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Exercises 2 & 3
The single tongue and its relationship with the airstream.
As mentioned in the introduction, the single tongue has an important part to play in technical
approach and this can take a little time to develop and integrate into your muscle memory. It is
gentle; a classical trumpet player friend of mine describes this as “super tenuto”. The goal is to start
each note without interfering with the airstream; the tongue does not stop the airstream. Imagine that
there is no end to a note, just the beginning of the next one. Think of saying “dah” when tonguing to
achieve a seamless single tonguing articulation.
Exercise 2 is simple and will help to develop the single tonguing position and sensation of a constant
airflow when single tonguing. Come back to these exercises frequently if you start to hear gaps in
the airstream caused by tonguing too hard with jazz articulation (explained later). This means the
single tongue is no longer functioning gently or quickly and is disturbing the steady flow of air.
On Exercises 2 and 3, breathe through your nose when taking air. Nose breathing is mandatory for
these exercises, unless you feel uncomfortable breathing through your nose and your embouchure
does not change when taking a breath through the corners of your mouth. It does take a little longer
to inhale through your nose, but you do not need as much air as when inhaling through your mouth.
Within improvisation, it is not possible to know how much air you need, so lots of air is not always
necessary and can cause stress within the body. If your embouchure is disrupted by big gasps for
air, then consider using your nose to breathe. Imagine your embouchure is a circle and the muscles
that surround the circle are little arrows that should all be pointing into the centre of the circle. By
taking a breath with your nose, you can push the muscles around your mouth together, but if you
open your mouth when breathing in a lot of air, you may push your arrows in lots of different
directions.
Remember:
There is no end to the note, just the beginning of the next one.
Breath whenever necessary through the nose and do not be concerned with maintaining a steady
tempo when you take your breaths, as it takes a little longer to breathe in through the nose.
Even though this is a tonguing exercise, it is not the tongue we need to focus upon in Exercises 2
and 3, but the continual flow of air.
Exercise 2
'dah' (no gaps)
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