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RE: Tonguing Faster

Author: Katherine Pincock
Date: 2000-01-30 11:57

There are two very good exercises in the Langenus method book, volume three: numbers 11 and 12 are especially good. The best way to work on these is to start very slowly, making sure that you really articulate correctly and keep the air going. Then, go up a notch on the metronome and do it again (for each of them, start with only the first half of the exercise to do this, and add the rest later.) Continue increasing the speed until you feel like you can't keep up with the metronome. Then, put the metronome up two notches, and give it your best shot. Go back down one notch and that will suddenly feel easier. Keep doing this daily, raising your initial speed as your upper speed gets higher, and you'll find a definite improvement.
Another good exercise is in the Jeanjean Vademecum daily exercises book. That book in general is a terrific one to have; do the first four exercises in it every day, and you'll see an amazing increase in all your technique.
If you'd like another good exercise, I have a booklet my teacher gave me that someone did as his thesis. It's a roughly 20-week step by step program to increase tonguing speed and endurance. Unfortunately, for that, you'll have to e-mail me your address so I can mail it to you; it's not published anywhere, as far as I can find out.
Take heart! Articulation has always been my biggest problem. But by doing these exercises, I've really improved--and since I'm in third year of a performance program, that improvement must be audible. Sometimes you hit a plateau like that, and it'll take a while to get past it, but you will eventually. Hope all this helps!

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