Imagine to have all sorts of textures, shades, and energy levels within your playing. Even in a "smooth" passage, there will still be fine details and nuances, just like this waterfall. Can your articulation be prickly? Can they sound like drops of water? Little icicles? In this case, you'll want to work your breath, make it succinct, bouncy, and using very little air. Imagine a small puffs of air (huh, huh), use a deep sounding vowel and use a mirror to make sure that the lips don't get involved and stay put. Working the breath with articulation is a way of engaging your whole "being" with the music, and not just simply using the tongue. On the baroque flute, a little goes a long way so try things little by little and observe their effects attentively. 

And sometimes there'll be passages where you'll use longer flows of air, but remember to always shape. Maybe the notes go a little upwards, try a crescendo with that. Maybe they'll go a little downwards, try a decrescendo. These can be minute differences and also, it's mostly about raising or decreasing an INTENTION, RATHER THAN PURELY VOLUME . Going up can be a sign of intensification, going down a relaxation. Remember that the word “dynamics” can also refer to a motion, a force, an energy. And there'll always be exceptions but these are good concepts to start with.

The long exposure in this image shows that the strands of water waver and are not even. So we see there's an overall form of the waterfall, but within it there are different shapes and details.  Music also hardly moves in a straight line and there are always nuances within a phrase, where different components make up an expression. The most interesting thing is always the path along the way towards the goal.

So last week I wrote some quick start-up tips on baroque ornamentation and the appoggiatura. I mentioned how it's always going to be a combination of historical information and personal interpretation. Let's see how this works in practice! 

Here's the beautiful opening of François Couperin's Premier Concert of his Concerts royaux. With the indication Gravement, we can understand the movement as having a sense of weight and seriousness (but still with a hint of tenderness as French music does!). I'll just concentrate on the first five measures - we can see how various appoggiatura lengths can be used and I'll go through my reasoning and analysis for each case. Depending on your screen size, you may want to open two browser windows to be able to refer to the music above. 

And before we start, I want to say it's my understanding that Couperin is a little vague regarding the appoggiatura between descending thirds (so-called tierce de coulée or other similar names) Although he seems to indicate in his L'Art de Toucher Le Clavecin that "the little lost note of the lower or upper appoggiatura" should be played on the beat, there are other instances where he diverges from this concept and have them as "passing".(as we often understand how the tierce de coulée is to be played) This will provide an interesting point to consider in the following passages.

The referred appoggiaturas are the ones that look like small 8th notes. 

#1 - The first A-appoggiatura is the typical port de voix (appoggiatura from below) followed by a mordent. It would make sense to place this on the down beat, not only does it create richness in sound with the base (also with mordent!), but also we already have the trill with termination beforehand with an A, so only this solution will give clarity and musical sense. The second A is what we'd consider as a tierce de coulée, and although you can certainly follow Couperin strictly by playing this on the 8th note value, there is a bit more elegance by playing this one as passing, especially since we already have the A-appoggiatura on the beat previously. Whether you play the appoggiatura as passing or on the beat, be sure to diminuendo, lighten up the sound and keep the A short. Compare yourself and see what you think. 

#2 - I'd play the E-appoggiatura on the beat (again achieving clarity and good separation from the previous E), either as an 8th or 16th note. I don't think I'd do anything shorter than that, in order to preserve the "serious" expression. The next two appoggiaturas are again interesting - they both seem like the tierce de coulées as we know them (and very typically happening in sequence). We COULD consider playing the C-appoggiatura on the beat (8th note value)to enhance the Gravement affect on this harmony (diminished chord), but then let the A-appoggiatura fall, making it passing and unaccented. We'd then play the mordent on the G on the beat, giving us that metric and harmonic support (7th chord in bass). It's otherwise a very common thing to have an appoggiatura on the beat followed by a mordent, but it feels a little awkward to do that here. 

#3 - G-appoggiatura definitely on the beat, and I'd play it as an 8th rather than 16th, perhaps also with mordent or even a little trill afterwards. I'd choose a longer appoggiatura here because it provides a nice relief after that fancy cadential trill happening before, again, thinking Gravement. Be sure to lean into the G nicely and then release on the A, even if you decide to do a mordent or trill on it. They must be very light and need only a wisp of air. 

#4 - It might be tempting to play the B-appoggiatura also a bit long (like a full 8th note), but we'd also have to consider the changing harmonies. In this case, a short appoggiatura is more suitable since we do want the C# to sound in the #6-4 chord. Again on the beat, with the same reasons like #1 and #3. Also, starting already from the turn after the A-mordent, all these short little notes help us gain a sense of moving forward toward the cadence.

So in just these measures, we've got a whole range of ways to determine and interpret just a little note, which in turn adds so much more expression and meaning to all these passages. Try them out and let me know what you think!