Another Help Thread (Sorry)

[MrHidan30]

I was at my private lesson today, and my teacher pointed out that when I double tongue or single tongue extremely fast I move my jaw too much. I've tried buzzing on my mouthpiece in front of a mirror, and I can somewhat get the jaw movement to a minimum tonguing on the roof of my mouth. I then tried it on my horn, and it adversely effected my tone and I couldn't articulate clearly. I was once told by the tuba coordinator at Phantom Regiment to keep my tongue down and out of the way, but I can't seem to with my new approaches. I feel as if I've hit a plateau in my development. I don't know if my teacher, a trumpet, truly knows what he's talking about, but if he does then I can't figure out how to figure it out. I hope this was coherent; I'm very tired. Any help would be beneficial.
Thanks.

[Mark]

I am sure others can offer more detailed advice.

1) Your jaw should not be moving when you tongue.

2) When you change the way you play, even if it is to correct a bad habit, your tone may temporarily suffer.

3) Try to get a few lessons from a tuba player.

[MaryAnn]

I never understood the kitty-kitty thing for double tonguing. It is definitely not the syllables I would be using....when I call my cat, my mouth is mostly closed, my lips are kind of smiling, my teeth are overlapping, and I'm using an EEE vowel. When I say too-koo-too-koo, I get the mouth shape I'm looking for, and my jaw is down where it should be. Maybe the cat thing is for trumpet players or flutists or something.

To the OP: you may find you also move your chin when you single tongue. If so, or even if not so, one at a time, without moving. When you can do one, then go to two, and don't go any faster than you can do it right. Practice is only practice if you are not practicing mistakes.

MA

[eupher61]

If you are tonguing to the roof of your mouth, that is part of the problem. Ever tried to play an oboe or bassoon? They tongue to the tip of the reed...try something more like that. Not so much between the teeth (except in the lowest ranges) but to the back of your top front teeth. Consciously play with your tongue going to the roof of your mouth, then to the back of the teeth, then between the teeth. Watch all that in a mirror and/or video record it. Get the best audio recording you can too, to have a good aural consideration as well.

using an -EE or -II syllable will often lead to a pinched sound. Think OH or AH (not OOO).

And, do a lot of mouthpiece buzzing. Record that both audio and video too. Listen and pay attention to what sounds best; most likely it will be that sound which has least motion associated with it. If you can play back at half speed, that will really show you what is happening. It's killer, but a very good tool.

keep working at it.