I never was taught buzzing (under Charles Bubb Jr and Ralph Hotz) and I don't normally teach doing it. I stopped studying privately around 1967. I also don't remember anybody talking about it, friends or colleagues in those days.
I sometimes have a student take the mouthpiece off and buzz into it to illustrate tone production issues (such as wobbles or lack of support) they may be having. However, I don't think it does much more to develop horn playing than simply playing the instrument, in my opinion. Theoretically, it could do harm, since the tone production, centering of pitches, etc is an interactive acoustic process with the rest of the horn. That said, I don't believe it does harm. But I've tried it on myself, and it doesn't help either, as much as I'd wish. ;-) It may help to start a warm up, say, in the car driving to the gig. Buzzing may nevertheless be a very effective therapy for some teachers and students, and I would be interested in learning whoever may have introduced mouthpiece buzzing into our teaching methodology, and how it has become so well-known. Bob Dickow Lionel Hampton School of Music -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Glick, Ed Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 7:02 PM To: [email protected]; hornlist ([email protected]) Subject: Re: [Hornlist] buzzing There's recently been a thread on one of the lists about buzzing. I have a question. When did hornists begin buzzing? When I did my earlier studies, from 1939 to 1949, none of my teachers (Max Shapiro, father of Boston Symphony 3rd and later 2nd horn, Harry Shapiro; Dennis Brain; Willem Valkenier, principal of the Boston Symphony; and Osborne MacConathy, asst. principal of the Boston Symphony) ever talked about (or taught) buzzing. My current teacher, with whom I've been studying since the fall of 1980, however, does recommend buzzing. Why is buzzing among horn players now so common and taught by some of our most prestigious teachers? What does it do to make a hornist play better than the older (and in the case of the ones I mentioned above ) now deceased, hornists? I'm not trying to stir up any controversy. I'm honestly waiting to learn from the answers I know many of you can give. I'm cross-posting this, because I 'd like to hear from those who subscribe to just one of the lists. Ed Glick _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/dickow%40uidaho.edu _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
