Developing good articulation on the flute
Like most other areas of flute playing good articulation (tonguing) on the flute is a direct result of daily practice using particular exercises using the tongue. When we articulate on the flute, we do it with a particular motion of the tongue touching it right at the junction of our upper teeth/gum line.
Ok, so what is our tongue made of? It is a muscle. Since it is a muscle what do we do with it to strengthen it. Answer-we must exercise it!
Even though I am “retired” I still practice thirty minutes of single/double/triple tonguing on the flute EVERYDAY! At one point in my life, I was spending much more time practicing my articulation.
So, what is double-tonguing? When the tongue touches the upper teeth/lower part of the upper gum you are, in effect, saying the syllable “ta, or duh.” To do the second part of the double tonguing your tongue actually goes to the upper back part of the mouth and you say the syllable “kuh, or guh.” Now the fun part is when you try to say the two syllables together several times in a row-ta-ka-ta-ka-ta-ka-etc. That is when you find out how difficult it is to do. This why you have to build up the strength of the tongue.
When you first start practicing double tonguing, your tone will probably sound gross-not clear at all. That is OK. Your tone will improve in time. What I suggest you do is to start the double-tonguing with same note exercises such as the following exercises.
Exercise I: Same Note Exercise:
Same Note Double-Tonguing Exercise-Part A
Same Note Double-Tonguing Exercise-Part B
The key is to START SLOW! At the beginning stages you are teaching your tongue a new process-don’t rush. The secret is to do this EVERYDAY for a few minutes! You will not last long. After five to ten minutes, you will be wasted. I would do this for several weeks. When you can finally tongue the notes at some kind of slow even tempo then you start practicing the exercises with a metronome. Don’t push.
After several weeks of practicing the same note exercises (with the metronome) then you can move on to moving note patterns. Here is what they would look like.
Exercise II: Moving Note Exercise:
Now when you start the moving note exercises let’s say you have four sixteenth notes, here is what your tongue will do:
- 1st sixteenth note-“Tuh” syllable
- 2nd sixteenth note-“kah” syllable
- 3rd sixteenth note-“tah” syllable
- 4th sixteenth note-“kuh” syllable
You will do this over and over as you move through the sixteenth note patterns. YES, your tongue will not last very long! Remember your tongue is a muscle! You must build it up over regular daily practice. This is no different than if you were an athlete in training.
Once you can do the moving note patterns evenly then you can start to work with them using a metronome.
Once this gets easy for you to do then you are ready to move on to a series of exercise books for articulation. A book I have used (along with most of my advanced students) for over fifty years is called “Seventeen Daily Studies for the Flute” by Taffanel & Gaubert. It is not a cheap book but well worth the price for the serious flutist.
YouTube Videos I created explaining double-tonguing:
The Art of Double Tonguing Video I:
The Art of Double Tonguing Video II:
Good journey!