The Double Tongue Drill
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- čas přidán 15. 08. 2023
- As hard as I’ve worked on double tonguing, I’ve never quite gotten it usable. However, I’ve come to believe that working on it properly, with priority on tone and intonation, is an extremely powerful diagnostic tool for tone production and articulation. As I attempt to explain. Probably forgot some things, but am happy to discuss.
If you’re interested in Duquesne University, you can contact me by going to duq.edu and searching on my name.
it was an epiphany to realize, that (at least to my oral cavity physiology) the syllables “Gha-Dha” meet the purpose far better than the “Kha-Tha” we’re usually thaught. My throat chokes on the “Kha” whereas the “Gha” becomes a matter of a top-of-the-back-of-my-tongue gesture only.
Out-freakin-standing instruction! Wish I would had been taught this sooner in life but discovered it when I dug deep into nerdy clarinet books. But now there’s the internet. Thanks Professor 👏🏼
Thank you! You encourage me.
@@jackhowell8708 keep the vids coming !! How about some bass clarinet vids as well ? 🤞
@@emjay2045 You’re OG, I’ll do a bass vid for you. I actually don’t consider myself a bass clarinetist, I spent 30 years as a principal clarinetist before I bought a bass clarinet, but maybe that’s the video.
@@jackhowell8708 didn’t you used to play it in the orchestra ?
@@emjay2045 Still do. Hope to do so for some time. But I don’t regard bass as a separate instrument. As Alfred Stetzer sounded like Robert Marcellus an octave lower, I strive to sound like Michael Rusinek an octave lower. The entire clarinet section, in my view, is an extension of the principal’s sound. Which is easy when you have a principal like Mike.
When I learned to double tongue, I realised to it forcing me to play with better embouchure.
Thanx!!+
I can't hear exactly what syllable sounds you like to use. I've heard that the first tongued sylable is ta and the second is ka. Which syllables do you recommend?
Everyone is different, so I try to focus on what the tone sounds like rather than what the speech sounds like. The goal is to locate a point of contact between the back of the tongue and the roof of the mouth that interrupts the tone without altering the pitch. In this drill, double tonguing serves as a diagnostic tool to stabilize the jaw and to establish ideal tongue position for tone color and single tongue contact more than an end in itself. If the “back syllable” contact produces a clean, musical interruption of the tone without altering its quality or pitch, and if it positions the front of your tongue for a similarly clean, musical front syllable, you have a good tongue position, whether you perceive the syllable as ka, kuh, guh, kee, or anything else.
There is a certain chicken/egg aspect to it. You use your most beautiful tone as benchmark for the correctness of the back syllable, but often discovering a higher tongue position through creating a musical back syllable gives the student access to a tone that was previously unattainable. Let me know if that helps, glad to explain more.
Playing bartered bride this concert season and cannot double tongue. Does anyone have any advice on how to make it through?
Liam, I feel ya. Bartered Bride is a tough one. It is rare for the tempo to be slower than 152. If you can tongue 8 beats of 16ths at 152 you can do it.
But let’s say you can’t. The trick is to figure out what you CAN do and make it fit WITHOUT SLOWING DOWN. I have “made it through” many things in my career, including Bartered Bride, that were too fast for my tongue by adding slurs, or if repeated notes, by leaving notes out.
Personally, at 152 I’m good for two beats. I’m also good slurring two and tonguing two for several bars. Three and one, forever. If I had to play BB next week, I would probably (opening lick) tongue the first seven notes, then slur 2/tongue 2. But if the tempo were faster, I’d tongue the three pickups, then mix articulation.
I haven’t heard you play, I don’t know what you can do. But here is my suggestion: set your metronome at the fastest reasonable tempo. Say, 160. Make sure you can play the whole piece evenly with no articulation at that tempo. Then start adding articulations. Tongue every eighth note, slurring two and two. Try three and one. Try two and two. Try tonguing four, then slurring two and two.
Working fundamentals on your own is one thing, but playing with an orchestra, tempo is king. Figure out what you can do without laboring and slowing down, then do it smoothly and confidently.
I have played Beethoven 4 a number of times. Every time, the last movement was north of 160, no way could I tongue that fast. So I played two and two, and not only did nobody criticize me, several people said they had no idea how I could tongue that fast.
That’s plan A. Plan B is to double tongue. You don’t know you can’t until you have really given it your best shot.
One more thought - although the video addresses this, and the double tongue drill is designed to encourage it, it bears emphasis. Many students leave speed on the table by tonguing too hard, trying to make notes short. Strive for utmost smoothness and minimum motion in your articulation, the speed will make the notes short.