 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: finalebuff
Date: 2001-01-06 19:18
Help! Please advise on whether or not to teach double tonguing to band clarinet students?? Should I or not, and how to do it if so.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-01-06 19:29
Most band clarinet students probably still haven't really gotten their single tonguing down properly. Or at high speeds, they haven't yet truly mastered the tongue & fingering synchronization techniques. Both of these will then appear as if the student has a slow tongue but that is an incorrect evaluation. Until these single tonguing is fully mastered and they have mastered synchronization at high speeds, double tonguing should NOT be taught.
On normal literature there really should be no need for double tonguing. Single tonguing sixteenth notes at a quarter note =120 should be within the reach of a typical student if correctly taught.
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Author: earl thomas
Date: 2001-01-07 15:31
Dee: I don't think it is "wrong" to teach double tongue techniques to anybody. The human brain is quite capable of absorbing all kinds of information, including single, double and triple tongue techniques. Not everyone can go up to 120 in sixteenths, but some can achieve 144! You cannot withhold information based on such slimsy data. Earl
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-01-07 17:12
earl thomas wrote:
>
> Dee: I don't think it is "wrong" to teach double tongue
> techniques to anybody. The human brain is quite capable of
> absorbing all kinds of information, including single, double
> and triple tongue techniques. Not everyone can go up to 120 in
> sixteenths, but some can achieve 144! You cannot withhold
> information based on such slimsy data. Earl
That was not my intent. The point was that many of the students haven't yet truly mastered their single tonguing and synchronization. Double tonguing, etc needs to follow the mastery of the basics not compensate for a lack of mastery.
Many people who believe that they need to double tongue are surprised by the following simple test. Take an open G. Tongue as fast as they can on that G for a single measure. Most people are far faster than they would have believed. In playing etudes and pieces the problems often stem from other things. For example, say there are 20 bars of it. The tongue, like any other muscle, will get tired and lag if its endurance is not built up. The other problem is the synchronization of finger movement with the tonguing. Too often the subconscious holds back the fingers and you get the illusion of bad tonguing. The student tries to tongue faster and it gets worse as the tongue is even further ahead of the fingers. If instead the player focuses on moving the fingers at the proper speed, so that the lead the tongue, the problem disappears.
Once the tongue muscle has built up its endurance and the finger/tongue synchronization is rock solid, that is the time to introduce double tonguing if need be. In the group band situation, the students are seldom at the point where they have achieved that endurance and true synchronization.
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Author: Preston Lamp
Date: 2001-01-09 19:15
Anyone who has access to Saxophone Journal (Dorn Publications, Medfield, Massachusetts) might be interested in listening to the demonstration CD that accompanied the Nov/Dec 1999 issue. There was a write-up on saxophone double-tonguing in the Journal itself, but the CD was really interesting, and, of course, you could hear clearly what Dr. Keith Young did to practice and perfect the double-tonguing technique on the saxophone.
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