Double Tonguing on the Saxophone

Ever wondered how saxophonists play rapid staccato lines? Saxophone master Ole Mathisen walks you through the double tonguing technique, showing you how it works and giving you tricks on how to practice it!
Learn more at academy.jazz.org
Ole Mathisen - Tenor saxophone
Eric Suquet - Director
Bill Thomas - Director of Photography
Aaron Chandler - Sound Engineer
Richard Emery - Production Assistant
Seton Hawkins - Producer
Recorded September 18, 2014

[@rwtig]

The ladies love him

[@latinkeys1]

rwtig hahaha stupid!

[@jaykay1053]

That's the nicest classical tenor sound I've heard. Beautiful.

[@olemathisen6018]

Thank you!

[@olemathisen6018]

If you are curious to hear this technique implemented more thoroughly and musically, check out my new album Floating Points: www.olemathisen.com/floating_points_album/

[@olemathisen6018]

Andrew - that's a very good question. I have experimented with taking less and more mouthpiece, and I find that it is a bit easier to double tongue when biting farther out on the mouthpiece. However, don't compromise your sound. With my current setup I bite pretty far in on the mouthpiece, and I have gotten used to having the tongue pulled back a bit to compensate.

[@lisanichols1744]

This worked great for me, thanks so much, Ole! As a flutist, I'm pretty spoiled on double tonguing. I'm doubling for a musical and my saxophone tonguing was much too sluggish, but I didn't like the results I got with a "Guh" or "Kuh" the way most videos recommend. Ole's technique is simple and sounds much more even, and it came pretty naturally too. I think of playing "Te The" with "The" being the backstroke. Takk!!!

[@olemathisen6018]

Takk til deg! Very happy to hear you found it applicable - great luck going forward.

[@Chronic.Pivoter]

Thank you for that. At first, I thought he suggested doing the same thing as on flute, but in the end I realised that I didn't get his explanation at all. Your comment helped me understand what he meant.

[@PemaquidGirl]

@@olemathisen6018 Thank you!!!

[@PemaquidGirl]

@@Chronic.Pivoter I'm so glad it helped!

[@robertzantay5923]

Try not touching the reed at all, just disturb the airstream by saying doodle, doodle for sixteenths and doodle da for triplets

[@mathewtrejo5577]

This was really Inspiring, a Million thanks!!!

[@olemathisen6018]

Thank you! I was happy to hear that you found it useful.

[@jaykay1053]

Wow! Sounds amazing! I You've inspired me to add this to my regimen.

[@olemathisen6018]

Awesome - have fun!

[@LCohenSax]

Amazing!

[@josharave2736]

Mate holy crap this helped for even my normal tongueing

[@TRstarburst383]

do you find you use less mouth piece while double tonguing, i find it hard to use my tongue very well when i pull it back in my mouth far enough to move above the mouth piece.

[@olemathisen6018]

@Evan De Turk, Not quite - I believe flutter tonguing is more like rrrrolling the r. Also, with flutter tonguing you can not control the speed.

[@trumpetplayerdude9838]

Ole Mathisen you can control the speed of it by blowing more or less air more faster less slower

[@garymelhaff9327]

wow - never heard anyone suggest this method of double tonguing! So curious, if this is easier why do people do it the other way?

[@sawyerkiddmyers5673]

Why is he wearing a sax case strap as his neck strap?

[@zaynemaddox2508]

sawyer Kidd myers tf I just noticed

[@jaykay1053]

Looks like a really great custom strap. Anyone know if it is or if it's sold somewhere?

[@pilargarcia7732]

I wear mine like that too lol

[@pascal62]

he might have forgotten his strap at home lol

[@olemathisen6018]

Haha, It is a custom strap and very comfortable I might add.

[@AviCiderMmm]

i learned to do this by myself last week before even watching this, i do the exact same thing as him and i think thats pretty cool

[@evanhenderson7783]

Is it possible that different mouthpieces have different difficulties

[@vioklarnet1722]

Techniques name?

[@ericperry1861]

I have never found that I can control the speed when doing this dawdle tongue method. Similar to how James Carter uses it, I can only go one speed.

[@kidding6712]

Eric Perry Same I can only go one speed not faster or slower

[@olemathisen6018]

Yes, I spent a lot of time controlling double tonguing at every tempo.

[@blueeyedsoulman]

My tongue feels numb now lol

[@teezhengxuan1651]

dont you think that the mouthpiece is hard to tongue（i tried to practice up and down but its to hard to tongue😕)

[@teezhengxuan1651]

Hope i can get more advice of double tounging

[@manswine7735]

how old are you

[@evs7534]

Does that break your Reed?

[@olemathisen6018]

No it does not. However, I am using plastic reeds and I am an endorser of BARI Woodwind Synthetic Reeds

[@deturksounds]

So iits kind of like flutter tounging but slower

[@stevepethel6843]

Beautiful Inspiration in a honest lesson...God bless you for giving that great lesson...

[@darrenhill9931]

might be a change of subject but still relevant to sax playing im sure, :) do you and most players have trouble with the amount of saliva / spit accumulating when playing the sax, especially when doing this exercise ???? look forward to your answer..

[@jeremysoda]

suck it up :D

[@darrenhill9931]

glad i asked,,i would never have worked that one out,,.

[@olemathisen6018]

Hi Darren, Yes, I've had to experiment a bit with different setups to minimize the artifacts associated with saliva buildup on the reed. Generally, darker sounding mouthpieces work better for me.

[@fbi-agentvillegas9033]

I get gallons of it on my bari sax

[@ChadSmithSAXOPHILM]

not a multiple tongue!

[@hanj31]

I need to get this down pat because my single is maxed out which is slower than normal. It’s just my physical limits as a human being.

[@lisali9824]

Hey that’s what I do with my tongue

[@ericdano]

Sounds like classical tonguing

[@keananok]

Yeah definetly not bebop tongueing, but whatever works for fast lines lol

[@diognardi]

you're like the Beyonce of saxaphone

[@DariusVSax]

He didn’t invent this, Eastern European saxophonists have been doing this since the 1920s…