How To Flutter Tongue on Clarinet - Baby-step by baby-step!

[@catxray1603]

(I'm in MS band) While messing around, I actually figured this out myself, (I didn't even know this existed) I was just genuinely playing around with my friends, and decided I should try that. The band director heard it, and asked how I knew how to flutter tongue. I responded with, "I dont?" A short conversation later, he told me that what I was doing was flutter tongueing, and told me to look it up. This video did help a lot with getting it to have a better sound, that seemed more natural, and I still have a long while ahead of me before I can actually use it, and understand it effectively, but it's fun to practice.

[@queenreed373]

I am SO happy for you! Way to go!

[@charleybleh]

My brother plays flute and can naturally flutter tongue- so now time for me to learn it on my clarinet

[@queenreed373]

Excellent!

[@annstevesmusic4144]

Thank you so much for breaking it down like this!

[@krzysztofkrol8875]

Thank you so much for clear explanation :-)

[@tammymavery]

This is so helpful

[@marcomazzini]

Very clear explanation! 👏

[@rodrigomonteiro1085]

Muito bom. Ótimo trabalho. 👏👏👏

[@CheshyrCatt]

I finally got a flutter tongue sound out!!! But the notes go WAAAYY flat… is that normal? Are we flutter tonguing at the cost of pitch, or should I be working on getting my pitch back to where it needs to be?

[@queenreed373]

How cool that you got it going!! Congrats! Going flat is par for the course at the beginning. Make sure you aren't concentrating so much on the flutter, that you lose embouchure pressure, and/or air pressure/air velocity. Also, keep your air speed up really high whenever you flutter--- higher speed than normal, because the fluttering tongue creates a lot of obstruction for the air to get around-- and keep your embouchure tight like a drawstring bag. If you do your clarinet embouchure and blow on your palm as though you're playing your clarinet with just your normal air speed, and then you blow with the flutter going, you'll see how much the air slows down against your palm with flutter. Also, you might need to take more mouthpiece in if tightening up the embouchure results in less air getting through the mouthpiece. Keep at it -- it gets easier and easier and the pitch will get where it needs to be if you keep focusing on air speed and embouchure firmness.

[@piotrdec_official1711]

👌

[@Daisy-md3xo]

Why is it so difficult 😭

[@queenreed373]

Right?! It is not always easy, but you can do this!! Keep at it!

[@Daisy-md3xo]

@@queenreed373 so when you’re doing it, is it easier to air attack or tongue?

[@queenreed373]

@@Daisy-md3xo For me: air attack for sure! Which is easier for you, saying "train" with the rolled R or saying "rain" with the rolled R? If Train is easier, then for you, likely tongue attack will be easier (the T in train approximates crudely the idea of striking the reed before trilling the R). If Rain is easier, then likely air attack will be more accessible for your mouth anatomy.

[@liam_m6907]

Ughhhhhhhhh