Multiple Tonguing 1
Introduction to double tonguing on double reed instruments. Examination of movements of the tongue in the mouth. By Terry B. Ewell. Bassoon Digital Professor video #18. www.2reed.net.
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Introduction to double tonguing on double reed instruments. Examination of movements of the tongue in the mouth. By Terry B. Ewell. Bassoon Digital Professor video #18. www.2reed.net.
The original transcript is available here.
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Chapters
Transcript with Time Codes
00:00Introduction
[music: Vivaldi, E minor Concert, I] Well, this is the first in a series of videos dealing with multiple tonguing techniques. Multiple tonguing techniques include double tonguing, triple tonguing, and mixed (or combination) tonguing.
00:35History of Double Tonguing
Although double tonguing has been used as a technique by wind performers for centuries—there are earlier recorder manuals that discuss double tonguing, flutists also used double tonguing for centuries as well as brass performers—but double reed instrumentalists have found double tonguing much less common.
00:58Quantz on Double Tonguing
Quantz does mention that double tonguing is used on the bassoon but surprisingly not on the oboe. Quantz was a Baroque flutist who also wrote about other woodwind instruments. But you find the 20th century that double tonguing was not commonly used among double reed instrumentalists.
01:18Twentieth-Century Opposition
For instance, these well-known players did not support double tonguing: Evelyn Rothwell, Sherman Walt, Archie Camden, and William Spencer among others. You will notice that the references for these authors come from the 50s and 60s when double tonguing was still yet to be widely adopted.
01:43Modern Adoption of Double Tonguing
However, when we move into the 70s and 80s and into the 21st century, you will see that many performers are using double tonguing. James Prodan in his work from the 1979 notes that half of the oboists surveyed employ double tonguing. Marc Apfelstadt and Ron Klimko found in their survey of bassoon performers that well over half of the bassoonists employed double tonguing. So it is a widely excepted technique now by double reed players.
02:18Consonants for Double Tonguing
Now, there are different consonants used with double tonguing. “T,” “D,” or “L,” which are consonants in the front of the mouth, alveolar consonants, are employed with single tonguing or where the tongue contacts the reed. The “K,” “G,” or “Q,” the velar consonants, are towards the back of the tongue, it is actually the middle third of the tongue but it is the back of the upper oral cavity, the roof of the mouth, the soft palate in the mouth, use those particular syllables.
02:59Tongue Contact and Articulation
Here we see the front of the tongue being used to articulate an oboe reed. This would be “T,” “D,” or “L” consonant. The consonant in the back of the mouth here is a “G” further back. The “K” is just underneath the soft palate. My goal for double tonguing is to try to get the point of contact as far forward in the mouth under the hard part of the roof of the mouth here. It is quite important when double tonguing to learn to minimize the motion.
03:32Minimizing Tongue Motion
Moving back and forth from the “T” consonant to the “K” consonant. You can see that it becomes a rocking motion back and forth for the double tongue.
03:53Bassoon and Oboe Tongue Positions
I have to note that the bassoonists have a different tongue position than oboists. The reed projects further into the mouth meaning that the tongue position will have to be a little bit lower. Often this means that the reed contacts the tongue a little further back from the tip. The oboists may have it very much right at the tip, the bassoonists will have a further back than the tip. This different tongue will require an adjustment for a different back consonant for the double tongue.
04:30Consonants and Vowels
Now, I prefer to use the consonants as a way to talk about double tonguing but there are many authors that have vowels that are added to the consonants. For instance, “Ta” or “To” (tow), “Tee,” “Ti.” I find that the vowels will actually change by instrument, register, and performer. So, it is best to think of the double tonguing with consonants and then you will adjust your vowels depending upon your personal choices.
05:10Oral Cavity and Tongue Position
The oboe (performer), for instance, has in general a higher tongue position than the bassoon (performer). Therefore, the performers need to make adjustments (with the vowels). Walter Carr, for instance, documents this in his work, which I have listed here. The oboe (player) needs to have less oral cavity space than the bassoon player. The next video will present practice methods for double tonguing.
05:35Next Video
I hope that you preview that.
References
Not supporting double tonguing
Rothwell, Evelyn. Oboe Technique, 4th edition. London: Oxford University Press, 1962, p. 32.
Walt, Sherman. “The Modern Bassoonist.” The Instrumentalist 4 (March-April 1950): 18-19.
Camden, Archie. Bassoon Technique. London: Oxford University Press, 1961, p. 28.
Spencer, William. The Art of Bassoon Playing. Evanston: Summy-Birchard Company, 1958, p. 56.
Supporting double tonguing
Prodan, James. Oboe Performance Practices and Teaching in the United States and Canada. Akron: The Institute for Woodwind Research, 1979, p. 80.
Apfelstadt, Marc and Ronald Klimko. Bassoon Performance Practice, Teaching Materials, Techniques and Methods. Moscow, ID: School of Music Publications, The University of Idaho, 1993, p. 34.
Carr, Walter Edward, Jr. “A Videofluorographic Investigation of Tongue and Throat Positions in Playing Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Saxophone.” D.M.A. diss., University of Southern California, 1978.
Credits
- author Terry B. Ewell