Derek Reaban

Manny,

Since I’ve adopted a new style of articulation (anchor, dorsal, KTM) I discovered recently that flutter tonguing has become an issue. This was never a problem in the past because my tongue was never touching the front of my mouth, but I found some problems in the band arrangement of Slava (our concert was last night). I let some of the other players cover the flutter tongue parts because I just couldn’t coordinate this technique into my new playing set-up (it’s amazing how many tools are simply on auto-pilot after 30 years of playing). Since my tongue is very involved in the act of sound production as well as articulation, it seemed very foreign to me to “pull it back” for the flutter tongue motion.

I’m guessing that I will simply need to allow my tongue to move back from the front of my mouth so that I can flutter, and then let it move forward so that it’s lightly touching for the rest of my playing. I wasn’t comfortable (this was my first wind ensemble concert since I changed my articulation set up back in April) adding flutter tonguing back into the mix yet (multiple tonguing has been enough of a challenge to get up to an acceptable speed).

On this same issue, do you find that there are times when an alternate approach to articulation is appropriate for the music that you play? For instance, you articulate with the forward tongue (in all styles – legato / staccato and everything between) say 90% of the time, and then tongue with the “tip” for music that requires a sound different than you can achieve with the forward articulation?

Thanks!

DarkKnight88

I can't flutter tongue at all. Its the only thing that I can't do. And it is driving me crazy. I just haven't been able to get a hold of it.

How can I practice flutter tonguing? What are the best techniques to learn it properly?