I am a relative beginner on the flute and have been using the normal tonguing technique, which seemed the most natural. I got hold of the madfortrad flute tutorial recently (featuring Seamus Egan) who treaches “Glottal Stopping” - this is achieved by making a guttural " K" sound at the back of the throat. It seems more natural for me to ‘tongue notes’. I would welcome opinions from experienced players as to the best method. Don’t want to get off on the wrong foot.
Many thanks
John
Hi John,
My advice would be to do what comes naturally. You certainly won’t go wrong by utilizing your tongue. You will also find many different opinions here. I use standard tonguing techniques, but then my background is decidedly classical.
Erik
[ This Message was edited by: ErikT on 2002-06-04 07:26 ]
Hi John,
You’ll find that there’s a wide variety of opinions on this.
Tonguing is the standard in fife music, but is often considered a departure from the tradition in Irish music.
There are a number of good trad players out there who regularly break that rule, but there are also a lot of people who don’t like the sound in Irish music. Tonguing tends to produce a complete stop, while glottal stopping provides a driving pulse. Both ornaments can be appealing when used in the right place in the right tune, which requires a lot of practice (always comes back to that).
I would suggest that you concentrate on developing both glottal stopping and tonguing, so that you have both ornaments available to you.
My teacher, Skip Healy, posts tips on technique on his Web site. You’ll find a tip on this subject at:
http://www.skiphealy.com/frames/fr_tips.htm
I think tip #18 is the one you’re looking for.
John Harvey