Slaptonguing creates a "popping" or percussive sound. A slap may be notated either pitched, or non-pitched depending on how much air the saxophonist uses. The sound is created by the reed rebounding and striking the mouthpiece. Slaptonguing requires some time and patience to develop. Tips: 1. Make certain you use your normal embouchure for the pitched slap tongue. The non-pitched variety requires that you pull the lower jaw away from the mouthpiece in one motion as you articulate; but the pitched variety requires that you keep your normal embouchure through the process. 2. It is far easier to slap tongue on low notes than high. Think about the heavy clicks we tend to get in the low register with the tongue when we're not careful. These are mild slap tongue sounds, so try it on your low Bb and B until you have some success. Also, you might want to begin on the tenor or baritone saxophone until you have the feel for it. 3. Place your tongue on the entire exposed reed inside your mouth. Cover the whole reed with the tongue and do some short, staccato articulations. This generally leads to a heaviness, or a "click" at the beginning of the articulation, much like what a beginning student would get. Eventually this tends to work better when you do not end the tone with the tongue, and again, this sound is especially easy to produce in the low register. 4. The amount of tone you want to have with the slap tongue is determined by the amount of air you put through the instrument -- it is not determined by the tongue. You can play either a very short note, or a very long note or passage of notes with the slap as a beginning attack. I find that the shorter notes seem to be easier to produce the slap, at least initially. 5. Basically, the slapping procedure involves pulling the reed away from the mouthpiece with the tongue. When the strength of the reed is too much for the tongue, it pulls away and cracks back against the mouthpiece, producing the slap sound. Over time I have learned to do this with far less effort than I thought was necessary originally. Most people who concentrate on the tongue flicking the tip of the reed initially tend to break a lot of reeds, so you may want to do this on a softer, old reed that won't be on your recital program any time soon. Thanks to Cliff Leaman (Associate Professor of Saxophone University of South Carolina). |
Joshua Redman Slap Tongue Intro "A study in laugh and slap tongue" - Rudy Wiedoeft Jungle by Christian Lauba played by Doug O'Connor on an alto sax - slap tonguing & circular breathing |
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