Lesson 67: Triple Tonguing

• Triple-tongue evenly: t-k-t t-k-t or t-t-k t-t-k.
• Apply triple tonguing to a passage of triplets in a complete Baroque movement.

Triple tonguing is what you reach for when sixteenth-triplets are written in.

Triple tonguing handles groups of three: triplet eighths, triplet sixteenths, late-Baroque virtuoso figuration. Two standard patterns: t-k-t / k-t-k (more even) and t-t-k / t-t-k (easier to learn). Build on the t / k family from Lesson 41.

Without the recorder — speak the syllables

Spend ten minutes saying the patterns aloud before picking up the recorder. T-k-t / k-t-k alternation is harder than it sounds; do it slowly until even.

Drill — triplet eighths in C major

Three eighths per beat. Mark the first of each group with t; the second is k or t depending on the pattern; the third returns.

Drill — mixed triplets and duplets

The challenge in real music is not pure triplets but switching between two- and three-note groups. Practise the switch explicitly.

Now play these

Telemann: Sonata TWV 40:103 (complete)

Triplet-rich fast movements. Test the triple tonguing at tempo.

Handel: Sonata in D minor, HWV 367a (Vivace)

Mixed grouping at speed.

Telemann: Sonata in C minor (complete)

The most virtuosic of the Telemann sonatas.

When triple tonguing is reliable at performance tempo, move on to Lesson 68, the first of two lessons on Vivaldi's recorder concerti.