How fast can you tongue?

Tonguing is a very good thing to improve, as we use it all the time. A player with good articulation will enable them to play pieces previously impossible or awkward. Practice with the metronome set it at a speed just below one where you find it impossible to repeat 16 semi-quavers without slowing down. Increase this everyday by 2 metronome markings and see the progress. Your long term goal should be to tongue semi-quavers at 126-140bpm. Whenever practising it is it is always nice to see that you are improving on a day to day basis. In order to monitor your progress, set yourself small and specific targets. You will learn more about your playing doing this. If you possess Clarke’s technical studies (which every trumpeter should do!) try to single tongue the exercises, (once you can play them slurred) again monitor your progress with the metronome. If you do not have a copy of the technical studies, practice tonguing quietly low chromatics (below bottom ‘c’). Don’t be despondent, most players find this hard, normally because it is neglected a lot. Tonguing low notes fast and quietly will help with your general production.

Whenever tonguing it is crucial that you keep the air flowing through the lips, make sure that the tongue does not interfere too much with airstream. Strike the tongue against the top teeth or just above them if you are playing higher in pitch. Tonguing exercises might make you tense up, always try to relax. Make faster tonguing ‘easier’ tonguing. There should be hardly any difference with the amount of air you use for tonguing compared to a playing one long note. Make sure you never starve your instrument of air.