Hey there, flute and pic player here. I'm a fan of jazz, and I would be able to play jazz not too badly if it weren't for my basic style. Because of the piccolo mostly, and music that I've played, I've developed a nasty habit of tonguing, really hard. That includes tongue stopping at times. This has carried over into my jazz playing, where it's a huuuge problem, because in jazz everything is pretty much meant to played legato and as smoothly as possible. Does anyone have any tips or exersizes I can do to work on being able to control my tonguing more? So far I found this online but it's not necessarily geared toward flautists.

http://www.jazzbooks.com/miva/documents/handbook/27_articulations.pdf

Thanks a lot!

first, think "doo" syllable, try slurring everything before trying it articualted, keep your throat open and relaxed..as if you were singing..most of all, take some lessons with a competent teacher, i am in new york city, if you are ever here...

Well it depends upon the style of Jazz as well. That technique is actually needed for a lot of modern jazz and rock. Old standards like you're likely playing in school to be honest aren't good for much more in real life that playing a gig as background music, if that. So while you adjust and learn to play more smoothly to make your teacher happy, keep in mind that most modeern music isn't that way any more.(ie - don't throw away any skill that is useful)

I'm not playing this for school. At least, not for a class, this is personal stuff. And what I'm listening to isn't modern nor older stuff. The musician I use most for inspiration is Coltrane, followed by Davis. I actually just got a fakebook of Coltrane's charts today, and I played some of em on the flute, and I think I'm actually doing much better than I remember. For one, I'm slurring much more, and barely tonguing repeated stuff except where needed. And what about tongue stopping? I know it comes at the end of long notes, but is it just every one or what? I can't exactly tell from listening, and that's pretty much the biggest (and most common) advice I ever get... listen, listen, listen. Which I do, most definitely.