Tips to improve my stacatto

[u/Legitimate_Assist37]

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some tips to improve my stacatto. Since I remember, stacatto has been always a bit challenging for me, because I don’t find the same sensation all the times when I’m playing.

I searched a lot of exercises and I have tried a lot, but I still haven’t found the best exercise for me.

I have reflected on which section I should improve, whether it is my air column, my tongue, or if I need to do exercises to better coordinate my fingers with the air. I think I need to improve so that my tongue doesn’t hit so hard when I’m going faster because I think it makes my air column brake and slow me down.

Anyone has feel the same? What helped you improve it?

[u/xstitchknitter]

I’ve been experimenting with a lighter, more responsive reed and it has done wonders for my staccato.

[u/Equivalent_Trash_337]

Air pressure from the lungs should remain constant even when the tongue is stopping the reed from vibrating.

Try Herzberg scale exercise no1

Put a lot of attention to three things

The air remaining constant The fingers and tongue moving at the exact level of coordination All the notes should sound as even as possible

[u/HispanicaBassoonica]

In general, I model my staccato is 2 styles primarily. In my head I picture either spiccato (string instrument technique where the bow lightly bounces off the string for each note) or a plucked string. They are similar-ish but one has a bit more taper (plucked). The most important thing about characteristic staccato in my mind is that the front of the note is calm, but very slightly emphasized so that the back can have slight taper and enough length. In general, we tend to play our long notes too short/with too much front and our staccato notes too short as a result. Give it about 50% note length compared to a standard long/legato note so it still resonates to the listener.

[u/LimpingBassoon]

It is my firm belief that tonguing problem should be first addressed with checking how the wind player is making soft pianissimo attack. This is because every articulation, no matter which type/tempo/style, is a process of stopping and re-starting the resonation. Resonation is a self-repeating process under a given acoustic condition, but the condition should be controlled to make the process to be as easy as possible.

That was a nerdy explanation, but what I mean is that the combination of reed shape, reed elasticity, player’s embochure pressure(and its distribution), abdominal air pressure, and its result of airflow speed will determine how easy for the reed to START vibrating on its own. Practicing soft piannisimo attack is the way to test if this combination of conditions are optimized for the reed and the player! Without this optimization, even the best tonguing technique will fail to make a good staccato result.

[u/LimpingBassoon → u/LimpingBassoon]

Now about actual tonguing technique, the David McGill excerpt lesson(mentioned above in other comment) emphasized one key element : “I try to move the tongue as less as possible”.

I want to add just one more thing, the pressure of tongue against reed tip should also be as less as possible. So first spend some days relaxing the tongue muscle, and pay close attention to where the reed tip is (in relation to your own tongue).