 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Johnny Galaga
Date: 2026-08-08 22:39
So when you double tongue in the lower notes, it feels easier than when you try to cross the break and suddenly it's like harder to connect on the back-stroke, the 'ka' part. Now us you go up higher in the clarion it gets harder and harder and I miss the back-stroke a lot more. And by the time you get to altissimo, it's game over.
So why is that? What is it that changes when you play higher up and it gets harder and harder to hit the 'ka' part?
Post Edited (2026-08-08 22:41)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2026-08-09 00:56
One thing that changes is your tongue position, which tends, even without trying, to be higher than when playing lower notes. For another thing, articulation on a clarinet (or, I would think, reeds in general) normally involves stopping the reed directly with the tongue, but in standard multiple-tonguing the "ka" involves stopping the air flow farther back, away from the reed, somewhere along the hard palate. I certainly have more trouble double-tonguing as I approach and cross the second "break" (![[C6]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/c6.gif) to ![[C#6]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/db6.gif) .
I've read similar comments here and elsewhere.
But I don't know if that's necessarily a given for everyone who double-tongues on a clarinet. You'd have to ask players who are especially accomplished with multiple-tonguing to find out if there's something they do that overcomes the problem. There are, of course, other multiple-tonguing techniques that don't involve "ka" at all - striking the reed back and forth or side-to-side ("ta-da").
Hopefully, someone here who does multiple-tonguing well and easily can contribute something helpful.
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2026-08-09 02:09
I will speak for some of us that must double tongue A LOT (just to get decent tonguing speed). The higher you play (for me, that's starts in the clarion), the vibrating reed becomes more sensitive to how the note is articulated (is it the length of space between reed and the "ka," or is it just "ka" being inherently less defined?..........I don't know for sure). What I do to lessen the problem is to "articulate" both front and back of tongue ON THE ROOF OF THE MOUTH. This way they are BOTH less distinct. Also there seems to be a NEED for the air to continue movement through the articulations, or rather, you only "disturb the air" as an executed articulation rather than stop it.
I go back to the video presented by Alexey Gorokholinskiy. He states in there that you need to listen back to a recording of yourself tonguing this way to really hear the separation of notes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoInFr4b8kQ
Why this all is the way it is exactly is beyond what I have been able to figure out....but it works.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2026-08-09 18:00
Edited: I tend to articulate "ga" further back on the tongue than "ka". That seems to help with higher notes. As Paul says, that syllable doesn't seem to need full interruption of the air. What needs to stop is vibration, not air.
Paul, I attempted something like you described, "ta" and "ka" both forward and to the roof of the mouth, and it's interesting. It means - correct me if I'm wrong - that the tip of the tongue is kept higher than the reed. Do you single tongue
"ta" that way as well?
I've recently started trying to double-tongue, "ta" the same was as I single tongue and "ga" well back on the tongue. Coordination is starting to firm up, but where this effort goes remains a little, ah, vague. Self-teaching normal situation.
Post Edited (2026-08-10 01:48)
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Author: Alexey
Date: 2026-08-10 13:39
My understanding is:
We can roughly divide the tongue into three parts: tip, middle, and back. The tip touches the reed; the middle part directs the airstream, and we use it for the "ka" sound; the back part is responsible for register changes. In a nutshell, the back part of the tongue lowers as we go higher.
So it's more difficult to play double tongue in altissimo because the middle part should go up to produce the "ka" sound, but the back part should go down at the same time.
The other thing (or the same thing) is that the reed and sound are more sensitive to what is going on inside the mouth the higher we go.
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