double tonguing

Whether it’s Voliere from Saint-Saëns’ Le Carnaval des animeaux, Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, or the Poulenc flute sonata, double tonguing is out the lurking around the next corner and it isn’t going away.  So, make it yours.  As with any articulation, you will want to be able to control the speed by choosing the right consonant.  T and K are the most common, alongside D and G.  These are great consonants when you need to control the double tonguing at a medium speed.  But, when Saint-Saëns expects you to imitate a bird flitting around an aviary from wall to wall at an extremely fast speed, you need something faster.  The tongue will move faster when less mass of the tongue blade moves.  So, the closer together your consonants are on the blade of the tongue, the faster you can go.  One of my teachers, Gary Schocker, recommends using the sounds “cherkee (with the “r” being silent).” This only utilizes the very front of the tongue blade, thus minimizing movement. This works fantastically, when combined with a steady and uninterrupted flow of air, adequate pharyngeal space, and the middle of your tonge remaining in the [i] position, as if you are saying the word “me.”