Gary Mortenson, reporter

Frank Kaderabek has spent 42 years playing in major symphony orchestras and teaching in a number of universities. He began his session by observing that over many years he has noticed that the study of articulation seems to receive less and less attention with each successive generation. The large number of people attending the seminar can be seen as a good indication that many of us agree with Kaderabek's assertion and want to hear his ideas on the subject.

Kaderabek proceeded to play musical examples using several different methods of articulation. He played them first the way that he often hears them interpreted, and then the way that he felt the excerpts need to be played to create the appropriate level of energy. These excerpts included Beethoven Leonore calls and the opening to Pictures at an Exhibition. He felt that too many players today articulate things the same way. He went on to talk about the ramifications that a player's native language can have on their ability to articulate. He felt that, from personal experience, the fact that he was raised with the Czech language in his childhood had a pronounced effect on his ability to articulate. He felt that you are never done with your pursuit of excellence in the area of tonguing. He quipped that when he auditions students at Curtis and asks them, “Do you study out of the Arban?” They often say, “I'm done with the Arban.” His response to that was, “Then I should be studying with you, because I'm not done with the Arban yet.” He went on to quote Herbert L. Clarke relating how Clarke used to practice his single tonguing while walking back and forth to the theater where he was playing (a total distance of eight miles a day). Clarke was able to work his single tonguing up to sixteenth notes at 160 beats per minute!

On the subject of multiple tonguing he felt that the ideal is to get the “k” syllable so clean that no one can tell when you are using it. He demonstrated by playing rapid passages using various forms of multiple tonguing that placed the “k” in different places within the repetitive pattern. He has his own preference for where to place the various syllables and stressed the only way you will be able to find what works for you is through hard work.

Throughout the session, Mr. Kaderabek talked about many important musical figures and what knowledge they had given him over his long and productive career. He mentioned people like Leonard B. Smith, Fritz Reiner, Herbert L. Clarke, Maurice André, Adolf Scherbaum, and others. He felt that at this point in time we are competing against ourselves. All the standard literature has been recorded many times. So we are competing against that legacy and must be prepared to do the work necessary to advance the standards already established. You also have to develop your flexibility with regard to articulation. Today players have to play a wider range of styles from mainstream orchestral literature to pops concerts. To accomplish that requirement you have to be able to do whatever is required. Kaderabek also felt that tonguing and articulation are aspects of playing that can only improve through daily practice and that you have to work even harder at it as you get older.

After fielding several questions from the audience, he gave us a glorious example of everything he had talked about by playing a little known three-movement concerto with piano by the Czech composer Zdenek Krizek that he had learned of during one of his visits to Prague to judge a musical festival. His accompanist was Leslie Spotz from Tarleton State University. The work contained a number of different challenges with regard to tonguing. His playing demonstrated staccato and legato articulation, and a number of gradations of each of these extremes. All of this was done to great musical effect proving once again that the music itself and the model that it provides transcends language. Thank you Mr. Kaderabek for a most informative presentation on this subject!