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To conclude this series on double and triple tonguing, we turn to William R. Brophy, who suggests in his Technical Studies for Solving Special Problems on the Horn to focus on cutting off the ends of the syllables with the tongue as an aid to double tonguing.
Making the “K” better is a key element
The first step is to focus on the K syllable with cut offs. For a group of four sixteenth notes followed by an eighth note and a rest this could be represented as Kuk-Kuk-Kuk-Kuk-Kooh. He notes
In actuality the “k” which ends one note is the same “K” which starts the next; the consonant is simply opened to allow a short puff of compressed air (blown firmly) into the instrument. Try to make the “K” attacks sound as much as possible like “T” attacks….
Many teachers advocate, and many students find it easier to end each syllable with a breath release. Step No. 1 would then become “Kooh Kooh Kooh Kooh Kooh,” stopping each note with a breath release….
The main draw-back to this approach (using the breath release) comes when speed is increased. There comes a point at which it is no longer possible to make the breath releases. At this speed one must shift into “high gear,” blow a steady air stream and stop each note with the consonant which begins the next.
The second step extends this to double tonguing which in our same example could be represented as Tuk-Kut-Tuk-Kut-Tooh. At a slow tempo “this will sound a bit crude,” but Brophy notes that “since the ultimate speed desired for double tonguing precludes the possibility of breath releases it is wise to start the routine in the same way that it will eventually have to be done when speed is acquired.”
The third step Brophy suggests is to make T and K sound as nearly identical as possible and the final step is to “try to move the ‘T’ and ‘K’ closer together in the mouth—the ‘T’ as far back as possible and the ‘K’ far forward.”
Toward getting more even articulations
Barry Tuckwell in Playing the Horn feels that for triple tonguing TTK is “generally better, as it gives more force and balance” and suggest that the best way to learn double and triple tonguing is to
…play the tonally straightforward études of Kopprasch, Kling, or Gallay, using double or triple rather than single tonguing. It will be found that many of the difficult notes fall on the weak articulation; this is the best practice for getting all the notes to sound even.
Single tonguing is more important
Verne Reynolds in The Horn Handbook states that “horn players need to develop a reliable, steady, strong, fast, single tongue in all registers and dynamics.” He continues,
Practicing multiple tonguing by slowly articulating “tu ku,” or “tu tu ku” probably does no great harm. Like all slow practice, it assures us that we can do the procedure slowly. We are still faced with the necessity of rapidly articulating “tu ku,” or “tu tu ku.”
His basic context is that “A fast, reliable single tongue is more necessary on the horn than on the trumpet,” a viewpoint that very likely many horn players would agree with but few have expressed in print.
A brief note from the MRI studies
I believe the MRI studies bear out the correctness of the idea that you want to keep the double (and triple) tonguing motion forward in the mouth.
An aside from my own studies, and a challenge to horn teachers
Finally, as readers may know from prior articles, I studied with the late Verne Reynolds for my masters degree. In that time we worked on a wide variety of challenging works on a high level but the topic of multiple tonguing actually never came up in lessons. The fact being that he very much wanted his students to develop a very fast single tongue, which I did have coming in and further developed as his student. But I could not multiple tongue worth beans. I finally learned how in the period right after my MM studying with other teachers and working on audition excerpts, with Eli Epstein having perhaps the most direct influence on my approach to double and triple tonguing.
Where I am going with the above digression is that really I should have learned it sooner. Ever notice how children can learn multiple languages easily and with no accent? But adults learning a new language have an accent? I have never truth be known ever been really happy with my multiple tonguing and I blame it on learning the technique too late. If you are a younger student reading this or are a teacher that works with younger students, don’t wait! The sooner you start working on multiple tonguing the better you will ultimately be able to multiple tongue. Which is why I included multiple tonguing exercises in my publication Ultimate Horn Technique, which is out of print but I still use it with my students for this very reason.
This series on tonguing is done! Onward!
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