The Eight Tongue Types

Working on my session that I will present next week at the Mid-South Horn Workshop I saw a reference to a discussion of tongue types in The Encyclopedia of the Pivot System by Dr. Donald Reinhardt. Published in 1973 and billed as “A Scientific Text” for “all cupped mouthpiece brass instruments,” I found the “Augmented Version” of this text in the library.

I don’t believe I have seriously looked at this book since my Doctoral studies. It is not a source horn players turn to often. Skimming it over I found the story again of how the trombonist Reinhardt discovered his revolutionary Pivot System when his trombone was returned to him minus the counterweight after repairs. Related to that, he relates some rather negative memories of his “eighteen so-called brass instrument instructors” who could not help him with his problems, instead giving “inane excuses” by which they “tried to hide their inability to teach.” Ouch! In any event, “being analytical by nature,” Reinhardt developed his system through observation, in particular discovering “the upstream and downstream principles that are the very basis of the PIVOT SYSTEM.”

Jumping back to page 87 I arrived at the section on tongue types and indeed he describes eight types. Without going into great detail, what I found especially interesting is that the type of tonguing I use is not even described in the book! I will describe it more fully in the workshop session (it is very similar to the way Anton Horner describes tonguing in this post) but the closest words that describe the way I tongue from Reinhardt are these: “definitely incorrect.”

This is to say even a source that attempts to be comprehensive may in reality have a distinct point of view they are pushing. It may be a point of view that works great for some people though, so it is still worth understanding.

For more information on the Pivot System there is a great article online in the Online Trombone Journal, “An Introduction to Donald S. Reinhardt’s Pivot System” by David M. Wilken. This extended article includes his summary of all eight tongue types and much more. The book itself is out of print but is not that difficult to locate either used or in libraries for those interested to read more.