Horn Matters | A French Horn and Brass Site and Resource | John Ericson and Bruce Hembd

We all need speed!

Conventional wisdom says …

To begin this survey on the topic of rapid single tonguing, Farkas in The Art of French Horn Playing advocated a soft “too” or “doo” to make a “much lighter seal that allows very rapid, light tonguing.”

Farkas returned to the topic in The Art of Brass Playing with four aids toward development of rapid tonguing which he summarized

…briefly: 1.) focus the lip “buzz” accurately on the desired pitch, 2.) move only the tip of the tongue, and only in an up-and-down direction, 3.) make the stroke of the tongue as short as possible, and, 4.) do not create a tight hermetic seal, but let the tongue touch lightly—almost to the point of letting air escape between notes.

These four aids will do wonders for increasing the speed of the tongue, but only when combined and used in complete synchronization.

From previous readings you should be noting that on suggestion number 2) Farkas is not correct, MRI studies show the direction tonguing is more of and oblique motion that is neither up and down nor forwards and backwards. But to think of the motion as small and near the tip of the tongue can be helpful.

To tongue rapidly you have to practice tonguing rapidly

Fred Fox in Essentials of Brass Playing made an observation that I am sure most experienced brass teachers could make.

Many players claim they do not have a “fast tongue.” This is not necessarily the case. The fault usually lies in not practicing specific exercises designed to develop a fast tongue. To develop a fast tongue on has to practice fast tonguing exercises.

Fox suggests working patterns of eighths, triplets, and sixteenth notes and keeping the attack hard. At the point where one is completing the sixteenth note patterns

…you may start to feel as if your tongue wants to fall out of your mouth, or is getting paralyzed. Persist, the tired feeling is occurring because you are starting to exercise a specific set of muscles. They will grow stronger with practice.

Keep motion to a minimum

Barry Tuckwell in Playing the Horn notes that for rapid tonguing

The tongue is usually given too much to do, and this slows down fast repeated notes. To avoid this always keep the tongue at the bottom of the mouth, out of the way, until it is necessary to begin another note. Then only put it forward at the last possible moment—in much the same way as a piano hammer works.

A visualization: Thoo compared to La

In Practical Hints on Playing the French Horn David Bushouse feels that tonguing is quickest if you think of the motion being essentially up and down but also indicates that the true motion may be somewhat different.

Try this: first, say a series of the syllable thoo quickly, then follow with a series of la. Notice the awkwardness of the forward and back motion of thoo contrasted with the lightness and quickness possible with la. For fast tonguing, retain the toe syllable but try to achieve the up and down quickness of la. For the very fastest possible tonguing, it is necessary to lighten up the attack with a legato doe syllable, which requires less time for each new attack.

A fast single tongue is a very essential, key skill

Verne Reynolds in The Horn Handbook opens his section on tonguing by noting that “A fast single tongue is the horn player’s good friend.” He continues,

A reasonable, but necessary, single tonguing speed allows us to play four notes on each beat when the metronome is set at 138-144. Some players seem to have been born with a fast tongue; others need to develop speed. The tongue can tire quickly, causing us to lose speed after several groups of notes.

Reynolds thus suggests that

Speed is developed by using the work and rest principle. If, when practicing for speed with the metronome, fatigue becomes apparent, simply rest for six or eight beats and continue.

Thinking back on my lessons with Reynolds, I am sure he loved my fast single tonguing! At one point in a lesson he told me specifically that I “tongued like a one-eyed black snake.” It is a skill we all need to master.

Interlude: MRI study reflections

Stepping back from the sources above to the MRI resources and vintage X-ray videos cited last week it would be good to reflect again on the questions below:

• Is the tongue the shape you thought it was?
• Is it moving in the direction and to the place you thought it was?
• What does the tongue do in different registers?
• How about that double tonguing?

I have long suspected that many of the moderately advanced players out there with problems with rapid tonguing are trying too hard to do what conventional wisdom or words on a page in a book said to do. We do have power as teachers to tie our students up in knots.

Of all the classic horn method books the most extensive and focused resource on rapid single tonguing is the Brophy book. It will be the focus in our next installment in this series.

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To conclude our series on tonguing in general we turn to two more recent American horn teachers.

Tonguing is part of an uninterrupted and automatic motion

Verne Reynolds in The Horn Handbook ties the action of the tongue stroke to the air and that it all must happen in one, uninterrupted and automatic motion.

The tongue stroke and air flow must be timed precisely. A hesitant tongue stroke produces late and uncertain responses. A late air flow produces inaccuracies. The metronome is very helpful in timing the air intake with the tongue stroke and air flow. There should be no pause at the top of the intake, but rather the air should change directions immediately with the tongue stroke. The tongue should not rest against the back of the upper teeth before the stroke but should have an uninterrupted motion.

On examination you will find that the tongue is slightly tapered at its front and can be rather thick and broad. From behind the upper teeth a quick withdrawal of this breadth (there is no tip of the tongue), when timed precisely with the beginning of the air flow, can cause the lips to vibrate. Once the intake has begun, there must be no pause in the sequence of air intake-tongue stroke-air flow. A rhythmically controlled, slightly audible air intake and precise tongue strokes are indispensable in wind chamber music.

