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Re: triple tonguing

In message <LPBBJDMMBGJGFDDIFMOCEENICBAA.dead_boy_1999@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
Martin Slattery <dead_boy_1999@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes
>hi all
>I am studying A-Level music and i play the Baritone. About 5 months ago a
>man from band taught my how to triple tongue, he taught me the "ta ka ta"
>method, so i practiced and was making progress. When i started college a
>brass teacher wasn't pleased with the method of triple tonguing i was using
>and said i should practice the conventional way, "ta ta ka", because it
>gives a much cleaner, sharper sound, he said. However i've been asking other
>brass teachers and players and i have found that there is mixed opinions
>about the correct method of triple tonguing and which is the best method to
>use.
>Please could i have some opinions.

Well, any difference in maximum speed between the two must be purely
psychological in origin; if you write out a number of them, you'll see
what I mean:-

  TKTTKTTKTTKTTKT... versus
 TTKTTKTTKTTKTTK...

One is simply the other with an extra T at the beginning/end (as
appropriate), so the muscle movements are identical. However you look at
it, you have to articulate two Ts in a row every cycle (unless you try
some less orthodox means of articulation - say ta-da-ga, but you still
have the problem of two consecutive articulations with the tongue
starting from a similar place (da and ga)). So, it's simply which feels
the easiest in your mind. I've always found TKT very cumbersome and
simply not as speedy as TTK; perhaps this is because I can imagine the K
in TTK sneaking in at the end with a single drop of the tongue, whereas
the K in TKT obviously (i.e. at first sight) involves both an up and a
down movement (of course, TTK does as well, but I think that perhaps I
can fool myself into not consciously seeing the up movement (K to T), as
it is between cycles, and therefore can leave it to happen naturally).
Probably all no help at all, but I think it worth noting that a large
majority of the better brass players (as far as I'm aware) use TTK.
Do not consider this an indictment to change your technique - if TKT
works fine for you, then stick with it (although it could well be useful
to be able to use TTK in the future - some passages are more easy with
one rather than the other, and, at professional levels, I'm told that
one or the other is sometimes required specifically).

HTH
Dave Taylor


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