Lesson 41: Advanced Articulation — Double Tonguing
- Alternate t and k syllables evenly at moderate speed.
- Apply double tonguing to a fast Baroque passage and play it cleanly at tempo.
- Lessons 25 and 36 — sixteenth notes and mixed articulation.
- Double tonguing (du-gu / tu-ku).
- Fast-passage articulation.
Past a certain tempo, single tonguing is biology.
Single tonguing has an upper limit. The tongue can only return to its rest position so many times per second. For passages above roughly quarter = 130 in sixteenth notes, the tongue cannot keep up. Double tonguing solves this by alternating two tongue positions — t at the teeth, k at the back of the palate — halving the workload on each. The trick is making the k sound as clean as the t.
The basic alternation
Practise without the recorder first. Say te-ke te-ke te-ke slowly, then faster. The k tends to be weaker than the t; spend longer on the k than feels natural until they match.
Sixteen sixteenth notes on G. Single-tongue at first; then double-tongue. Compare the evenness.
Ascending C major in sixteenths, double-tongued. te on the strong sixteenths, ke on the weak.
Play: a fast Baroque passage
A Vivaldi-style sixteenth-note passage at allegro tempo. Single tonguing is on the edge; double tonguing makes it sit comfortably.
Now play these
- Vivaldi: Concerto RV 443
- The Allegro movements benefit from double tonguing at tempo.
- Handel: Sonata in D minor, HWV 367a (Vivace)
- A piece that essentially requires double tonguing at tempo.
- Telemann: Sonata TWV 40:101 (complete)
- The fast movements ask for double tonguing in the running passages.
When sixteen even sixteenth notes at quarter = 120 sound metronomic with double tonguing, move on to Lesson 42.
For groups of three — triplets and triplet sixteenths — the next syllable extension is t-k-t; see Lesson 67 (triple tonguing) when you reach the advanced track.