Double tonguing on the trumpet: it is usually an air problem

When double tonguing doesn't work, the tongue gets the blame, but it is usually the air that has stopped moving the way it does on a long note.

It is usually the air

Most people think the problem with their double tonguing is that their tongue is bad. It is usually their air.

A player once sent me a fast tongued passage that kept tripping them up. I said the same thing. I think it is an airflow issue, not a tongue issue. It usually is, with tonguing. You have more control and a faster tongue than you think.

Start from a long note

On an Academy call we spent most of a session on this. We started with long tones, going deeper into the sound, with the throat free. Then we added the tongue.

Play a long note. Then play ta-ka-ta, or da-ga-da, or whatever works best for you, keeping the same air you had on the long note. Then add two more notes. Then two more.

The thing to focus on is not the da-ga-da. That is going to happen on its own. The question is this. Does it still feel the same as the long note, or does it close up when I do the K?

If you can already double tongue and this bores you, you are not thinking deep enough. There are always efficiencies to be found.

Listen to the K

Listen to the difference between the K and the T. If the K is weak, it is likely that your air is the issue. Trust me on this. Keep the air moving.

If the K is really bad, go the other way round and start on it. Ka-ta, ka-ta.

You want to get the K as far forward in the mouth as possible. It is not really possible for me, because I have such a high roof to my mouth. Everyone's mouth is a bit different.

A player said the K gets harder as they go higher. That is very common. It is the same for me, honestly. It probably means you have been relying on your tongue position for compression. The temptation is to go tek-tek-tek, and if you do that in the upper register you run out of air and compression. Keep going with it slowly and it will strengthen the other things.

Slur it first, then add the tongue

When we moved on to the double tonguing studies in the Arban, we did not play them as written. We played each one slurred first, with no tongue at all, focusing on the sound being good everywhere. Then we added the tongue.

I like doing it this way. It locks you in to what it is supposed to sound like. I wouldn't want to tongue a phrase any differently from how I would slur it. The only thing that changes is the tongue.

Be careful on the way down. It is always harder to descend on the instrument than to ascend. The biggest problem people have when they descend is that they back off the air. This is an air game, so keep it going.

Slow, and the same on every note

I would rather you did it slowly and well than fast with every note sounding different. If things are fluffy, don't allow them to be fluffy.

If we sat on our own and thought, I had better do some double tonguing, most of us would rattle through the exercises. That doesn't train the body to do what it should be doing.

If you get fuzz in the sound, it is just muscles that haven't worked like this for a while. Think of it as a lack of coordination. That is all it is.

Why bother

I am not the greatest double tonguer of all time. I hardly ever double tongue now, and when I do, it takes a few goes to come back in. But I was totally classically trained and I did a lot of this when I was young. I remember learning the Goedicke Concert Etude. That is a great piece to learn if you want to get good at it. I would say I could only really double tongue once I could play runs up and down the instrument with it. That is where the skill is most useful.

Some players never use it and never learn it. I would still say it is good for your general trumpet technique, even if you don't use it. If anything, it increases your awareness of things you were not aware of before.

It comes back. It just needs attention, like everything.

One thing to try this week

Take one bar of something you have to double tongue. Slur it until every note sounds the same. Then add the tongue slowly, keeping the air exactly as it was. Ask yourself one question: did it close up on the K?

More trumpet advice

• Playing the trumpet in tune: use the slides, but it starts with your ears
• How to choose a trumpet mouthpiece: it should feel better straight away
• Learning music by ear on the trumpet: sing it before you play it