Feb 2000

Tonguing

First, I should point out that no tonguing is used at all in the koten honkyoku played at the International Shakuhachi Kenshu-Kan. It’s true that there are some honkyoku where tonguing can come in handy in certain phrases, but with honkyoku this usually gives an overall impression of “easiness” to the piece. Instead, we use tonguing mainly for modern pieces and those by Fukuda Rando. Of course, even with these songs, tonguing is kept just to those phrases where it has a beneficial musical effect.

For this month’s tip, I would like to talk about the most basic method of tonguing.

It is often written in instruction manuals and the like to make a “tu tu tu” sound to perform tonguing. This can indeed be helpful, and if this works for you, great. However, most of these descriptions start and stop at the point where the actual sound is made, but in fact the preparation before this is most crucial. What is necessary is sealing or blocking off the front of your mouth with your tongue without letting up on air pressure from behind. It is very important to keep the pressure applied with your breath. If you can do this, then tonguing will be easy. All you have to do is withdraw your tongue quickly. (This is what should produce the “tu-like sound” mentioned above.)

When performing repeated tonguing, keep up the breath pressure. If you allow it to slacken, your repeated tonguing won’t be very effective. The most important things to remember are to “focus on the instant before the sound when you cut the sound off”, “make a good seal with the tongue”, and “keep applying pressure with the breath”.