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Lesson 82: Virtuoso Studies, Part 2 — Articulation Patterns

  • Drill the four most common Baroque articulation patterns at performance tempo.
  • Apply each pattern to a Telemann fantasia and listen for the change in line.

How a note begins matters as much as what note it is.

Baroque articulation in fast figuration is neither all-tongued nor all-slurred but a mixture chosen for the figure. These drills cycle through the four most common mixtures so each is available when a passage calls for it.

Pattern 1 — slur 2, tongue 2 (the “two-and-two”)

The standard pattern for running eighths: slur a pair, tongue a pair.

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Brackets in the notation show the slurs. Each pair is slurred; each next pair is tongued.

Pattern 2 — slur 3, tongue 1 (the “three-and-one”)

For dance movements: the slurred three roll forward into the tongued downbeat.

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Pattern 3 — tongue 1, slur 3 (the “reverse”)

The mirror of Pattern 2 — tongued note first, slurred three trailing; more lifted.

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Pattern 4 — all double-tongued

For fast continuous sixteenths only, when no other pattern fits.

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The daily warm-up

Ten minutes per session, cycling through the four patterns:

  • Two-and-two on a major scale at quarter = 96.
  • Three-and-one on the same scale.
  • Reverse three-and-one on the same scale.
  • Double-tongued sixteenths on the same scale at quarter = 110.

Cycle daily for a month until the patterns are automatic.

Now play these

Telemann: Twelve Fantasias, TWV 40:102
Passages that benefit from every pattern above in sequence.
Telemann: Twelve Fantasias, TWV 40:101
Replay with deliberate pattern choices, varying by passage.

When all four patterns sit at performance tempo without conscious thought, and a recording of the same fantasia played with different pattern choices sounds audibly different from itself, move on to Lesson 83.