Posted by FG on January 06, 2002 at 20:19:22:
In Reply to: Double tonguing posted by Doug on January 06, 2002 at 17:01:48:
I know you wern't asking for tips.. but one thing to try might be just practicing the "K" by itself... this seems to help me keep the 2x/3x stuff more clean.
Many people seem to feel that having a sound "concept" of your articulation syllable is the most important thing; your body will follow your mind. That is to say that it is better to pursue a concept of articulation rather than the specifics of what your tongue may be doing or where it is in your mouth. Or so many believe.
I basically agree with this concept based system, but I have observed a few things about multiple tongueing over the years. It seems to me that the basic difference between 1x and multiple is that for really fast effectife multiple tongueing the tongue is higher in the mouth (like de-ge-de-ge.)
In single tongueing, the idea is to "get to the vowel" as quickly as possible. Using a syllable like "Toh" facilitates a low tongue position and minimal incursion of tongue in airstream-- just enough to interrupt and create a clear articulation.
The difficulty with multiple tongueing is if the tongue is very low in the mouth as in single articulation, everything feels sort of "unwieldy." To me the middle of the tongue is sort of the fulcrum of a see-saw during (let's say) double tongueing. To be really quick and deft, the higher the fulcrum the better. Try saying "toh-kok-toh" versus "tee-kee-tee" I find that the former is more clumsy and involves much more motion of the tongue. The problem is that it can seem conterintuitive to use a syllable that incorporates a high tnghe position since it goes against most teaching.
Good gracious what a lot of typing. Anyway that's my take