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snichols
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Posts: 586
Location: Virginia
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 Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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| JoseLindE4 wrote: | I never studied with Mr. Thompson, but I've used his book quite a bit on and off over the years and think it's brilliant. Other times I've used Boyd Hood's drills or Stamp. If not for these three, I wouldn't have a career.
Here's what I've gotten out of playing the mouthpiece in teaching and playing.
1. Ear Training: it works well as an intermediate step between singing and the horn. Sing, buzz (or rather play the mouthpiece), play works.
2. Revealing problems in air usage: A lot of players, even relatively accomplished ones, develop some wacky habits with their air. Connections between notes will have gaps in the air (blow, stop, blow for every note), leading to tension in the sound and trouble playing. Cichowicz air patterns help, but going to the mouthpiece usually reveals the true self and makes the issue click. The slow glisses of Thompson's book can serve as a focused study on this issue. The connection between notes are focused and smoothed out which transfers well to regular playing.
Another approach to learning this connectedness this are practicing with slow valve movements. TH's own Jim Wilt teaches something similar to this and Jay Friedman has an excellent article about it as well. While the slow valves are brilliant, the mouthpiece has worked as an excellent study on this skill for me and mine.
3. Avoiding too much lippyness in the playing: Sometimes we become overly careful in trying to place every interval. Rather than move smoothly from note to note, we target each note, often overshooting. Exploring the space between each note allows us to instantaneously gliss between notes like singers, creating well connected and always centered notes.
4. Introducing weirdness: Bad habits can be hard to break when using the object of our habits. Doing something without the baggage of the horn can be liberating. |
Great post. Really spot on. |
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Dave CCM/SSO
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Joined: 21 Jan 2015
Posts: 145
Location: Cincinnati
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| Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 5:58 am Post subject: |
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Notable Mouthpiece Buzzers:
Bud Herseth
Vincent Chicowitz
David Bilger
Chris Martin
Phil Collins
Mike Sachs
just to name a few.
If mouthpiece buzzing works for you, you're in good company. There are also very fine professionals that don't buzz at all.
Happy Trumpeting!
Dave
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Dave
Springfield Symphony Orchestra (OH)
- www.springfieldsym.org
Seven Hills Brass
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Dave CCM/SSO
Veteran Member
Joined: 21 Jan 2015
Posts: 145
Location: Cincinnati
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| Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:40 am Post subject: |
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Also, to the person that started this topic. I have found the first 4 exercises from the Buzzing book to be very useful.
For me, one of the keys to success is to play them quietly. If I can allow the lips to buzz with a minimal amount of effort, then I can very easily play louder by letting more air out. This also helps with getting through them in one breath. Start with less and really develop an understanding of the smallest, easiest buzz before trying to play loudly.
For me personally, the demonstration tracks on the CD that come with the book are far too loud. If I play the exercises that loudly, they don't help me at all. Of course, this is just my opinion.
Best of luck!!
Dave
_________________
Dave
Springfield Symphony Orchestra (OH)
- www.springfieldsym.org
Seven Hills Brass
- http://www.facebook.com/sevenhillsbrass |
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Polyphonic
Regular Member
Joined: 16 Jun 2010
Posts: 73
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
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| Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:03 am Post subject: |
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To the OP:
When I did Buzzing Basics, in order to make the glissandi SOUND correct, I did a weird "lip pursing" type thing. Again, it made the glissandi sound full, but it created some pretty bad habits in my playing. Try to make all movements as minimal as possible while doing these exercises, and really in all of your playing.
It is important to understand exactly what you are doing, and what you are trying to accomplish with these exercises. Do NOT allow yourself to go on autopilot, or you may find that they are doing more harm than good. I believe that a lack of understanding with these exercises, as well as the methods of Stamp, are why folks will sometimes run into trouble. Not everyone will agree, but I believe performing these types of exercises in front of a mirror can help to eliminate some of the pitfalls that one might experience. Don't get obsessed with the way your chops "look", but rather use the mirror as a tool to ensure you are not excessively adjusting things.
I'm not trying to create any doubt in the affectiveness of these types of exercises. They really can be like magic when they are done properly!
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Jonathan Ruffer
Instructor of Trumpet
Hope College Department of Music |
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Jeptrumpet
New Member
Joined: 01 May 2017
Posts: 10
Location: Houston, Texas
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| Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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Woah. I thought this post would get buried so I haven't checked on it in a few days.
Thank you all for your comments and advice, I will take all of them into consideration!
(Didn't expect to cause a heated discussion on mouthpiece buzzing however... I am happy with my playing aside from range and endurance, and my teachers and mentors are wonderful! I do appreciate and take all constructive criticism with an open mind.) |
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OldKing
Regular Member
Joined: 26 May 2017
Posts: 89
Location: Boerne, TX
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| Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Jeptrumpet wrote: | Woah.
(Didn't expect to cause a heated discussion on mouthpiece buzzing... |
It's just them internets! Carry on.
