Buzzing Insight

[jhatpro]

i've always dismissed buzzing as a pretty boring and not very helpful excercise. but lately i've had my opinion changed, thanks to some comments by michael sachs in the foreward to his "daily fundementals for the trumpet." sachs, who's principal trumpet for the cleveland symphony, recommends buzzing at the piano so you can match tones and better center your notes. i've been doing this and it's had an amazingly beneficial effect on my tone, endurance, range on the horn.

by the way, i highly recommend the rest of sachs' book. it's about 65 pages, with suggested warm-up sequences, drills, and specific advice on how to use other standard excercise books including arban. play on!
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.” Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
2005 Bach 180-72R
1965 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

[Pat]

Sachs was a student of Stamp, and a cornerstone of the Stamp method is lip and mouthpiece buzzing at the piano.--There are some who would say that buzzing can overly stiffen the lip. (I know Adam in his video tape says too much mouthpiece buzzing can do this which is probably why he advocates use of the leadpipe) In his guide to Stamp, Poper counters this criticism by saying that Stamp advocated that the buzz be fluffy and not too tight. --For a while I was doing buzzing and isometric exercises in the car, but found that this did stiffen my lip, so I now only do a a minute or two when I start warming up. -----Does Sachs mention this potential problem in his book?

[jhatpro]

in the book's intro, sachs writes: "buzzing on the lips alone or with the mouthpiece strips tone production concepts to their basic core. however, if overdone or incorrectly applied, buzzing has the potential to produce stiffness and beomce counter-productive. when done properly, a little goes a long way."

so, like most things involving physical activity, there's clearly a right way and a wrong way to do it, and overdoing it can be harmful. i do a fair amount of strength training and, from what i see around me in the gym, there's evidence aplenty that the body is a mighty complex machine that can be helped or hurt a lot of different ways. i guess the key is moderation in all things.

_________________
"Of the people who've keeled over dead at orchestra concerts, most of them were killed by a long trumpet passage. And most of them were glad to go." Garrison Keillor, "Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra."

[ This Message was edited by: jhatpro on 2002-06-06 20:18 ]

[pedaltonekid]

I do not know what Sachs advocates, but the first thing I do everyday when I pick up the horn is to first blow some air through the mouthpiece - through backbore first and then through the cup. Next I do a little buzzing to make sure that my embouchere and air are working ok. I do this by gradually expanding the range, up and down, making sure there are no breaks in the sound.

[walter]

[ This Message was edited by: walter on 2002-09-20 08:41 ]