Accurate and Articulate

Ever have that experience when someone mumbles and you have to say: “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.” Usually, it is because they didn’t articulate the words clearly.

Music, too, can sound a bit like a mumble when we just play the notes and the basic rhythm and not much more. The music sounds clearer and is generally expressed better when played with appropriate articulation. There are all sorts of ways to articulate a note and these ways vary for each instrument.

In my Headstart Piano course*, which I’ve been using with my pupils for a number of years now, one of the early lessons on articulation shows the difference between playing staccato and legato. We learn ‘Raindrops’  to get the short staccato action played correctly, and then ‘Windshield Wipers’  to learn to play legato where the notes follow each other smoothly and connected. The tutor part that goes with it has a short, detached, staccato ‘raindrop’ part that the ‘wipers’ are smoothly wiping away in contrast. The imagery seems to be helpful in underlining the musical articulation.

image copyright © Headstart Piano 2019

(*Let me know if you want to be told when the online version of this course is ready.)

I was at an orchestra practice this week and was reminded how much care we have learned to put in over the years in making the beginning of a note sound clear and beautiful. For a string player playing legato, it is about eliminating any gritch sound at the very beginning of a note. Then there are various kinds of staccato, needing just the right amount of pressure on the bow to create each one.

In addition, there is a different kind of staccato that a string player can use to articulate notes. It is called pizzicato. Listen to the effect of the whole string section of the orchestra laying aside their bows to play pizzicato through the 3rd movement of Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony – Scherzo. Pizzicato. There is a delightful interaction with the wind sections who join in at times.

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, 3rd mvmt

Accents played in the right place sound amazing when the whole orchestra observes them too. I’m reminded how the right accent on beat 1 can affect the overall flow of a piece of music. I had a pupil bring a new piece back to the lesson recently and play it perfectly. All the note values were correct, but it lacked an appropriate strength to the first beat. The music just drifted in and the rhythm lacked the ‘oomph’ it needed. This was all due to the lack of that slight accent on the first beat of the bar. Once that was fixed, the collection of notes was transformed into a piece of music.

Singers bring their own kind of articulation to music. In a choir we are taught to make sure our T’s and Ks are heard at the end of words. Choir directors delight in dreaming up warm-ups that will get tongues working in ways they never have before, just so the words in the songs are articulated correctly when the group sings together. Last week I chuckled at a choir of primary children going down the scale to “Red leather, yellow leather” briskly sung on each note. I was glad I was just the pianist!

As a musician, there is something very satisfying when you know the notes are played with the right kind of articulation for the piece.

As a teacher, I can tell that a pupil is moving from beginner status to advancing musician, when the notes being played are not only accurate, but also articulate.