On Sep 21, 2010, at 10:00 AM, [email protected] wrote: > Ralph R. Hall > [email protected] > Ralph R. Hall > http://www.brasshausmusic.com > > Ed Glick makes a good point and brings up an important topic. > > I, too, went through conservatoire without buzzing and, almost by > extension, without playing flexibilities. > I now (seriously) feel deprived because many of the playing problems > one naturally experiences in a long career, amateur or professional, > can be avoided by careful embouchure guidance and remedial work at the > outset. When I spent all my student grant on records, particularly the > Vienna Phil., I started to ask questions as to why my horn professor > never seemed to slur convincingly over larger intervals than a second. > When I began playing professionally, still as a student, it was as an > extra in Mahler, Bruckner, Strauss etc. and the slurring of my > colleagues was just not on the same plane as Freiburg, Berger et al. > > Many years later I worked with John Ridgeon who was the greatest and > first disciple of Arnold Jacobs in the UK. He, as a trumpet player, > had serious embouchure problems at conservatoire and as a consequence > devoted his professional life to the study of the physiology of brass > playing - his publications are well worth serious study. He was an > advocate of buzzing and always maintained that playing levels could be > sustained just by the extensive buzzing of flexibilities on the > mouthpiece alone, when time and circumstances prevent usual practise > methods. > > In my own teaching I advocate buzzing for two reasons. Firstly as a > pre-warm up to get the lips vibrating. How often, after a big blow the > night before, have you heard players struggling to even make a sound > on the instrument. It comes eventually but the initial efforts can be > embarrassing! Buzz through the mouthpiece a few one octave scales and > then slur the arpeggios of same. > > Secondly, buzzing is an essential embouchure check, either for > yourself or your pupils. If the buzzing 'noise' coming out of the > mouthpiece alone is 'pure', and without the accompaniment of blowing > through gravel effects and a predominance of air to buzz, then the > buzzing 'noise' will have some acoustical value and worth. Remember > that whatever you put into the instrument will inevitably come out of > the other end - good or bad! An inherently poor embouchure buzz will > translate itself into a less than beautiful horn sound and that's > apart from the question it poses about what else is deficient in the > embouchure and the affect that deficiency might have on other aspects > of playing. > > Ralph R. Hall
I think it is worth reposting Ralph's response because he has hit the nail on the head. When i was young and playing with a flawed embouchure, I couldn't buzz much on the mouthpiece. I did achieve a certain level of playing success, but if I had known what I do now, I would have taken it as a sign that something was wrong. Buzzing on the mouthpiece is a very important tool in learning the horn. Mouthpiece buzzing is very revealing, maybe too much so for some, but that is another story. By the way, I have a video on my web site called "The Buzzy Buzz." Those of you who need more convincing should check it out. I also demonstrate all this on my DVDs. I use and recommend buzzing for the following reasons: 1. Playing on the mouthpiece can tell you if you are getting a good vibration, and in our world, vibration is everything that isn't breathing. The quality of vibration on the mouthpiece is a very direct way to judge the quality of vibration on the horn. If you have an airy buzz on the mouthpiece, that will be translated to your horn sound. If you are squeezing out the notes, it will show up. Having trouble holding notes steady? Try it on the mouthpiece. Use the air to steady the pitch, not your lips. 2. It is a good way to learn how to use the embouchure efficiently. Playing glissandos on the mouthpiece can increase your range and endurance, and improve your tone in all registers. Of course you need a plan. Check out the video. 3. Holding a steady tone on the mouthpiece is harder than doing it on the horn and mastering good air flow on the mouthpiece will make your horn playing that much better. This is an excellent way to teach how much the air has to do with steady tone production and pitch centering. 4. Playing tunes on the mouthpiece teaches you to play with your ear, not with the valves. We sometimes tend to think that our wonderful instruments of today will do the work for us. This is VERY important. Play a tune or two every day on your mouthpiece. This will build your confidence on the horn. 5. While it is possible to play the entire range of the horn on the mouthpiece, I don't worry too much about this with beginning students, but I do like to see if they can do it at some point, and use it to determine why not if they are having problems. But since i advocate mouthpiece buzzing every day, problems will show up and be solved as we go along. Using the mouthpiece to do simple things n the warm-up will get you off to a good start each day. No valves to worry about, just the tone and the tune. Free buzzing, or buzzing without the mouthpiece is also a very revealing thing. I like to have students experiment with this over time because I think it will give them insights on what is going on and condition their embouchure. But this is another subject for another time. Sincerely, Wendell For info about my book, DVDs, and live video chat horn lessons, see my web site at www.wendellworld.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
