Re: Poor Tonguing


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Posted by slow-tongued cat on May 24, 2001 at 06:23:05:

In Reply to: Poor Tonguing posted by Robert Nowell on May 24, 2001 at 05:08:29:

Hi Robby,
I don't know that I have the EXACT problem you do, but my tongue is definitely a weakness. Having learned to double tongue early, my single tongue is way, way below average. This is turning out to be one of the biggest struggles in my playing right now. I too have a tendency to spit... yuck.
So, my problem is moving my tongue too much. Arban's scale exercises, if you can get ahold of them, are good for working on any articulation issue. Think of not moving your tongue too much ; you should have a constant air flow, of which your tongue only serves as an "interruption." Your tongue shouldn't move too much when single tonguing, and I think you understand what you feel you are doing wrong placement-wise. Your tongue should feel as though it is barely moving, just enough to make that brief interruption. I always feel the tongue on the lower back of my upper front teeth. It seems to work, but I could be wrong, so pedagogues please correct me if I am! But if you are striving to only make that slight interruption in air flow, you should naturally need to adjust placement, since your lip articulation will really restrict the airflow.
Depending on how serious you are, practicing your articulations without a mouthpiece, or even just on a mouthpiece, can also greatly improve your abilities... it really worked for me! Granted I got some strage looks walking around campus going "tatatata", but now it all seems to be worth it because my improvement is finally starting to catch up in this area!
The absolute key I would say is constant air stream and minimal tongue movement, which of course means a "closer" place to "hit". Start slowly and work your way up. You'll get it, it just takes a VERY long time... believe me I know! It's great you want to work on this! I wish I could have given more specific advice, but your posting has raised an awareness for myself and my articulation techniques as well!
Best of luck, and have fun with it!



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