Posted by Anthony Labelle on April 06, 2001 at 17:16:38:
In Reply to: Re: Tonguing Technique.... posted by Intrigued on April 06, 2001 at 14:57:12:
I'll cut and paste(and maybe slightly edit) the explanation I gave to someone who inquired about it on the TubaEuph mailing list:
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> Perhaps if you explain the "no-syllable" tonguing method, I, or
> someone here,
> could help you more. I've never heard of it.
>
> I'm curious how a player can make an explosive blast of air
> articulated with the
> tongue without a sound of some sort.
Well, the general principal behind it is that your air starts the note,
and NOT your tongue. Your tongue still controls the air, but does not
ever "push" the air. The action for the tonguing is a bit different,
too, I suppose... begin with the tip of your tongue between your teeth[in the low register... the tongue will move back as you go up.. just the same as you 'pivot'],
and rather than using some silly syllable to start the note, just pull
your tongue back, and "release the air". All the syllable does is add
more noise to the sound that doesn't have to be there. When I was first
introduced to this method, I found it quite a bit more difficult...
fortunately I was still relatively young, and it caught on quickly.
Looking back, and looking at other techniques, I can't imagine doing it
any other way.
For a demonstration of the difference in clarity, listen to any recording
of R. Winston Morris's playing. Also, going out on a limb, I suspect
that Mr. Griffiths uses a similar technique(correct me if I'm wrong,
John).. that's the impression I've gotten from listening to "Canadian
Chops" in my car on my way to and from work every day.
Anyways, I appreciate all of the advice on double tonguing I've gotten,
but "what syllables to use" isn't really what I'm looking for right now.
While practicing yesterday, I broke down and started working on the arban
technique... when I *was* finally able to get the "ku" or "gu" syllables
to speak, my double tonguing speed (using syllables) was a little over
half the speed of my single tonguing(using no syllables), and the extra
noise produced by using a syllable is simply unacceptable. I'm still
perfectly content single tonguing everything, but short of increasing my
single tonguing speed, or learning a no-syllable double tonguing
technique, there's a whole array of repetoire out there that I'd like to
play, but is just out of reach.
Anthony