Posted by Mary Ann on April 08, 2002 at 11:40:25:
In Reply to: Air Pressure / Air Flow etc posted by Jim Andrada on April 08, 2002 at 01:00:46:
Playing really high notes on the tuba requires, more or less, that you be able to free-buzz the note, because the mouthpiece is so big that it won't support your lips like a smaller one will. If you're a good free-buzzer, you can play high on tuba. Conversely, you might not be able to play high as easily with a small mouthpiece, because it will get in the way of your free buzz.
I think learning to play on a brass mouthpiece involves being able to focus your buzz within the cup of whatever mouthpiece you're using. A small mouthpiece requires a very small, centered buzz that can vibrate with the "interference" of the sides of the cup quite close to the buzzing location. A large mouthpiece "interferes" much farther away from the center of the lips, and requires a different buzzing technique.
I've had a couple of fine horn players try my new F tuba in the last few days. Both had the same result...they got a really fine tone from 2nd line F on up (kicker high ranges, both of them!) but as they went lower in pitch, it got worse and worse until finally, around low F on the bottom of the staff, nothing came out. One of them was able to make adjustments within a few minutes to get the lower notes out, but the other got nowhere.
So it seems that people who can play low notes on horn, for example, with the narrow cup support, don't have the technique to play low notes on a large cup with more lip able to flap, as it were. It takes some time for the embouchure to adjust to the lack of support that they're used to from the smaller mouthpiece.
My two centavos. I've always been better at low notes, no matter what instrument I'm on.
MA