Actually, I studied with Jacobs, but not long enough, and I didn't really get everything because he tended to relay so much information in a short period of time. Lots of times I just went through motions rather than integrating the information into my playing. He even told me to do this sort of...he said even if you don't understand it do it...eventually you'll understand it. I have this on tape.
What happened in those lessons and immediately after them was totally different from my long term integration of his ideas into my playing. During the lessons and one to two weeks after them my playing, air flow, musicianship improved immensely....I was a totally different player....Then one month down the road I was back to sounding like dirt again. I guess what I'm doing now is going back to those ideas with a different teacher, and attempting to make them a permanent part of my playing for good. Anyway, all I have left of those lessons is my faulty memory, two tapes, and the small part of it that actually stuck. The mouthpiece buzzing part has in the past been something I pulled out only when panicking over high notes like the high B in Dvorak 9. I think I need to make it more part of my daily practice now. Thank you for all of your ideas about how to use this in my normal daily practice. Some people don't think it's all that important, and neglect it. If you do it wrong, i.e. with too much pressure, and very heavy tongue, it turns into something counterproductive. Lately, I haven't been using it at all because I tended to do it wrong more often than right in the practice room. On 8/6/07, sheldon kirshner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Your teacher probably studied with Arnold Jacobs, or one of his teachers > did--pop goes the weasel was one of Jacobs' standards for mouthpiece > playing, for any brass player. > > Basically, everything comes from your head, no brain tissue in the lips, and > if your embouchure is developed enough, what you hear in your head will be > playable on the mouthpiece. Playing tunes you know very well tightens up the > connections. And what you send in the horn will come out--therefore it is > great training to play on the mouthpiece, particularly a tune that is in > most people's solid memory, and to get the message out without the physical > distractions of the horn. Even if you don't have a perfect starting point > (although you can use a tuning fork or pitch pipe) it is a wonderful way to > practice tunes in any key. > > Because most people know the tune so well, "happy birthday" is another one > to buzz. Try it. See if it does you some good. > > The point is not to develop a great pop goes the weasel but to develop the > connection between what you hear and what you buzz--and send into the horn. > And to do so with a minimum of exertion. > > Jacobs discovered this as a kid when he was in the hospital for an extended > time with no horn. He practiced on his mouthpiece and found he had lost > very little when he came back to the horn. > > Also, among other things, you can help to develop, e.g., your hi register, > by holding notes, and there you should have a pitch for a standard, for a > count of about 8 (sec) up there. > > Another thing, if you want to imitate someone's sound, get them to play on > the mouthpiece for you, and try to imitate their sound on their > mouthpiece--some of this will transfer to your mouthpiece--or get one like > theirs. If the buzz is the same, and the horn is the same, and you breathe > right, the sound should be pretty much the same. > > Shel > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Reba McLaurin > Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 8:05 PM > To: The Horn List > Subject: Re: [Hornlist] What should I be doing in the practice room? > > What about using mouthpiece buzzing in the practice room? I had a > teacher once that wanted me to buzz pop goes the weasel all the time. > I did not get the point of it, and right now I do almost no buzzing in > the practice room. Can you mouthpiece buzz without a piano? When and > where and how in a practice session is this productive? > > On 8/5/07, Jonathan West <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > On 05/08/07, Reba McLaurin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Thanks for all of the good information, How can I get a copy of > > > orchestral musicians CD Rom. What is that? > > > > Google is your friend. Type that phrase into Google, the first hit is the > > home page for the product > > http://www.orchmusiclibrary.com/ > > > > > > > Also, sightreading is > > > something that I generally ignore. What is the best way to practice > > > that? > > > > This come up every so often on the list. You can find my description of > how > > to practice sightreading here: > > > > http://www.mail-archive.com/horn@music.memphis.edu/msg04213.html > > > > > > > > > Shouldn't I be doing long tones, too? > > > > Of course. They should be part of your warmup. > > > > > > > > I like to do long tones on all of the notes on the instrument for one > > > minute every day. Is this a waste of time? One of my teacher's > > > teachers did that and he was a great player. > > > > > > > There are two possible purposes to long-note practice. One is to use a > > modest amount of it as part of your warmup. A one-octave scale