This blog is returning to some recent posts that I wrote about articulation. I wanted to reach out to a video made by Los Angeles Philharmonic principal trumpeter, Tom Hooten for this post, however. Earlier this year he posted this on his YouTube channel, and it is a great method for developing single tongue. His method for increasing the speed of a smooth single tongue is to start with short bursts of very fast speed. Then he increases the number of articulations while slowing the speed down.

This is in contrast to the H.L. Clarke method as described by Chris Gekker in his Articulation Studies book. This method basically starts the student playing 16th notes for a full minute at a manageable tempo (such as 80 bpm). Then over a very long time (weeks, months), the speed is increased, hopefully without adding tension.

A couple of details that I like in Tom Hooten’s video is the emphasis on a smooth articulation and the recovery measure after each repetition.

Here is a screen shot of Tom’s chart that I cropped and made black and white. This might come in handy for your practice session.

Tom Hooten’s chart–in black and white