular articulations, tonguing further forward on the teeth.

What makes the space?

Next he gets to the topic of how to insert space between the notes.

The air column is then forcibly stopped, almost at the moment the note starts sounding…. Don’t stop the air column with a tapered ending. Make it end abruptly, giving the note a “dry”, quick ending. It is not a beautiful sound when used for only one note, but when a series of them are played, the result will be a very cleanly defined staccato.

Farkas extends this thought with

A word of caution: never stop the air column abruptly by using the tongue, as in forming the articulation “toot”. Simply stop all air pressure immediately, at the moment the note is to stop. Perhaps the most accurate description of the articulation would be the syllable “tooh” or “tuh”.

Part of an infinite variety of articulations

The end of the Farkas discussion of tonguing in The Art of French Horn Playing has to do with a normal, medium staccato. His major concern is to cultivate a melodic, long staccato well suited to the average situation in Classical music. He wisely advises

There is too great a tendency for students to assume that staccato notes are simply to be played as short as possible. Actually, there is infinite variety to staccato effects that can be used, and in many melodic passages the student has to be urged to make his staccato long enough!

Focus on the note endings

Gunther Schuller in Horn Technique points toward note endings being the key to staccato.

If the attack of a note is in musical essence decoration, so is the ending of the note. This is unfortunately one of the most neglected areas, not only of horn playing but of all wind instrument playing.

The role of the tongue in note endings?

Schuller agrees with Farkas that the tongue should never be used to cut off very short notes.

…the closing of the larynx is the means by which we properly may stop a note. This can be done in various degrees of intensity and at various points in the duration of the note. When we stop the note almost immediately after starting it, we call this ‘staccato’ playing.

A common misconception exists that staccato playing requires a different technical approach than more sustained playing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Essentially, a staccato note is produced exactly like any other note; that is to say, a clean attack (in staccato fairly sharp and pointed) is followed by a fully centered tone and ended quickly by the action of the larynx. Common faults in staccato playing are: a) the attack, because of the speed with which the tongue is required to move, is often fuzzy and unfocused; b) the tone, because of its relative brevity, is neglected and allowed to sound think and pinched; and c) the tongue, rather than the larynx, is used to stop the note. This latter fault gives the note an unpleasantly abrupt ending and makes the staccato sound choppy and aggressive. For my taste, the most attractive staccato is one in which each note is ever so slightly tapered at the end. This gives the staccato a nice bouncy, fluffy feeling.

From that we can infer that Schuller rarely employed a true staccatissimo but for musical reasons.

More questionable ideas from Farkas

Farkas returned to the topic of staccato in The Art of Brass Playing with a rather lengthy discussion. He points out that

…the release of a very short note, coming, as it does, right on the heels of the attack, is most often the point of technical failure. Too often the misguided player attempts to get shortness in his staccato notes by stopping the vibration with the tongue—“tut-tut-tut”. This abrupt stopping of the air-column, and its consequent abrupt stoppage of the tone, produces a most unmusical and unnatural quality. No musical instrument in the world stops its sound suddenly. …any musical note, no matter how short, has a diminuendo at its very end which tapers it down to inaudibility….

This diminuendo effect often occurs only in the last fraction of a second, but the result gives the effect that the notes “ring” or are left hanging in the air….

Try instead of enunciating “tut”, which stops a note dead, or “too”, which might allow it to ring too long, try the enunciation “tuh”. This achieves a very short note, but does not permit the tongue to go back up into its preparatory position, where it would forcibly stop the air flow.

So they have made their cases. What do you think?

Keep on reading to later sources

I personally think the sources we will look at in part II of this article are much closer to physiological reality, so stay tuned for more on the topic.

Continue in Hornmasters Series to Part II

This is a topic that is really central to tonguing but not necessarily well taught or understood.

Breath attacks can be a tool

To begin, for all articulations more gentle than the sforzando Farkas notes in The Art of French Horn Playing that the “air seal is broken more or less gently” depending on the exact musical context. But what of the articulation does not speak well? Then

…the embouchure might very well be at fault. How often the player blames the tongue for unclean attacks when all the time the lips are not set correctly to produce the required notes! No amount of conscientious, clean tonguing can produce a neat attack when the lips are not set to vibrate at the correct speed. When the lips are set right and the notes beautifully “centered”, the horn will actually speak without any sort of tonguing. So be sure that faulty attacks are not the result of incorrect lip tension.

