Flutter Tonguing

James Romig, Oiseau Mirò (m. 54-58)

Flutter-tonguing is one of the oldest and most widely-used extended techniques, dating back to the works of Richard Strauss. Flutists should be familiar with and be able to execute the two different types: one produced by rolling the tongue; the other by vibrating the throat. Composers notate flutter-tonguing in one of two ways: through use of three slashes through a note stem, or by writing “flatterzunge” (or flatt.). Composers are more and more commonly choosing to specify the type of flutter-tonguing to be used in a given passage, indicating “rrrr” for the throat version. The technique has many uses beyond the mere “special effect.” In the following passage from his solo flute piece Oiseau Miro, for example, James Romig uses flutter-tonguing to highlight prominent individual and small groups of notes within a dense musical surface.