Double Tounging

[Daniel8802]

Hey guys ... I've been playing a brass instrument for about 6 years now. Starting with trumpet and then euphonium. I have never been able to double toung lol. I think I can do it just with all of valves open, but it is actually when I try to say play running 16th notes is when I just get all flustered and my fingers do their own thing lol! Do you have any advice for me? I've been trying to get this down, but I've just been out of luck! Thanks.

[tubatooter1940]

Play a passage with double tongueing as slow as needed to play it right. Get in a lot of reps at that speed and then speed it up a little at a time until you can do it at or above the desired tempo.
Put in the reps and good things will happen.
Good luck!

[Chuck(G)]

Hey guys ... I've been playing a brass instrument for about 6 years now. Starting with trumpet and then euphonium. I have never been able to double toung lol. I think I can do it just with all of valves open, but it is actually when I try to say play running 16th notes is when I just get all flustered and my fingers do their own thing lol! Do you have any advice for me? I've been trying to get this down, but I've just been out of luck! Thanks.

Start slow, work up speed gradually--and use a metronome. The tonguing exercises in Arban are particularly good for this.

[Daniel8802]

thanks guys ... keep the tips going . I'm just trying to get this down because it frustates me lol. I'm a freshman in college majoring in music, and have been first chair in honors band and it has just annoyed me that I can't do this lol and it just annoyes me ha..... Thanks!!

[windshieldbug]

I'd suggest trying it with valves down, but on the same note to start, then work up to faster stuff...

ie.
D- ta ka
E- ta ka
F- ta ka
G- ta ka
etc.,
and then back down.

[Daniel8802]

Start slow, work up speed gradually--and use a metronome. The tonguing exercises in Arban are particularly good for this.

Thats all you need! An Arban book and a metronome and your on your way.

tubaplayer61

Well I have all of the above lol! For some reason though, I have never been able to practice right with a metronome lol! I was have never been able to establish the beat for somereason and keep in time with it.

[eupher61]

Therein lies your problem. If a metronome bugs you, it's because your sense of time is bad--a much bigger issue than a double tongue.

[wooliteeuph]

i have found that people that have a hard time double tonguing are forcing the problem on themselves psychologically. right now you can either double tongue or you can't. if the problem is in fact your tongue, then refer to the other posts. if not think about this...usually if you are having difficulties double tonguing while changing pitches, chances are that you are paying more attention to one or the other. you are concentrating so hard on your tongue that you fingers start to slow down and become sloppy. this makes your attacks occur while your valves are halfway down. not good. the other occurs as well in which you are paying more attention to your fingers. this actually speeds you tongue and also becomes sloppy. again, this turns into a half valve double tonguing exercise. not good. you want both to occur naturally. i tell my students who can double tongue thier hearts out on a single pitch to practice an easy scale (i like Eb) slurring. get that extremelt clean and fast (the purpose is comfort resulting in a good sounding scale without comcentrating. by now your fingers are "programmed" to wiz through that scale. now slow it down a notch or two and add your tongue (again only if you can tongue a single note well). practice this until it becomes second nature. now apply it to the other scales and then to fast passages in pieces that you are comfortable with (don't worry, this procedure will take a while). just like you are confident enough to go through your Eb scale at blazing tempos you want to be confident enough in your tongue and fingers that you don't have to think about either which will allow you to concentrate on the thing that is most important...taking all of those black dots and making music out of them). the important thing is to be patient. it will not hit you tomorrow or the day after, but if you stay diligent with it, it will hit you eventually.

[Daniel8802]

I also find it eaiser to toung faster and more cleanly on my Yamaha GP series mouthpiece (shallow cup w/ adapter) than I do my Gold Schilke 51D. This is because the cup is more shallow than the 51D.

[smurphius]

Arbans method works well with all of the suggestions here. The double tonguing exercises in it are progressive in a way that you start out just double tonguing on the same note until it eventually has you double tonguing all sorts of crazy intervals. The man who can play every one of these studies is a man I wish to meet, hug, and buy him a beer.

[MileMarkerZero]

One thing that is often lost in working on a good double tongue is the air. Make absolutely certain that your airstream is rock-solid. If it isn't, you're stuck before you start. The idea is to let your tongue interrupt the airstream, not stop it. To be successful in multiple tongueing, you have to blow through the passage, not at it. Blow through the horn, not into it.

Once you're certain that your air is doing what it needs to do, proceed with the above suggestions, they all work.