I may be being a bit thick here but hoping someone can help me untangle my brain!

In the interests of actually making myself learn something rather than just sticking with things I can play without having to work on them, I've decided to actually make myself finish learning some of the pieces I have had a go at and can play "except the fast bits" which I have decided is not very useful as it means I have a heap of pieces I can play 3/4 of!

First one I picked up off the pile was the Saint-Saens Romance.

About halfway down the first page there is a section where there are lots of ascending duplets each ascending a semitone, with each duplet being lower than the one before (don't know how better to explain it, hoping you guys will understand which bit I mean...) followed by ascending arpeggiated sections which lead on to the next set of duplets.

The arpeggios are all slurred-but-staccato, which I am taking to mean detached but not uber-staccato, which is how I recall hearing it played, but I suddenly noticed the first note after each arpeggio is slurred in with no staccato note... I think I am being dense here, but bear with me... should I be tonguing that note?? Or is it up to me??!

Part of me thinks, well it's coming directly after a staccato note from which it should be detached, and part of me is saying, well, it should be slurred because it's effectively the first note in the first duplet of the next figure... but where most of them are indeed semitone rises, one of them isn't... and should I not play them all the same, really...? and I have confused myself and I need heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp (well you knew that already...)

If anyone has a clue of the bit I mean and either 1) knows for sure what it should be or 2) has theories as to which way it should be and the justifications behind them... then please help. If it's up to my discretion then I will just have to decide which *I* think sounds best, but I would obviously quite like to know if there's a way it SHOULD be, and/or what the norm is/things to think about when deciding.

The brain is TOO tired. I think I shall go and play Twinkle Twinkle for a while...............

I dont have the music with me, but will tomorrow when I go home, but from what I remember the note after the arpeggio is detached, and the slur is probably just implying the play through the phrase into the new set of descending couplets rather than breathing (although you can breath here) and breaking the phrase up.

Will have a proper look at it tomorrow.
My brains hurting now after deciphering what you meant!

Not sure - I'd never noticed that before! If you slur the last pair, it leads in naturally to the next run of slurred pairs, so I'd be inclined to do that.

Thanks


That's what I was doing naturally, it seems logical - then I confused myself!!

I guess I'm glad it's not just me being thick anyhow