eisprl

Is there such a thing as a "stiff tongue"? If so I think I have it. My tongue just won't cooperate. It could just be a woodshedding thing, so does anyone know good exercizes to loosen up the tongue a bit?

Thanks, I'm all ears
Eric

Alex Yates

Eric, could you expound upon this a little bit more? Do you mean that it is feeling stiff the faster you want to articulate? I notice a lot of players will tongue harder and with more tension when the tempo increases. I advocate the opposite. The faster the tempo, the less insistent the tongue needs to be. A quick tempo already makes up for articulation so there is no need to accentuate it further. Relax a bit, ride on the airstream, and when increasing the tempo, switch from "ta" to "da" or "doo". When I was working up the Jolivet Concertino one time, I reached a temporary ceiling when executing the triple tongue part. With consistent work in a very short timeframe, that ceiling shattered and I was able to work it up to a faster tempo than marked. I always work up speedy tongue passages a few notches faster than marked so the marked tempo feels easy when performed. I hope this helps.

Manny Laureano

Eric,

Is there a chance you could rent "Enter the Dragon" with Bruce Lee (the martial artist, not the trumpeter/teacher)?

Watch how he moves. If you "get it", you'll learn more about tonguing than you'd get in 5 lessons with a trumpeter.

Relaxation for movement,
strength for endurance,
and speed for potential artistry.

ML

Bear

Eric,
I've been askin' this for yrs... I have a big/slow tounge.. no matter what excerises/etc w/metronome or whatever, I just can't seem to do some things others can. I've been playin for x numbers of yrs and still have probs with mutitounging.
I have seen Enter the Dragon... good thoughts, back to my cage...

Tim