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For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? - 1 Cor 14:8 |
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BrianCade1
Regular Member
Joined: 03 Jun 2016
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:04 am Post subject: |
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I find it helps with my sound and I have my students do it as well. For the longest time, I followed the CG philosophy and didn't buzz, wouldn't, really. My sound and endurance improved dramatically once I started, though, so it works for me.
At one point, I was doing the Stamp exercises every day, both on mouthpiece and horn. It was something I had discovered outside the context of the student-teacher relationship. The teacher I was studying with at the time had a complete meltdown because it wasn't something I had been assigned. Go figure. |
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1jazzyalex
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 13 Jun 2016
Posts: 569
Location: San Jose, CA
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| Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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I like buzzing. It's fun to buzz along with youtube videos, buzz to work things out (in some ways) etc.
In HS the band teacher always started us out buzzing first.
I think the "pursing lips" thing might be going up the wrong alley and I say this because I think I did this at first too - I think it's natural to do that at first but to me it's all about mouth cavity, mouth cavity, mouth cavity. I don't even think about the lips. The only thing I change going high to low is the mouth cavity, at least ideally.
I think it's probably good for ear training. There's a video where one great player, Clark Terry?, plays the mouthpiece on stage, musically. It's been posted on here.
To me, buzzing is a good supplement. It's hard to cram the mouthpiece alone into your face the way you can fall into the bad habit of doing with the whole horn. It reinforces the idea that you can't use pressure as an octave key.
It's not a substitute for playing, though, since the trumpet is a resonant structure and the feeling is very different.
In shooting, there's what's known as "dry firing" and every great shooter has familiarity with it. Essentially you do the firing sequence, holding the gun, sight picture, trigger pull, etc but no actual shot. It's a Godsend for training flinches out and all sorts of bad habits, and reinforcing good follow-through. I see mouthpiece buzzing as sort of a trumpet equivalent of this. Very useful.
I'm gonna get the Buzzing Book if I can get a real book and not just an e-file.
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Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A |
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deanoaks
Regular Member
Joined: 02 Apr 2015
Posts: 75
Location: US
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| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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| JoseLindE4 wrote: | I never studied with Mr. Thompson, but I've used his book quite a bit on and off over the years and think it's brilliant. Other times I've used Boyd Hood's drills or Stamp. If not for these three, I wouldn't have a career.
Here's what I've gotten out of playing the mouthpiece in teaching and playing.
1. Ear Training: it works well as an intermediate step between singing and the horn. Sing, buzz (or rather play the mouthpiece), play works.
2. Revealing problems in air usage: A lot of players, even relatively accomplished ones, develop some wacky habits with their air. Connections between notes will have gaps in the air (blow, stop, blow for every note), leading to tension in the sound and trouble playing. Cichowicz air patterns help, but going to the mouthpiece usually reveals the true self and makes the issue click. The slow glisses of Thompson's book can serve as a focused study on this issue. The connection between notes are focused and smoothed out which transfers well to regular playing.
Another approach to learning this connectedness this are practicing with slow valve movements. TH's own Jim Wilt teaches something similar to this and Jay Friedman has an excellent article about it as well. While the slow valves are brilliant, the mouthpiece has worked as an excellent study on this skill for me and mine.
3. Avoiding too much lippyness in the playing: Sometimes we become overly careful in trying to place every interval. Rather than move smoothly from note to note, we target each note, often overshooting. Exploring the space between each note allows us to instantaneously gliss between notes like singers, creating well connected and always centered notes.
4. Introducing weirdness: Bad habits can be hard to break when using the object of our habits. Doing something without the baggage of the horn can be liberating. |
I am a former Thompson student and this could not be any closer to how he teaches the buzzing book. Remarkably well worded.
To the OP: I believe that given the right mentality and attention that buzzing could help anyone, especially if you are being guided by your private teacher. I would not have been able to play the trumpet half as well as I do if it weren't for Professor Thompson and mouthpiece buzzing. It isn't entirely the action of buzzing the mouthpiece either, it is the attention and focus you are using as you buzz as well as the pedagogical concepts that can be trained more easily with the mouthpiece buzzing that obviously carry over back on the trumpet.
Don't expect mouthpiece buzzing alone to give you the world's best sound on the trumpet, you still need to have a sound concept and work hard to achieve it, but if you KNOW what you want to sound like I believe the buzzing book will help you get closer to your sound concept.
Happy practicing! |
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RussellDDixon
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 04 Apr 2014
Posts: 832
Location: Mason, OH
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| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:43 am Post subject: |
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"Too much of anything is bad for you, even sex!"
DB
Errrrrrrrrrrrr ...... ah .... I don't know !!!!!
Bill Chase buzzed his mouthpiece after concerts in the back of the Woody Herman bus for up to 45 minutes driving his bandmates insane. Worked for him !
The fact of the matter is that there's more than one way to skin a cat.
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Schilke X3 Bb trumpet
Yamaha 631g Flugelhorn
Nicholson Monette Prana Resonance LT mouthpiece
Kanstul Claude Gordon Personal mouthpiece |
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