Fuzzy Tone

[da_roadrunner]

I've started assisting my band director with the younger kids band (9th and 10th graders) and there are a couple of trumpet players who have a lot of potential, except their tone is fuzzy. I'm going to have a chance to work with them, so I was wondering how you get rid of a fuzzy, airy tone?

[_Don Herman]

Put the horn in the case?

OK, try having them hum, then play like they hum. In some cases, they might not realize they are "fuzzy" -- have them play into the stand, or a wall, or something, so they can hear. Better yet, record them, and you, so they have a sound to follow. Try having them play as soft as they can (with some control), and work on getting a "pure" tone out the bell. Make sure they take a nice big breath before playing -- if the air ain't there, they may be pressing and spreading the lips to get sound out. All these things should help get their lips closer in the mpc, and/or improve their air support, which should cure the fuzziness.

Chances are, listening to good sound (yours, recordings, etc.) and trying to emulate it will help them fix the problem on their own.

All I can come up with off the top of my (obviously balding) head. Fuzzy tone has been a not-too-infrequent topic on TH, so you might try searching for some other threads on this subject.

HTH - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

[Still Trying]

Teach them some very simple lip slurs, and then teach them to repeat the lip slurs with just the mouthpiece and then with a free buzz. I recommend covering the range from second line G down to G below the staff with the lip slur exercises. It can be as simple as half note slurs from G down to C and back to G a couple of times. And then repeat this pattern with each valve combination starting with G and going down through F#, F, E, etc. Teach them to listen to the mouthpiece and free buzz tones and correct it until only a pure sound comes out-no air. By playing through the exercises repetitively with horn, mouthpiece, and only with the lips, they will 1) strengthen the lip muscles, 2) learn to center the pitch with the buzz, 3) develop a more efficient embouchure, and 4) their tone will be greatly improved. Of course don't just play through this routine once. They have to work on each slur over and over until they get a clear, in-tune tone with both lips and mouthpiece. Then the tone will come on the horn.

I also recommend that simple exercises be played with the lips, the mouthpiece, and the free buzz, and that interval studies be played the same way. Don't devote hours to these exercises. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day or every other day should do wonders at shoring up an airy tone. And speed isn't important in the exercises. Accuracy is important.

Why don't you try this and see, if it will help?

_________________
S. T.

What do we have that we did not receive, and if we received it, why do we glory, as if we received it not?

[ This Message was edited by: Still Trying on 2004-04-01 07:17 ]

[JackD]

I find lead-pipe buzzing also helps iron this out.

[mike ansberry]

L-O-N-G T-O-N-E-S

[_bugleboy]

Fuzzy tone is a lip thing.

Some things to help fix it,

• 3-5 minutes low register, pp long tones several times a day.
  
  
• 3-5 minutes of leadpipe long tones first thing of the day.

[crzytptman]

Tone production mechanics is the first thing a good teacher would address with a student. Do these kids have private teachers? Maybe your band director should get a local teacher to come in as trumpet coach. This fundamental is too critical to have someone fishing for advice off the internet. If one of these kids were to pose this question here, he/she would probably be advised to get a private teacher.

Nate
_________________
Crazy Nate - Fine Yet Mellow Fellow
"so full of it I don't know where to start"
Horn: "just mismatched Kanstul spare parts"
- TH member and advertiser (name withheld)

[Tal Katz]

Long Tones and lots of Bendings