Doodle Studies and Etudes

Since first published in 1992, more than a thousand students and professional players have found Doodle Studies and Etudes an invaluable tool for improving fast legato skills on the trombone. 

This complete method teaches you the fast trombone doodle tonguing legato technique in a step-by-step fashion, from how to correctly form the syllables to complex patterns incorporating natural downward slurs.

"Precisely the exercises I would have a student do."
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Carl Fontana
Jazz trombone legend

You will get...

  • A complete course of study in doodle tonguing
  • 140 pages of step-by-step instruction
  • 141 Exercises and Ten Etudes
  • A 52 minute digital recording with demonstrations by the author
  • Plus: play-along tracks as digital downloads for practicing
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Hear Doodle Tonguing in action from the book

Here are two example pages and their respective audio files from the book.

Listen to the audio file beneath the page and click the page image to enlarge it.

Exercise audio Track 23
Exercise audio Track 24
"After many months of diligent practice I started with the Doodle method and found it really helped all areas of my playing. The audio examples are excellent and super helpful as well. When I realized you have a daily techincal studies book I ordered it right away. I will work through it and plan on incorporating it into my daily practice routine. Thanks for all the great material!"
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Dave Axtheim
St. Louis, MO

Digital edition: $39.95

Coil-bound edition: $54.95

(Coil-bound allows this book to lay flat on the music stand.)

High praise for Doodle Studies...

Frequently asked questions

How will this book teach me doodle tonguing?

This complete method explains the fast legato technique in a step-by-step fashion, from how to correctly form the syllables to complex patterns incorporating natural downward slurs.

Audio files can be downloaded that demonstrate the technique throughout a range of difficulty and to allow for enjoyable practicing of the concepts.

How fast will I need to move the slide?

A common belief is that fast, clean legato playing is difficult to achieve on trombone mainly because it is difficult to move the slide fast enough. Actually, the issue of fast legato playing on trombone is much more one of articulation than slide movement. Because there are no valves or keys, the trombonist must articulate differently than other wind players (i.e. tongue every single note, or use a combination of tonguing and slurring to avoid smearing).

What are the articulations like?
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With the doodle tongue technique, articulations can be executed very fast, smooth (with each note connected and long), and very evenly with each note matching in envelope, often making minor slide innacuracies unnoticeable. This is because as speed increases, both timing and similarity of note envelopes (or lack of similarity) is easily perceived by the listener.

How will I keep my intonation accurate at that speed?

At the same time, as speed increases, intonation becomes much more difficult to perceive. While intonation in general is very important, from the audience's perspective, clarity in faster passages comes more from the quality and evenness of articulation - an area in which all trombonists should strive to improve.

Digital edition: $39.95

Coil-bound edition: $54.95

(Coil-bound allows the book to lay flat on the music stand.)

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