I recently got a copy of the Mad for Trad flute tutorial with Seamus Egan. I like it a lot and am enjoying playing along with the videos.
In the beginning section he demonstrates separating notes and adding definition by using glottall stops where he interrupts the airflow by briefly making a gutteral K sound in the back of the throat. Coming from a Boehm flute background, I have always done this by tonguing notes and find it a more natural technique for me. It is pretty easy for me to switch to the glottal technique, but it doesn’t feel as natural and has a slightly different quality to it which is hard to describe other than the slightly noticeable K versus T sound. I also find I can easily add separation by just adding a little stronger pulse of air from the diaphragm.
Does it really make much of a difference as to which method to use when learning ITM on the flute? And, if so, why would one method be preferred over the other?
You’re welcome. But don’t think that being nice to me will blunt my sharp tongue or warm my cold disposition.
I am at an age that allows a graceful transition from asshole to crank.
That’s funny…so it wasn’t just my imagination in thinking that your first reply was a little “short.” Of course, all of use will undergo the “graceful transition” to varying degrees as our prefrontal cortex changes with age. The stereotypical “stubborn, grumpy old man” is not as much a willful choice as we think. Sounds like you are enjoying the journey…
BTW, I promise to never never start a post again without making a search first. I just looked up glottal stops and found enough controversy to keep me reading all evening.
it sounds like you are resistant to learn them. that’s ok. the way i like to approach is to learn how to do something, especially if not learning it is “easier.”
the first time you do glottal stops, they wont feel right, compared to tonguing. usually, the first time you do something different, it wont feel solid, and you probably wont get the results you want.
i would suggest sticking to glottal tonguing for a couple months or years and then making your mind… you’ll be able to go back to tonguing if you want.
I’m not resistant to learn them, daiv, I was just wondering if tonguing was acceptable or if there was a compelling tonal, technical, or historical reason for using glottal stops. I can hear some slight differences but, to my ear, the tonguing sounds pretty good as well, and I am experienced in varying my tonguing for different degrees of articulation and volume already. I’m sure folks who are experienced with glottal stops can do the same and more.
I was trying both this afternoon, and they both sounded pretty good to me. So I was just curious. I didn’t conduct a search before I made the post, which was a mistake, because, once I did make a search, I found that this topic has been discussed exhaustively.
Your advise is well taken. I’ll l use both and see how it goes.
fintan vallely describes 5 types of irish articulation:
tonguing with a t
tonguing with a k
glottal tonguing (which is with your throat, different than a k)
taps
cuts
using the air pressure as you described to separate notes
i used to think that it was not worth doing. but, if you start to get the hang of it, it will actually change the way you direct your air in to the flute, and there will be some sounds you can get out of your flute that you can not get out of it without glottal stopping. although it is useful for separating two notes of the same pitch, i think it is more useful for adding emphasis to other notes that are not repeated, as per the sound changes.
what’s even more, is that on my playing my silver flute with my copley headjoint, i can get a pretty wooden sound, but if i start to do glottal stops, it transforms it fully to that irish sound. i used to think it was an option in getting that traditional sound, but after watching how it literally changed the sound and response i could get out of my silver flute, i am more likely to think that it is all but mandatory.
Going back a few years to when I started on flute…
The “t” was what seemed natural and easy, because I grew up with it on clarinet and sax - but on wood flute didn’t seem to produce a pleasant or smooth start to the note. Then I read that “nobody” in Irish trad tongues on flute. So back to the drawing board…
The “k” tonguing was easy, but makes a KLUNKY sound, and hard to do very smoothly and/or fast - just my experience. So maybe I’ll use it occasionally for special effect.
Tap, cuts, diaphragm huffing all were easy to pick up, but appropriate only in certain passages or phrases.
But the glottal stops (and starts) - I used to think…“what are they doing? How am I ever going to learn that?”
Then one day I realized I already knew how, and had actually been doing it since childhood… every time I whistled a tune! Same deal. Produces a much nicer start to the note.
And for extra emphasis on a given note you can combine it with increased diaphragmatic (actually abdominal) pressure to help “honk” the note.
I thought burps were for getting semitones. (try it)
My wife is a classical player who never warmed up to tonguing. She’s been doing glottals on the sly (I don’t think she told me till we’d been married 10 years) for over thirty years. As long as she didn’t tell her teacher, the teacher never complained. She makes them sound like she’s tonguing.
As has been said, if you can make it sound right, that’s fine. And by sound right, it’s not just the sound of the articulation itself but how the music flows around it.
I read a transcript of a Baroque music workshop recently in which a teacher goes through seven different types of tonguing in Baroque music. And that’s tonguing, not articulation, so glottals and K’s don’t count. These vary from huge big accents to subtle actions that don’t stop the airflow, from flicking the tongue on the soft palate to sticking it almost on the teeth. I think having a bag of tricks like that would benefit anyone playing any music, but taking the time to learn them may very well get in the way of your learning the essence of the music you want to play. IOW, rather than learning to make a tongue sound like a glottal, why not just learn the glottal?
That’s funny…so it wasn’t just my imagination in thinking that your first reply was a little “short.” Of course, all of use will undergo the “graceful transition” to varying degrees as our prefrontal cortex changes with age. The stereotypical “stubborn, grumpy old man” is not as much a willful choice as we think. Sounds like you are enjoying the journey… 
