• FAQ  • Search  • Memberlist  • Usergroups   • Register   • Profile  • Log in to check your private messages  • Log in 

Need help triple tonguing



 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    trumpetherald.com Forum Index -> Fundamentals
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
CB_93
Regular Member


Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 97
Location: South Carolina

PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:25 pm    Post subject: Need help triple tonguing Reply with quote

I'm playing the Brandt concert piece number 1. I've never had a big problem triple tonging, but I've never had to triple tongue this many triplets in a row! My throat tenses up and my tongue gets fat an heavy.

Any suggestions?
_________________
Bach 25 Bb - GR G66CX
Bach 229 25H C - GR 67VC
Berkley Winds Eb (Bill Jones Modified)
Carol Brass Bb/A Picc
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
bagmangood
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 26 Feb 2009
Posts: 1351
Location: SF Bay Area

PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A teacher once told me, its not triple tonguing, its just blowing.
Just blow through all the notes, let the tongue just temporarily stop the air.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Big Dave88
Veteran Member


Joined: 31 Mar 2011
Posts: 479

PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having knowing absolutely nothing about your playing, and assuming you have no way to find or take from a good teacher, here are some bullet points -

If you have never triple tongued that many triplets in a row, thats your first problem - just like anything else, you have to build endurance and muscle memory for this. Start slow, with small groups or triplets, and add more consecutive triplets, and bump up the tempo. SLOWLY add and bump. REST when your tongue feels fat and tired and slow.

It is a good idea to isolate your 'k' syllable to strengthen it, in theory to the clarity of your 't' syllable.

At super speeds, multiple tonguing isn't so much tktktktkt or ttkttkttkt, as it is dgdgdgdgd or ddgddgddgddgd.

Articulation is not(never?) about stopping the air, it is about keeping a solid and consistent air stream, and simply bouncing the tongue off of the air stream. Don't think about stopping the air, ever, unless on those rare occasions the music calls for a tongue stop, wish is actually at the end of a note, not the beginning...

It may behoove you to search the forums about 'k modified' or 'anchor' tonguing, as this is the best(correct) way to articulate for the vast majority of players. All the greats tongue in this manner, from Clarke to Herseth to Vizzutti.

Use a metronome.
_________________
"Bud didn't worry about this..."
-Barenboim
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Craig Swartz
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 7769
Location: Des Moines, IA area

PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd suggest you learn the passages by playing the triplets as single eighth/quarter notes, slurred if possible (or completely without tongued articulation), until you're comfortable with the melodic flow and the intervals being played. After that is centered, add the articulation. A lot of us actually make a sound, or attempt to do so, with the tongue. I try to think of the tongue merely as a valve that releases the wind rather than becoming the determining factor as to whether or not the tone will start on pitch, or at all.

Another suggestion is not to fixate on the passages in the solo- practice other long triple-tongued passages as well. Run through Arban exercises, if you really want a challenge check out the Smith (Top Tones) triple tonguing exercise- don't have the book in front of me but it's somewhere around 14 or 15- in Bb. Variety, patience, learn the melodic content first. Good luck.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
musicalmason1
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 08 Apr 2005
Posts: 731
Location: Pa

PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:06 am    Post subject: Re: Need help triple tonguing Reply with quote

[quote=I've never had to triple tongue this many triplets in a row![/quote]

Big Dave nailed it. This is your problem. You wouldn't take a lead gig in a big band without ever playing that many high notes in a row before. You just need to do it, a lot of it. Make sure you're doing it right with good technique, and then do it a thousand times.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
trumpetrich
Regular Member


Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 28
Location: cleveland

PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ken Larson has a helpful video posted on the Interlochen website regarding improving triple tonguing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqrBK_GUHxw
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
tpter1
Heavyweight Member


Joined: 17 Jun 2004
Posts: 1194

PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Along with what BigDave said:

Go get your Arban.

Open to p. 155. Start with a metronome marking of half note = 106. Play #1 as written, using TTK then TKT then TK. Place a SLIGHT crescendo on each measure to ensure air motion. Drop 1/2 step, increase the metronome by 2-4 beats per minute and do the same thing. Continue to drop by 1/2 step, raising the metronome tempo by 2-4 beats per minute. After you do low F#, continue back up chromatically until you are back to F major. Rest as needed.
_________________
-Glenn Roberts
"Character is the backbone of human culture, and music is the flowering of human character". -Confucious
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    trumpetherald.com Forum Index -> Fundamentals All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group