4.7 Refining Technique

Articulation

Single-Tonguing Tips

• Use your lightest articulation—go for light, easy contact with reed
• Set metronome to barely attainable speed
• Use constant and steady stream of air
• Choose least resistant notes to start
• Practice one exercise at a time(many repeats); pause and rest when tongue gets tired
• For variation, displace the rests, mix up the rhythms, lengthen the fragments.
• Maximum 5 minutes per practice session
• *courtesy of Frank Morelli and Rachael Elliott

Double-Tonguing Tips

• Initiate sound with "kuh" or "kee" or "guh" or "ghee"
• The k syllable is often slow, weak, and late. Practice it until it matches your t syllable.
• Set metronome to barely attainable speed
• Use constant and steady stream of air
• Choose least resistant notes to start; start with a single pitch
• Saying "kee" of "ghee" brings the articulation forward in your mouth so it's not late
• Practice speaking the syllables "tuh-kee-tuh-kee" (or your preferred syllables) and then air-playing them (blowing air through lips but without sound)
• Maximum 5 minutes per practice session

Vibrato Exercises

• Say "huh, huh, huh, huh" or imagine panting like a dog
• While sustaining a single pitch, imagine alternating dynamics very rapidly between pp to ff.
• Keep throat open and relaxed, avoid moving lips or jaw
• Set metronome to quarter=60
• Play a whole note, then give a little puff of air "(say "huh") on four slurred quarter notes, followed by a whole note
• Gradually add eight notes, triplets, sixteenths, quintuplets