Mouthpiece Buzzing: "Buzzy" v. "Windy"

No, this isn't some obscure supreme court decision.
But, like some of those decisions, this might stir up some controversy...

1. Play a middle F on your trombone with your best sound.
2. As you continue to attempt to play the note, gently pull the mouthpiece out of the trombone.
3. What happens/should happen to the note when the mouthpiece is removed?

For me, the note stops pretty quickly.

Why?

When I play on the trombone, there is a slightly larger gap between upper and lower lip. The resistance of the instrument sets the lips buzzing.

Conversely, try this:

1. Buzz a nice-sounding middle F.
2. As you continue to buzz the note, gently insert the mouthpiece into the trombone.
3. What does the note sound like?

For me, the answer is, "pinched...memories of middle school"
(actually junior high school in my case but that's beside the point).

Why?

When I buzz on the mouthpiece, there is a somewhat smaller gap between the upper and lower lip. This gives me a nice, full buzz on the mouthpiece but a pinched sound on the trombone.

In fact, I can slightly alter that gap to get different kinds of buzzes, ranging from what I call a "windy" buzz to what might be called a "tight" buzz.

So, we can think of a continuum like this:

I often hear advice like, "Get more buzz in the buzz." or "Strive for a buzzy buzz." To me, these can usually be translated to, "Lips closer together."

True, this kind of buzz generates a clearer tone on the mouthpiece.

But will that translate to a clearer tone on the instrument? Maybe, maybe not.

Some observations:

1. Buzzing isn't physically the same as playing but, for most people, it helps.
2. A tighter buzz may be useful to build embouchure muscles.
3. A tighter buzz generates a clearer pitch to hear.
4. A looser buzz, however, requires more air and is closer to the setting used on the trombone.

I suspect a lot of band directors out there are dutifully telling their brass players to buzz and then assuming that ...the louder the buzz, the better the tone will be on the instrument.

Maybe, maybe not.

Personally, I've been leaning towards the "windy" buzz lately. I like the volume of air it requires and, although it isn't the same as actually playing, it's closer.

Here's the tricky part: a good buzz does need a core to the sound. There is a fine and very subtle line between a good "windy" buzz and a buzz without any definition or core to the sound.

I sometimes demonstrate this in lessons by recording my buzz with the microphone to the side of my head. When we play it back over good stereo speakers, the mid-range and low-range speakers really vibrate as they play back the sound of that buzz.

For a weak buzz lacking in core...not so much.

It's subtle difference but one worth thinking about.

Surfing on the breeze

It seems I never have time for elaborate blog posts so here's a short one.

So many people pinch off the air as they buzz. There is a standard trick I like to use.

1. Blow silent air through the mouthpiece (against a pinwheel or something similar). If you're using a pinwheel, don't make it spin at full tilt. A nice steady breeze should do the trick.
2. Start blowing that same silent air and then gently bring the lips together. Hopefully they'll buzz.
3. Make sure the pinwheel doesn't stop spinning when the note starts. Many, many students start the buzz and instinctively pinch off the air when starting the note. I'm surprised how often, when they finally get it right and buzz with a nice full sound, they say to me, "Wow, that feels completely different."

Band directors, go get yourself a pinwheel and use it with those starting students!

The first habit is the one that sticks. If their first experience is a buzz with freely moving air, they are likely to avoid major trouble down the road.

A new buzzing exercise

Alright, I'm sure this isn't really new...not even original. Still, maybe it's new to you.

Warning: Don't injure your chops doing this. If you do it correctly, there will be very little stress on the lips. Please be careful.

1. Buzz a comfortable, mid-range note on your mouthpiece.
2. Now buzz it again but change two things: (a) separate your lips a bit more and (b) blow with much more wind than you would normally use. Basically, you are purposely over-blowing with a very loose setting. The lips should be separated enough that they won't vibrate if you blow with normal, more gentle air.
3. Repeat this four or five times.
4. Now with each new repetition, gradually decrease the air flow and bring the lips a tiny bit closer together.
5. Notice the feeling of blowing with a very generous amount of flowing air.
   

My office is on the third floor of the music school. I often climb the stairs from the basement and arrive at my office out of breath. I started trying to buzz but was breathing so hard from my climb that I had to loosen my embouchure just to let all the air through.

As my heart rate slowed and my blowing became a bit more normal, I thought, "Hmm, this is interesting."

It reminds me of one of the quotes found on the "Best Things a Teacher Ever Said to Me" section of the ITA website. It has been attributed to Jeff Reynolds...

