Re: Re: Re: Re: Practice schedule


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Posted by Steve Dedman on August 16, 2001 at 09:36:51:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Practice schedule posted by blown chops on August 16, 2001 at 06:10:27:

Can you free-buzz? That is, buzz a pitch with no mouthpiece at all? It's not something that you want to do a lot of, but the inability to do it can be indicative of air and/or embouchure problems.

In The Art of Brass Playing, Farkas talks about an equilibrium between air pressure and mouthpiece pressure that must be reached for the note to sound. There are some short-term things that happen when you play with too much pressure, and since some of them mimic good results, it's easy to get stuck into the habit of doing it. Early on, it is physically easier to produce a pitch with a little too much pressure and make it sound like a tuba is supposed to sound. And a little too much seemingly being a good thing, a little more won't hurt, and pretty soon you come away from your long tones with a pronounced embouchure ring. That's working too hard, and it tires you very, very quickly. 99% of the time, too much pressure and the inability to play with a good sound without it is a result of too little air. You might be using a lot of air, but trying to let your embouchure do the work. I know I do that if I let myself. The air has to lead; we all hear it and think it every day. One of the great things about doing it right is that embouchure problems, tuning problems, endurance problems, and most other problems mysteriously go away when you use enough air.

You need just enough pressure to seal the embouchure and make the note sound. Buzzing the mouthpiece will be the quickest fix, but even that is going to take awhile. But do it every day as part of your warm-up routine. I do it before I even pick up the horn. I have a routine that I do that involves about 3-5 minutes of buzzing the mpc. combined with a minute or so of free buzzing that I created after doing a warm-up session with Hank Feldman at the Symphonia workshop. It has made a huge difference in my sound and endurance. E-mail me and I'll send a description of it to you.

Steve


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