The process must become natural and automatic.

And yet another approach

Douglas Hill in Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance, after suggesting a basic articulation of “tahhh,” notes that for an articulation

The tip of the tongue very briefly touches the gum line near the top teeth. At the release of the warm air, the tip of the tongue drops quickly down and slightly back, resting near the bottom of the mouth. Let the air flow with a constant speed as described above. To stop this tone, you simply suspend the air. Let the motion cease.

It is almost never necessary to stop the air with a constriction of the throat or with a placement of the tongue up to the gum… The tongue helps only to establish a type of beginning to each sound. This is just like normal speech. The softer the tongue touches the gum line, the less compression for the air release, and the more mellow, smooth, or legato the note will sound. There are many transient qualities, or consonants, possible, with “t” and “d” being the most commonly used by brass players.

So are the Hornmasters done talking about tonguing? Not by a long shot. Be looking for more soon on topics including staccato, rapid tonguing, and multiple tonguing.

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Return to University of Horn Matters Pedagogy Course week 7

Barry Tuckwell in Playing the Horn is open to the idea that there is no one placement for the tongue in the mouth in articulations.

A flat tongue

This concept can be very helpful. Farkas described the tip of the tongue making contact, but for me certainly it is a wider, flatter area of the tongue making light and quick contact as Tuckwell describes.

The exact position of the tongue will vary from player to player. Most people will find that putting it against the hard palate for a ‘D’ sound is best, while there are some who find it more satisfactory to put the tip of the tongue behind the teeth, in some cases actually touching the lips. But whatever position proves to be the best, a flat tongue should be used—‘DA’ rather than ’DE’.

He also cautions that

The most crucial part of tonguing is the withdrawal of the tongue from the hard palate; it should only be forward for the briefest possible moment, and must never rest there—this produces dull, ponderous attacks, and is not efficient for fast articulations.

A very different approach

Farquharson Cousins in On Playing the Horn has quite a bit different take on tonguing in general than seen in sources examined to this point in this series, driven both by different terminology and by different concepts. For starters he notes

The object of tonguing is to control the start and style of every entry. Since tonguing can make or mar a hornplayer more than any other factor, it is, in a way, his hallmark. Certainly if the muscle set-ups are consistent, then only faulty tonguing can upset the physical side of production.

Cousins notes that “The main difficulty in attempting an analysis is that we cannot see someone else’s tongue and respiratory apparatus in action” but we can observe others and use our sensations to “guide us to the results we seek.” There is much depth to his discussion of tonguing that is difficult to briefly encapsulate, but these bullet points are all direct quotations drawn from his text and follow his narrative.

• The whole air column is not started or stopped except from the tongue outwards
• The sensation is that the air flows all the time and that the tongue merely interpolates
• The movement of the tongue is a stroking or pulsating one, rather than a pointed jab like a bird’s pecking
• The function of the tongue is that of a soft stopper
• If the tip of the tongue is used, we find that this stopper withdraws in such a manner that air rushes violently into the vacuum thus momentarily created
• The initial wave of air accelerates and … the result is a ‘plop’ prior to the production of the note
• ‘Plop’ tonguing is not infrequently the cause of cracked entries
• With the flat of the tongue we can make a sympathetic stopper of a soft and pliable nature
• I believe that the best players all use some form of ‘dah’ with the tip of the tongue below the bottom of the teeth, leaving the flat part of the tongue as the operative part, flapping, as it were, against the roof of the mouth
• The ‘dah’ position minimizes the impact of the air flow meeting the air column of the instrument, and therefore eliminates the vacuum with its attendant whirlpool of air
• An essential part of experimenting consists in constantly referring back to the pure sound which is produced by the instrument when the tongue is not used at all and we have merely breathed ‘whoo’
• The ‘whoo’ becomes a ‘too’ when tongued…. But I hasten to add that it is a ‘da’ or ‘dah’ position ‘too’
• At the moment of tonguing the feeling should be one of blowing air into the tube and not at the mouthpiece
• When entering on a high note, e.g. top ‘G’ near the beginning of “Scheherazade” it is sometimes a good plan to do so without using the tongue at all
• The start of a note is not from a static position
• Our aim should be to mould our embouchure to the notes as closely as possible
• A too large or too thick-rimmed mouthpiece is perhaps our worst enemy
• The main secret of making high entries is to keep the air pressure dominant to the physical tongue movement
• The high notes come out most easily and safely when the tongue is braced with its tip curling downward and pressing forcibly outwards against the inside of the bottom teeth
• The chin in hornplaying must always be drawn in firmly
• Generally speaking the relaxed tongue is for low notes and the taut tongue for high

Unpacking this briefly

Cousins is looking for a tongue position that is more forward than that of Farkas and also lower generally in the mouth. The primary contact surface of the attack is on the flat of the tongue.

