tonguing technique for 6th graders

[tubajoe]

Use speech as a model. Start with speech (and show her how easy and natural and *normal* it is for her) then move into singing once she understands it correctly. Once singing is all in line, add the mouthpiece, then finally the horn -- but in the most minimalist context.

Design an exercise that simplistically models the area she is having a hard time with -- and make it on something she already knows, like a Bb scale or the likes. Don't re-enter the specific piece until she has a grasp.

You want to eventually get to the situation where she is not micromanaging areas of technique, thus making the concept unified... and the whole thing flows naturally when she has clear intent (a result) in her head.... just like when she talks.

[djwesp]

Hi,

I teach beginning band at private schools close to where I live. At one particular school, we have two 6th graders playing trombone. One seems to not have much trouble with tonguing. The other is struggling mightily. The concept of tonguing hasn't reached her and I would like to 'untie the shoe' and start over at this early point in her playing life.

Are there any ideas out there that could help her break through this. I feel about 75% of the problem is mental. She uses the same technique to hard tongue as she uses to slur one note to the other with the slide, using her diaphragm to pulse the notes. The effect is a very weak 'uh-uh' sound rather than the more precise 'tu-tu'.

She is playing a solo for solo and ensemble in about a month or so. Part of the piece has staccato note eighths and sixteenths in it...nothing difficult beyond the technique just to hit those notes. She hasn't shut me out what I've tried to show her so far, just nothing has clicked. Any help is appreciated.

Ken F.

Hey ken!

Have you put her on a visualizer? I know this may sound really simple but a buzzing ring is a great way to see if what you THINK is going on really is. Trombone and tuba players with big time embouchure problems sometimes have devastatingly hard times tonguing because of it. There are some posts on here about young tuba and trombone players not being able to tongue because they are actually using their tongue as one of the vibrating surfaces! Scary! She also may set up not with the tongue as a vibrating surface, but with the tongue sitting on her bottom teeth. This would give her a thu thu thu slurring tongue and a crack or break in the sound between notes, sometimes this can also be observed in the buzz rim.

Have you shown her a single switch plumbers valve? Sometimes the simplest visual demonstration in the world can help it "click upstairs". They are about 2 dollars at most hardware stores, are pvc, and have a red plastic valve on them. They stop the flow of water by slapping a flap to shut the pipe. Great visual demonstration.

It may also not be out of the realm to "play" around by showing her some double tonguing. I don't know if i would technically tell her what she is doing, but if the tongue is too far forward, too far back, or part of the embouchure this "goofing around" would correct it. Demonstrate the t-k-t-k to her and then have a question and answer session with it where you guys can just goof off back and forth with SIMPLE double tongued patterns. Once she can do this at all, if you instruct her to just use the t like she did in t-k-t-k, the problem may correct itself.


wes "just throwing some stuff out there"

[MartyNeilan]

Have her say, "Toe." Have her say, "Tah." Stress how easy that is. Then have her do it on the mouthpiece while buzzing. (Visualizer would work great as suggested, if one is available.) Then have her do it on the horn. I have seen students get all tripped up on tongue placement and articulation, obsessed with the minute physical details of tongue, teeth, jaw, etc. Just have them say a few basic syllables and everything naturally falls into place.

Slightly OT,
We had one guy where I went to school (2nd time around) who used to do both breath attacks and breath vibrato on the trombone. Sounded terrible. He wasn't a trombone major and thought he was too good to take lessons. He is now a minister of music somewhere. God help us all.

[iiipopes]

Try the Chinese "Toh" or "Doh," where the place on the tongue as it transitions from the tip of the tongue to the flat of the tongue articulates against the place where the teeth meet the palatte, and not where tip of the tongue is on the top of the hard palatte for the crisp Western British-English "T," nor the Midwestern soft "D" with the flat of the tongue against the hard palatte.

From experience, this gives the cleanest articulation without blurring or splattering, and has the least interruption or turbulence of the airflow so buzzing of the embouchure is not interrupted any more than necessary.

[MartyNeilan]

Try the Chinese "Toh" or "Doh," ...

Have her say, "Toe." ...

One of my teachers spelled it "Too" (but pronounced like the above.) I still have etudes and excerpts with this scrawled all over them!
Serious pedagogical question to the TNFJ-
What is the most appropriate spelling of this basic teaching tool???