ascending > and > > descending with crescendo to the middle of the note end diminuendo to the > > end is sufficient for that part of a warmup in my opinion. > > > > If you have problems maintaining stability of pitch and tone over longer > > notes, then more long note practice over a wider range is probably a good > > idea. Consciously think of maintaining breath support from the diaphragm > > when you do so, and concentrate on *not* allowing the throat to constrict, > > if that happens to be one of your problems. > > > > > Another problem that I always run in to is time management in the > > > practice room. I really only have two or three hours a day to > > > practice, because I work two other jobs plus students, etc. Sometimes > > > I don't even have that much time. My list of things to do in the > > > practice room seems to always come out to what seems to be about four > > > or five hours of work. Any ideas on this? > > > > If you are practicing intelligently and intensively, you should be pretty > > much exhaused by 3 hours practice in a day. You certainly shouldn't need > to > > do any more than that. Therefore, I suspect you are in fact wasting much > of > > your time in the practice room. > > > > The essence of effective practice is that you *practice getting things > > right*. If you get something wrong, it is almost certainly because you > have > > played it too fast to get it right. Most people, when they even notice > they > > have got it wrong, repeat the whole piece or long passage again, and > almost > > certainly make the same mistake again. What they are doing is practicing > > getting it wrong. And the more they practice getting it wrong, the better > > they become at getting it wrong. > > > > I don't know whether you fall into this category, but based on your > > descriptions, I suspect that you may. If I am doing you an injustice I > > apologise. But for the benefit of anybody else who recogises themselves in > > the description above, I go on to say how you *should* practice a > difficult > > passage or etude. > > > > First of all, you have to decide that perfection is your aim, and you are > > not going to be satisfied with less. Saying to yourself "it was nearly > > right, and I'm sure it will be OK next time" is the greatest enemy of > > progress. > > > > Second, when you notice a mistake, STOP, immediately, before you have a > > chance to forget what the mistake was or where. It might be a piece of > > awkward fingering, it might be a short passage with a high note that you > > mispitched, it might even be a slur that wasn't sufficiently clean. Go > back > > a bar or so, and practice just the fragment that contained the error. If > the > > error is repeated, go about 30% slower and do it again. Keep slowing down > > until you find a speed at which the error goes away. > > > > Then, having found a speed that is OK, repeat several times at that speed. > > If you find yourself still making regular errors, slow down even further, > > until you find a speed at which you can play the fragment at least 3 times > > in a row (and preferably 6 times) with no error at all. Resist the > > temptation to go any faster in later repetitions. What you are doing is > > practicing getting it right, and the only way you can practice getting it > > right is to practice at a speed at which you know you actually can get it > > right. > > > > Once you have managed 6 error-free repetitions, try the fragment just a > > little faster, 10% or so. If all is well, repeat 3 times at that speed, > and > > then go a bit faster still. If you make a mistake, immediately drop the > > speed by 30% and do the 6 repetitions at the slower speed. > > > > Gradually, you can get the speed back up to concert speed. Having done > that, > > go back a few bars and put the fragment back into context. Hopefully it > > should now be fine. Carry on until you come to the next difficult bit, and > > repeat the process. > > > > This practice technique is *very hard work* if done properly, and is very > > tiring, but there is no more efficient use of practice time. This is > because > > of two things. > > > > 1. You spend most of your time practicing the difficult bits, which after > > all, are the bits that need the practice! > > > > 2. You spend most of your time practicing playing those difficult bits > right > > (albeit slowly to start with. Practice doesn't make perfect, practice > makes > > permanent, and you want to cause your practice to get you to permanently > > play passages correctly. Repeatedly playing correctly instills those > habits > > and memories. > > > > Hope this helps! > > > > Regards > > Jonathan West > > > > _______________________________________________ > > post: horn@music.memphis.edu > > unsubscribe or set options at > http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/sallym.of.mclaurin%40gmail.co > m > > > _______________________________________________ > post: horn@music.memphis.edu > unsubscribe or set options at > http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/skirshner%40ameritech.net > > > _______________________________________________ > post: horn@music.memphis.edu > unsubscribe or set options at > http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/sallym.of.mclaurin%40gmail.com > _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