Loud is Loose

You should check out some of those other quotes as well. Over the years, we've managed to put together some pretty good stuff.

Talking Mouthpieces..Buy One Get One Free!!

Another story from a recent lesson:

A student is struggling to play with good technique and also doesn't really perform a convincing phrase. At first we try various tricks to help with tone and clean slide technique (with varying results).

Then I switch gears and address that whole phrasing thing. We try singing it but the tricky intervals get in the way. So I try a trick which I've thought of before but haven't really used:

Talking Mouthpieces

Basically, I ask him to buzz it but not worry about even coming close to the right pitches. What's important is to get a speech-like inflection (like the voice) using the rhythm alone. From that, we went on to play the passage on one note with a nice musical inflection.

By the way, while browsing I once ran across some very nice teaching pages from Carl Lenthe in which, among other things, he uses the phrase "Johnny One Note" and demonstrates inflection for the Barat Allegro using this technique. Give a listen to the sound files. On one of them, he sings rhythms with a nice inflection. What I was doing with this student was essentially the same thing but using this "talking mouthpiece" idea.

Then we moved on to one of my favorite tricks: he played the "one-note" version while I played the phrase. Then we swapped with him playing the phrase and me playing the "one-note" version.

The end result? His phrasing definitely had more feel to it and he reported to me that his mind wasn't so focused on a laundry list of technical things he was supposed to be doing.

And here's the cool part: during all this time he was so focused on the phrasing, his technique was greatly improved!!! By focusing on a convincing musical phrase, it was almost as if the technique was thrown in for free.

(I love it when this happens)

"Tonguing" with the Fingers

Here's a new thing I've tried in a few lessons.

Buzz a note and, as you sustain a nice mezzo-piano buzz, gently cover the end of the mouthpiece with your finger so the air can't escape.

Do it correctly and the note will stop.

Here's the interesting part, pull your finger away and the note should start right away, sounding like a clean attack.

In fact, I've done this repeatedly creating the effect of repeated attacks. While I'm not wild about how the notes end, I've like the way the buzz begins with a nice clean "pop."

Hopefully, that's the role of our friend/enemy, the tongue: release the air all at once so the lips can pop right into vibration.

The great thing about "tonguing" with your fingers is that it reminds you to deliver a nice supply of air/fuel from the lungs without any throat nonsense. It should be simple:

air flows - lips buzz

Come to think of it. Should we really be calling this "tonguing?" It seems that maybe the tongue had a really good publicist and managed to steal the spotlight.










(yeah, I considered superimposing some image of a tongue onto this picture but then thought better of it)

That highway we need...

In the brain, the musical concept!

Now, we need to have a clear pathway straight to the lips.

Here are two images:

Instead of the information traveling this way:














You want it to travel this way...













How to do this?

• sing
• buzz
• play
• get out of the way

(in other words, no running self-commentary, just sound)

And remember: the lips follow the brain, not the other way around.

Thoughts from the "Analysis-Paralysis" Department

Warning: I'm mostly an "Inner Game" guy.
I consider analysis of mechanics to be something of a Pandora's Box.


Still....


Item #1: Bounce Backs
Here's one I see often: As a student plays a downward leap I watch their embouchure. Often I see an adjustment, especially for leaps to low notes. Not, in itself, a bad thing (depending on what kind of adjustment we're talking about).
However: I often see the embouchure make too big an adjustment and then "bounce back." Basically, I think the "less is more" or "quiet down the embouchure" approaches are good here. Try the following leaps...




Look in a mirror as you do this. You may notice that your embouchure over-adjusts for the leap and then has to bounce back to a more centered position. In your sound, you may hear this as a scoop up from below the pitch.


Item #2 Pull Aways
I observed something odd in a lesson today. I have often buzzed a note on my mouthpiece and then, while continuing to buzz, gently placed the mouthpiece into the horn.
Try this buzzing an F-sharp and put in the mouthpiece while the horn is in first position. You'll end up with a very pinched F.

But ...
I've never done the opposite. Play the note on my trombone and then, while sustaining the buzz, pull the mouthpiece out of the horn.

When I did this on a low B-flat, big surprise, the buzz magically floated up to roughly a D-flat.
What caused this? Am I aiming too high?
It was easy to make a small adjustment to retain the B-flat pitch, by the way.

You might logically conclude that I could buzz a D-flat and return the mouthpiece to get the same sounding B-flat. Nope, just a really foul, uncentered something.