[TubaRay]

She is a bright kid and I hope the 'moment of enlightenment' comes soon. I do not want to discourage her with too much info or embarrassment in front of her bandmates. I do remind them that any help I give them benefits the band, so they are as supportive as sixth graders can be.
Ken F.

With this attitude, I believe you are on the right track. I would suggest you have the entire class practice saying this with you for a while. Then you could have each one, going down the line, demonstrate this with and without their instrument. If she's bright, she'll probably get it in the near future.

[TonyTuba]

Using the syllable Doh is the best choice. However, we tend to over emphasize the importance of the tongue. Get the kids to think of staccato notes as bursts of air. The thing that makes it separated is the shape of the note, or the note ending. The tongue, or articulation at the beginning of the note is not the only issue. A slight syllabic articulation is ok, and easy to fix. Getting the kid to understand how the air makes it work is a little tougher, but important.

[MartyNeilan]

Using the syllable Doh is the best choice. However, we tend to over emphasize the importance of the tongue. Get the kids to think of staccato notes as bursts of air. The thing that makes it separated is the shape of the note, or the note ending. The tongue, or articulation at the beginning of the note is not the only issue. A slight syllabic articulation is ok, and easy to fix. Getting the kid to understand how the air makes it work is a little tougher, but important.

While I agree with you to an extent at the college level, many young students tend to "huff and puff" and try to litterally "blow" the notes out with no articulation whatsoever. This problem, even with many high school sousaphone players, seems to be too little (or even a complete lack of) articulation, and rarely too much articulation. This, coupled with a constricted throat, is often the cause of that undesirable "honking" that young sousaphone players seem to love. I agree that "doh" or the slightly harder "toh" will solve both problems at the same time.

[Roger Lewis]

Good Morning all.
Personally, I teach the syllables without the vocalization. Everyone whispers. You want to try to avoid the habit of activating the vocal cords with the attack. This only leads to problems further down the road.

Start with whispering the syllable "toe". This positions the tip of the tongue at the top of the mouth behind where the teeth and gums meet. This is your "basic" attack. I refer to it as the mother of all attacks. For a crisper attack, move the tongue down on to the back of the front teeth. For a softer attack move the tongue up onto the roof of the mouth. The further back it goes the softer the attack will be. If you go too far back it becomes dysfunctional.

The next step is to get the air to the tongue before the start of the attack. Whisper the syllable "hut" and hold the "T". THis puts the air right at the front of the mouth where it belongs to get the best results. Now go from the whispered "Hut" then right into the whispered "Toe". You should get a pretty strong attack without any after effects.

One of the things I look for in my own playing is the little puff of air that occurs right before the note starts. This is what they call in poker a "tell". It shows you that something is not right. What is actually happening is that the tongue is going through the right motions, but the air is being controlled further back (usually unknown to the player), probably in the throat and the student is "coughing" the notes to start them. Usually, when asked, the student will have a problem with sore throats when playing a lot. The "Hut" drill, practiced 5 minutes a day, will eventually get the air where it belongs and the "tell" will disappear.

Just my observations.
Roger

[Paul Scott]

I teach quite a few students at this age level and very few of them tongue "correctly" more than 60% of the time. Kids at this stage are developing and will have varying degrees of success no matter what method is used, so patience has got to be the primary thing at work here. I've found that when there is a problem with articulation there is almost always a lack of air for the tongue to work with. Some strategies:

1) have the student hold a single tone for the length of one of the phrases involved; the tone should be in the same tessitura as the problem phrase. This will get some airflow going.

2) have the student tongue the rhythmic pattern of the phrase on that single note.
If necessary, slow the passage down significantly. I use the syllable "toh" for the lower range instruments.

3) mention the need for the tongue to "kick off" the sound. Many players end up articulating "oht" because the tongue is late. Usually I'll tell them to tongue before they blow. Yes, we know that it really should be a simultaneous action but I've found that subtlely really does not work in these situations!

4) If possible, have the student play the passage in an overtly legato style to establish an "opposite" in sound and feel. This should result in increased airflow when the student returns to the written articulation/style.

5) A little work on mouthpiece buzzing/tonguing should be helpful too.

There are many variations on these ideas but these are some that have worked for me. It's sometimes hard to put such things in words so I hope what I've written is clear.