Jazz Trombone F.A.Q.
9) What are these "speed-tonguing"
techniques I keep hearing about?
Sam Burtis:
Doodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-
oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle.
(Or syllabic variations thereof). It’s a softer,
more legato, more flexible technique than
double tonguing for some people.
Jeff Adams: For a thorough discussion of doodle tonguing I
would refer you to
Bob
McChesney's book on the topic as I do not use this technique. Practitioners
Of the doodle technique are Carl Fontana, Bill
Watrous, Conrad Herwig among others.
Double-tonguing in jazz is often done with the
lighter, duh-guh-duh-guh,
syllables.
This is used by Myself, Steve Turre', Frank Rosolino, Matt Niess
and many other pros.
Altered-Double-tonguing is simply turning the
syllables around,
guh-duh-guh-duh.
Hal Crook is the most famous practioner and one of the
fastest and most creative improvisers on the
planet. (Incidentally he is in
charge of the improvisation department and Berklee
College of Music in Boston)
Alex Iles: Some players you hear have VERY well developed
single tongues.
[I know of several fine jazz players who can single
tongue 16th notes at mm=150 or
FASTER!!].Most players learn how to manipulate
"against the grain" slurs and a clean,
controlled single tongue to play across the widest
range of tempos.
At some point, especially in the bebop language and
beyond, you will probably need
to develop your mastery of one form of multiple
[double and triple] or doodle tongue
to hang in there on faster tunes. For double
tonguing in jazz, I like to use a softer
"du-gu" type of attack, rather than a
super-articulate "tu-ku". I use double tonguing on fast
tempos when I am NOT using a microphone. If I do
have a mic handy, I will use
more doodle tonguing. For the best examples of
doodle tonguing I would also suggest
listening to Carl Fontana, Bill Watrous, and
especially Bob McChesney's thorough
book [and demonstration CD] on the subject. He lays out a course of study which
explains the whole concept very clearly. Everytime I
listen to him demonstrate
what he has worked so hard to perfect [in person and
on record], I am dumbfounded.
Chris Smith: The advantage of a softer multiple tonguing
technique on trombone is
that a rapid stream of notes can be given equal
weight, and sound less "ricky-ticky"
than double tonguing.
One can play repeated notes
or long lines and place accents anywhere.
For playing jazz, which is what I do, it's much more
of a "swinging"
tonguing technique. Unfortunately I can't explain
exactly what "swing" is.
I think doodling just sounds better, at least to
jazz listeners and jazz musicians.
Though there are players out there who make
traditional TA-KA or DA-GA
tonguing swing, like Steve Turre, who is a giant of
modern jazz trombone.
My technique, which I
learned on my own, is a modified doodle, where
I put a little hint of a "K" on the second
syllable, so it becomes a doo-kle.
It did take a LOT of thought and practice for me to
figure out how to use an
alternate tonguing that would be CLEAR and DISTINCT.
Many people can doodle
okay, but to do it with real clarity takes a lot of
work. I think it was under a year of
daily practicing for me, though this was a period of
very intense practice for me.
Many hours (6+) every day. Learning to play J.J.’s
great solos was a big step forward.
What's that old saying? If
you want to play fast, play fast.
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