What a great discussion. Except for one summer in Montana when my playing/practicing upset the neighbor's cattle and I was forbidden to play my horn where the bovines could hear it, I have rarely buzzed. Living in a tent that meant no real horn playing for some months. I buzzed all summer. Once I got back to school it took some time for my horn playing to return to some semblance of respectability.
Nowadays I often feel like I could really use a good buzz but I guess that's a different kind of buzz. ;- ) I sometimes do an occasional "how am I doing?" buzzing check but it has become a little depressing as lately I have not been playing horn as much as I would like. FWIW and more seriously; It has been a lot of years (~1969?) but I recall some drop in lessons a couple years after high school where Farkas had me buzz, both with and without a mouthpiece (and sans horn). He would have me play a passage, first with the mouthpiece, then without. He would then "play"/buzz the same passage showing me how to do it. Of course he always played them better than I. lol I recall he made several points (and I clearly paraphrase - no telling how much is just foggy memory playing tricks) 1. The embouchre is the source of tone. Perhaps not the only thing but pretty darn important. 2. If you can't buzz a note (or a passage) you aren't doing something right - or your embouchre is not "developed" enough. That doesn't mean playing Brandenburg on your mouthpiece but you should be able to play reasonable passages recognizably and in tune. 3. You don't need a lot of pressure to play. You do need well developed facial muscles. 4. If you use a lot of pressure, the embouchre won't develop/work properly. 5. Buzzing is a way to verify "things" are working right. 6. Buzzing is great for developing a good "ear". If it isn't in tune and doesn't sound good with just the mouthpiece or for lower notes just the lips, it isn't going to sound good coming out the horn. IIRC He did recommend not doing it very much. Perhaps a few minutes per day. Dan Beeker > > -----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/archive%40jab.org
