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Fwd: O.T. faster didgeridoo playing

For the didge players on the list. This helped me alot. Bill/Las Vegas



 





I ran across this post
(http://www.garply.com/harp-l/archives/harp-l-digest/October/0511.html),
authored by Winslow Yerxa, of the Harmonica
Information Press.  It covers double and triple
tonguing in a really clear way, and almost all of it
applies to didge playing directly.  Applying these
techniques increased my tongue speed instantly.

Uh, what are you all looking at? ;->)

<snip>
Samuel Gravina marvels at Steve Baker's speed on a
particular lick, and wonders how he can tongue so
fast:
If I put my harp down and just try to say "da - da -
da - da" that fast I eventually fail.
There's an easier way. What you describe is called
single tongueing. There are also double and triple
tongueing:
Ta - ka, Ta - ka (double)
Ta - ka - ta, Ta - ka - ta (triple)
These have been in use by brass and woodwind players
for centuries.
However, I find the "T" and "K" consonants can cause a
couple of problems.
- The front-of-mouth chamber formed with the "K"
consonant has a specific resonance - it's the same
chamber formed when bending - and if the resonance
doesn't match the ptich of the reed being played, it
won't sound. Consequently the T - K combination
requires practice so that notes will not refuse to
speak.
- The T - K consonants are formed in two different
places on the tongue - the "T" at the front, the "K"
farther back, so the tongue has to do a "toe-heel"
dance to alternate them. This helps avoid singloe
point fatigue but is also a speed limiter.
While the T - K combination can be marvellously
percussive on the harmonica, sometimes it's too
percussive. I have an alternate method that is
smoother and easier to do. It involves the nonsense
word "duddle," as in:
Da - dl - a - dl (double)
Da - dl - a, da - dl - da (triple)
The "a" all by intself is articulated nicely by the
"dl" preceding and the "d" following. You could say
"da - dl - da", but I find that extra "d" isn't really
necessary.
The beauty of the Duddle syllable is that you can get
two "hits" from one touch. Every time you touch the
tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, you get
two articulations, instead of just one like with "T"
or "K."
When you say the first "Duh" you touch not only the
tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, but
enough of the front rim of your tongue to completely
cut off the airflow. The you drop your tongue and let
the air through for the "uh" part. Repeating this
would be virtually the same as the "ta - ta - ta" you
find hard to sustain.
Now come back and say "uddle," and pay attention to
what your tongue does. It rises to the roof of your
mouth and seals off the air flow completely, for the
"D" part. But for the following "L" part, the tip of
the tongue STAYS PUT while the sides disengage from
contact with the roof.
Both "D" and "L" touch the tip of the tongue to the
roof of the mouth. The only difference is that "D"
adds the neighboring areas to stop the airflow. It's
possible to play and even bend while holding an "L"
sound - it changes the tone a little.
Saying the "D" gives you the first hit. Dropping to
the "L" gives you the second hit, with minimal motion.
Once precaution for all the front-of-mouth tongue
articulations, including "T," "D," and "L" - move them
back from the teeth. Hitting the back of the teeth -
for me at least - stretches the tongue out of its
normal orbit and also interferes with the airflow. I
like to touch my tongue to the "shoreline" area - the
edge of flat space behind the teeth just before the
roof heads steeply into deep waters. YMMV (your mouth
may vary).

By Winslow Yerxa
</snip>

Hope this helps promote didgeridoo playing, domestic
relations, and World Peace.