Starting notes, not attacking them

Next we have his general approach to starting a note.

The start of a note (the word ‘start’ is preferable to ‘attack’ because the latter invites a stabbing jab) is not from a static position, but is approached much as a long-jumper takes a run of increasing speed at times his take-off to maximum effect. The hornplayer at the moment of ‘start’ will, like the long-jumper, have is muscle ‘set-up’ at its peak. The analogy of the gathering momentum of the long-jump is paralleled: the hornist has a gathering momentum of air-pressure so that he comes on to the note in the process of an overall physical onslaught. The pent-up breath waiting to be delivered into the instrument will be powered exactly to the note and volume required.

And the vowels matter

Finally, he notes that the tongue position will be different for the high and low ranges (at extremes “O” and “Eeeeh”) with a “relaxed tongue for low notes and the taut tongue for high.”

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Continuing our series, we turn to two more Classic horn methods for their notes on tonguing, both of which hit on some ideas outside of the conventional wisdom on the topic.

Coughing?

Fred Fox in Essentials of Brass Playing has quite a bit to say about tonguing. He begins his general discussion from the angle of improving the attack. “A cough is a sudden exhalation of air” and for Fox elements of a cough (especially the “diaphragm hardening”) mirror tonguing on a brass instrument, and may be applied to the concept of an attack.

Exactly how soft or explosive an attack is depends on the timing between the diaphragm hardening and the tongue release. An attack can be soft and still use the diaphragm action as discussed. Start a note on the instrument with the suggested sudden diaphragm hardening action but with no tongue at all. Notice that no matter how hard a cough action is used, without the tongue, the result is a soft spongy start. Play the note again, this time using the tongue start as used when saying the syllable “da.” This start is also on the soft side because no time was allowed for pressure to build up behind the tongue….

Coordinating the timing between the tongue and the diaphragm determines the percussiveness of an attack in “piano” or “forte.” The more the tone delays the release the harder the attack. Being aware of this relationship between tongue and diaphragm helps alleviate one of the common problems of brass players, the “stutter” attack. This occurs when too much pressure is allowed to build up in back of the tongue causing the release to be explosive. To avoid this result one should more consciously plan to release the tongue closer to the moment that the diaphragm hardens.

Tongue placement

Moving on from the coughing idea (not a great suggestion I think), Fox has a definite opinion and a good suggestion on the topic of tongue placement in articulations.

Where should the tip of the tongue be placed when attacking a note? There are a few possibilities, such as touching only the lips, touching the upper palate only, touching the upper palate and the teeth simultaneously, and touching only the upper teeth.

Touching the lips is not advisable because when the tongue touches the lips it tends to part them slightly and they are not in compressed position for the buzz. This can result in a last minute adjustment of the lips at the moment the air is passing between them causing a momentary “hiss” sound before the lips are completely set to vibrate. The other usual extreme is for the tip of the tongue to contact the upper palate and front teeth simultaneously. This results in a slightly spongy, unclear attack.

The most efficient contact point for the tongue to contact on attack is the lower edge of the upper teeth, as low as possible but at no time touching the lips.

…The result is a more solid block of air and a firmer attack.

The tongue determines the accuracy of the attack

According to Harry Berv in A Creative Approach to the French Horn

Because of its large, conical tubing, its relatively small bore, and its deep funneled mouthpiece, the horn does not respond readily to articulation….

The tongue is all-important to the attack and release of air into the mouthpiece. Properly employed, it initiates the sound with a distinction and precision comparable to a finger striking a piano key. In addition to controlling the release of air into the mouthpiece, the tongue determines the accuracy of the attack no matter what the degree of tension and no matter what the dynamic requirement. Because of the deep funneling of the horn mouthpiece, the horn’s small bore and its conical tubing—which is longer than that of any other brass instrument—the activity required of the tongue is greater and the attack itself must be more emphatic.

Before the attack, the tongue is behind the two top front teeth and lightly touching them. The tongue never at any point goes beyond or outside the lips.

On grape pits and mutes

Berv, as student of Horner, suggests the use of the syllable “tu” combined with a “light but decided thrust of air” in an exercise that involves spitting out a small object such as a grape pit. He also has another exercise and suggests that

An excellent aid in improving and refining a centered attack is a nontransposing mute. With a cloth or chamois wrapped around the whole mute, tightly insert it into the bell, making the bell almost airtight. This creates more resistance to the airstream, thus requiring the tongue to work much harder…. You will notice that after the mute is removed, the tongue will be lighter and capable of greater speed, which alleviates the problem of sluggishness.

Odd suggestions sometimes are helpful ones

This last point brings to mind one of what I thought at the time to be odder things I ever heard recommended. It involved warming up while playing a mute. It still seems overall like a bad idea to me, the mute would impact centering and tone color among other things. But perhaps the theory behind it had to do with something related to increased resistance. I have noticed that some technical passages seem easier when played on my Silent Brass mute, but I am not convinced that adding resistance to the airstream is a good idea to improve tonguing.

In any event we are only half way through the resources I have lined up for this overview on tonguing.

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