Incidentally, this effect doesn't seem to happen on higher notes.

Maybe it could just be the act of pulling out the mouthpiece and disengaging from the nodes of the standing wave in the horn.

I'm not too worried about it and don't plan to change anything. Still, I find it interesting. Oh and by the way, if I pull the horn off my face while attempting to continue the sound, the buzz simply stops. I know there are different opinions on this but I'm siding with the camp that says the buzz should stop.

If you try this experiment, I'd be curious to hear about your results in the comments section.

Alessi Seminar Notes, Day 3 (part 2) ... Attack and Response

Please note:

These entries from the Alessi Seminar are not a literal transcript. I took written notes and then typed them up. I have made every effort to be accurate but, as you might expect, each blog entry is a meager substitute for actually being there.

Remember that many of the things Mr. Alessi says in these masterclasses are in the context of addressing the needs of a particular student and should not be seen as universal mandates to be mindlessly followed.

If you are serious about pursuing musical excellence on the trombone, there is no substitute for actually attending one of Mr. Alessi's seminars. You'll be glad you did.

Tuesday evening was another masterclass. The performers:

Nathan Dishman - Stojowski Fantasie

Sam Schlosser - Tomasi Concerto

me - Arrows of Time, Mvt 1 (and the beginning of mvt. 2)

Quartet (Sprott, Perrier, Rodriguez, Lantzy) - Ewazen Myths and Legends

Orchestra Section - Strauss Alpine Symphony and Bruckner 8

Since this was my turn to perform, I missed Sam's Tomasi.

Here are some comments:

• You have to maintain a core to your sound as you decrescendo.
• It is good to buzz in front of a mirror with a visualizer rim.

During one of the participant's sessions, Joe went into some very detailed embouchure analysis. I think it best not to include comments here because they were specific to the needs of this individual

These next comments were concerning my performance of Arrows. He had some nice things to say but, of course, his best gift to me was to dive right into some of my bad habits and point them out. This was great for me because I had been unaware of the some of these habits.

Here were some of his comments (as best I can remember them)

• Point straight out into the hall. You don't need to make eye contact with the pianist. They can see you and will follow you.
• In trying to be musical, don't flare individual notes. Think of the bigger phrase, the larger "architecture of the phrase."
• The pedal D at the end of the first movement might not be such a great idea. It' better to just play the trigger D in the written octave.
• If you're playing with a great sound, stay within that sound. Don't get outside of that good sound.
• "You're like Popeye, you don't know your own strength" Don't play like a bull in a china shop.
• Even at the peak of the phrase, always keep a singing sound. Don't let it get too intense.

He also had some very nice things to say but I don't think it's appropriate to go repeating that stuff here.

Moving on...

• He observed that the trombone quartet can be a vehicle to help your playing because you have to listen.
• He has mentioned many times throughout the seminar how much he loves playing in trombone quartet...one of his favorite things. He strongly emphasized the importance of getting your students to play in quartets.
• In tuning the orchestra section, he advocates this procedure :

Tuba with bass trombone

Tuba with second trombone

Tuba with first trombone

(or similar if there are four bones in the section)

• When playing slow chorales, clearly subdivide in your mind.
• If you go to an audition and you're asked to lead the section, don't over-conduct.
• "When you play soft, try to relax. The worst thing you can do is to tense up."
• To improve rhythm, he is a big fan of a technique known as "attack and response"
• He told a story about how, during juries, Warren Deck's tuba students always played with such impeccable rhythm. He asked Warren how they did this and Warren described this technique.
  Basically, he demonstrated by singing different passages and, during any sustained notes, snapping his fingers exactly in the time of the subdivision.
  He described those sustained notes as "dead spots" during which rhythmic accuracy can falter. By snapping the fingers, you maintain a clear sense of pulse and subdivision.

That's all for now.

Listen to the Details

Here's something I've been doing at the beginning of lessons lately. I play a little 5-note pattern and have the student buzz it back to me.

Then, after 5-10 of these patterns, I do the same thing but have the student play them on their instrument (I have them look away so they can't watch my slide).

I've noticed that, when buzzing, a lot of students leap too far and then have to "snap back" to the correct note. I sometimes see this when they are playing lip slurs, too.

Here's a link to some of the patterns I've been using (pdf file)

Try doing these with a buddy. If you're practicing alone, see if you can sing or buzz them accurately.

LISTEN TO THE DETAILS!