Farkas does not come out and say it but this passage does speak to the idea of breath attacks being a tool for testing if the lips are in fact set correctly. He expands on this line of thought at the beginning of his chapter on articulation in The Art of Brass Playing. He notes that a problem is that attacks don’t always “catch” at the proper moment and

Obviously, it is important to develop this ability to focus the lips before each note, particularly before the first note of a group.

One of the finest exercises advocated by many of the older German brass instructors is the practicing of attacks without aid from the tongue. More frequent use of this exercise would clear up many of our so-called tonguing problems. For perhaps ten minutes a day play slow scales (andante half notes), starting each note with a slow, gentle push of air, using the articulation “ha”. The idea is to let the air through the lips, at first without causing any sound, and then, with a quick but gentle crescendo of air, make the air catch the lips and start them vibrating exactly on the pitch intended. If the pitch is the least bit too high or too low, the reluctance of the instrument to start vibrating will be felt very distinctly. But when the lips learn to focus accurately on the pitch, the instrument will sound, quickly and easily, on the slightest zephyr of air. The lightest touch of the tongue would now be sufficient for a clean attack because the instrument and lips are vibrating in sympathy.

Breath attacks and the finely honed attack

A point found in the addendum to Essentials to Brass Playing by Fred Fox also relates to the use of breath attacks to finely hone the articulation process.

The ideal attack is one that just seems to start evenly. Not with “Waa” or an explosive “Taa”. Whether it is soft or loud, it just seems to begin smoothly. A sharp razor blade can cut a hair. An axe which is properly sharp can also cut a hair! In other words, a finely honed edge is important…. By the same token the lips should be as sensitive at the start of a note whether it is being played very loud or very soft.

…Pick a middle register or medium high note on your instrument. Start it without the tongue, just use air. You will probably find there is a delay, a momentary hiss before the sound actually starts. If this proves to be so, it indicates that the vibrating area is not completely set and that it is depending on an extra hardness or percussiveness to the attack whether soft or loud.

Repeat the air attack. This time try to get the lips set completely before any air passes between them. Now the vibration will start instantly. With the vibrating area this finely honed, the tongue is no longer needed to build up excessive pressure to ‘whack’ the lips in order to get the vibration started. The tongue can now be used as a gentle focus point to start notes with finesse.

The tongue is not necessary to start a note

We have already noted in this series that Barry Tuckwell in Playing the Horn looks at the inhale as a part of the bigger picture of the preparation to play a note, and there advised that “it is a great mistake to use the feel of the mouthpiece rim to form the embouchure; it prevents one from really learning the feel of the face muscles and the varying degrees of tension required.” He advocates setting up the lips very late in the cycle of breathing and playing, and also in this regard mentions breath attacks.

So far I have not mentioned the tongue. The tongue is not absolutely necessary to start a note, but it makes attack more precise. It complicates breathing inasmuch as we tend to think of the sound starting with the mouth when we should be thinking of it starting at the pit of the stomach. So try to play isolated sounds (any note will do) by saying ‘HOO’. This is the basis for all articulation. After several repetitions of the same note gradually bring up the tongue to the hard palate just before the ‘HOO’. Try to resist the temptation to say ‘TOO’, as this will mean that the tongue is being used to stop the air and will buildup up [sic] unnecessary tension. Rather think of ‘NOO’; in other words, use the tongue to slice off the rough edge build up of air.

It will be found that the stomach muscles become more proficient after a short time, and you should soon be able to repeat the muscular contraction quite quickly. Of course, very rapid attacks can only be controlled with the tongue.

Going back to the MRI studies, I think there are some issues with the above quotes that you should be spotting. I am thinking specifically that the glottis is starting notes in so-called “breath attacks,” it is not starting all the way down in your lungs with a simple exhale.

Coordination of all the elements is a benefit

In any case, to conclude our look at this topic, Frøydis Ree Wekre in Thoughts on Playing the Horn Well also advocates for the breath attack as a part of coordinating the lip action. In warming-up an idea presented is to

Start playing with the air and lips coordinated, that is play with a breath attack. Add a very gentle tongue to the starting process later if you like.

It all has to be coordinated as one unified motion, this the important idea to take away from this entire discussion. Tonguing simply adds a little precision.

So is that all there is on tonguing? No! We will be back soon with the critical topic of staccato, one on which sources have quite varied advice.

Continue in Hornmasters series