 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2024-09-07 00:08
Years ago, I asked Prof. Rebecca Rischin (Ohio University) how she tongued so fast. Her reply, "I just double-tongue everything."
How many people use double-tonguing? How much do you use it? Do you use it in all registers?
Thanks
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Author: kdk
Date: 2024-09-07 00:38
Did she describe how she does double-tonguing?
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2024-09-07 05:13
So I think there are different reasons to use double tonguing. When Michael Rusinek spoke about teaching himself double tonguing it sounded to me as if he was saying it's not necessary, but it can lend itself to being a convenience. I further believe most, if not all symphonic clarinetists have single tonguing speeds that are fast enough to handle all the standards just fine.
Then there is......the rest of us. I also believe many of us who are not at that level have "slower tongues" as consequence of the type of musculature we are born with. As one of the "the rest of us," I use double tonguing for anything of any speed whatsoever. Unfortunately I taught myself much later in life and the altissimo is pretty much out of reach for my double tonguing.
My double tonguing is really more on the order of "pulses of air" rather than "tongue on, tongue off reed."
I ALWAYS try to link the following video which is a great way in to the technique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoInFr4b8kQ
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: brycon
Date: 2024-09-08 00:53
I can double tongue pretty well. I had a band director in middle school who was a clarinetist and very strong flutist as well. He showed me how to double tongue, which he had practiced a lot on the flute, before I knew it was an "extended technique" or "difficult." Because I didn't yet have any mental hangups about it, it wasn't super hard to learn. And, if anything, it improved my single tongue as well because it developed an increased awareness of tongue movement, position, etc.
I use it from low E up to about C above the staff. In the higher register, the intonation gets fussier. In some very fast articulated passages that move through the high register, then, such as the opening tutti of the Bartered Bride Overture, I will mix single tongue and double tongue. I don't use it very often in the repertoire: Bartered Bride, Nielsen concerto, Corigliano concerto, Chausson Andante and Allegro, and maybe some modernist pieces, such as Montovani's Bug. I use it frequently, though, in violin transcriptions. Beethoven 4, Mendelssohn, the Copland cadenza, and other "fast" articulated things I usually just single tongue (but knowing I could play them faster if I had to can be reassuring).
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2024-09-09 02:50
I haven't looked in a while, but when I last was interested in rapid articulation recordings, none of those I listened to used double-tonguing in higher registers. Most seemed to leave off somewhere around A5 (just above the staff,) and they'd slur or maybe 2+2 anything higher. Frost, Viduvier, a few others I'm forgetting now: they were all impressive and effective, but they slurred as I've indicated.
So, does anyone have links to videos or other recordings of clarinetists double tonguing above A5?
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Author: brycon
Date: 2024-09-09 04:51
Quote:
Most seemed to leave off somewhere around A5 (just above the staff,) and they'd slur or maybe 2+2 anything higher. Frost, Viduvier, a few others I'm forgetting now: they were all impressive and effective, but they slurred as I've indicated.
It depends on the context. I can double tongue a scale up to a C above the staff or maybe even a few notes higher. But if I had to double tongue repeated Bs or Cs above the staff, it would sound horrible. The "key" portion of the double tongue does something with the throat that makes the pitch go haywire: so it can be masked in some instances, when the notes are changing, particularly in a scale, but not so much in others, such as on repeated pitches or passages staying in the higher register for several beats in a row. I suppose someone could alter his or her setup to make the pitch change less noticeable (though I've never tried it myself). But it seems as though the downsides wouldn't be worth a couple of extra pitches of double tonguing.
I did have a student who could rapidly tongue from side to side on his mouthpiece. It was as quick as my double tongue and he could use it in higher registers than I could with mine. He told me it was something he simply goofed around with when he was much younger. And over time, it turned into a very useful technique, which is why I encourage goofing around!
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2024-09-09 10:47
Bryson wrote: 'The "key" portion of the double tongue does something with the throat that makes the pitch go haywire'
If you blow out the cheeks a bit while double tonguing up there this doesn't happen. I don't know why.
Post Edited (2024-09-09 13:47)
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