Saxophone Forum


by Blind_Sax
(11 posts)
17 years ago

Double Tonguing

How do you make that phenomenon occur? And what about that growling sound?

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  1. by yotengotenor
    (29 posts)

    17 years ago

    Re: Double Tonguing

    I'm still trying to figure out double tounging myself. Growling, however, is something I can explain. Instead of just blowing an airstream into the sax, hum into it. It basically requires using more of your throat. Hum into the sax and just try to, for lack of a better word, roughen the the sound coming out of your throat. When I began to get this down, I couldn't go more than a minute or two without my throat getting sore. Once begin to get the hang of growling, adjust the intensity of your "humming" until you can growl without killing your throat competely. Also, growling tends to be easier to master on the upper half of the sax's normal range. Try practicing on the higher G initially; that seems to be easiest note to growl on. Once you master that, gradually work up and down from that note until the technique becomes natural.

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    1. by Sax Mom
      (964 posts)

      17 years ago

      Re: Double Tonguing

      Double tounguing, IMHO, is a procedure that works best for brass and flute, rather than reed instruments. With those, tonguing merely stops the airstream, so t-d-t-d-t-d works, and triple tonguing t-d-k-t-d-k works as well. With a reed instrument, like saxophone and clarinet, tonguing generally stops the vibration of the reed, so only the t works exactly right. The d and the k might stop the air, and therefore the sound, but to me it sounds fuzzy. Although, if you're playing fast enough so that double-tonguing or triple-tonguing is required, it will probably be too fast to notice the less than pristine tongue. My advice is to get your tongue to work as fast as possible without double-tonguing, but to practice the double-tonguing slowly to get the best sound, and gradually speed it up to what you require.

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  2. by barisax999
    (400 posts)

    17 years ago

    Re: Double Tonguing

    i cant actually double tounge, but ill tell you what they tell me. first, go for a ti-gee syllable. the gee is when about 1/4 inch back from the tip f your tounge barely taps the top of your mouth. in order to remove fuzz from the sound and other sound killers, you can puff your cheeks or leak out of the side of your mouth. these are two big no-no's only way to get it clean.all of the best classical players double tounge like crazy. it will sound much more effortless than single when done right

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  3. by The Insomniac Saxman
    (141 posts)

    17 years ago

    Re: Double Tonguing

    Sax_mom and barisax999 have mentioned the best way to go about it, which is the traditional way. If you're able to do it that way, then go for it. It will take some practice, but it's the best way to go. There are some saxophonists who are unable to do it and resort to what is known as "doodle-tonguing" which is an up-down flicking of the tip of the reed with the tongue, similar to moving a guitar pick up and down on a guitar string. This takes significantly more control than the traditional method, and puts the tip of your reed at risk, but is a cool technique when done properly.

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