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free buzzing



 
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mateo
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Joined: 05 Jan 2006
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Location: Albuquerque, NM

PostPosted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 3:00 pm    Post subject: free buzzing Reply with quote

So I have the roy p's book on the brasswind methods of james stamp and it has helped quite a bit but I am still not sure how free buzzing should be done.
when I do it my chops roll out a little and judging by the pic of stamp doing free buzzing his chops are rolled in. when I do this my face gets really tight and I break the rule of staying an octave below the mouthpiece buzz. one of the things is that I have a rather difficult time with is that I cant control my buzz very well. I look in the mirror and I see the flesh buzzing fairly uniform and then out of nowhere I'll see the flesh double buzz and then I have to add more tension to the corners to keep it from happening again...
any suggestions?
thanks:
mateo
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1B
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Joined: 07 Mar 2002
Posts: 611
Location: oregon

PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 7:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Though I never studied with Jimmy, I did study with 4 of his students, including Roy. I can tell you that none of them emphasized free buzzing. MP buzzing was the main focus. I personally wouldn't spend much time worrying about lip buzzing. With that being said, the most difficult part of lip buzzing for me was starting the sound. In order to facilitate this, I put the tip of my tongue between my lips, and as I start to blow, I pull it back. Try this and see if this helps. The main problem I see with what you are doing is that you may be doing something you wouldn't normally do in order to lip buzz, hence you are defeating it's intended purpose. Stamp teachers are not big on messing with embouchure corrections. They like things to correct themselves by doing the drills.
Good luck,
1B
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swthiel
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Joined: 02 Apr 2005
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Location: Cincinnati, OH

PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not a Stamp expert, but here's my take: if the free buzzing is a problem for you, leave it for a while. When I first started doing the Stamp exercises, I tried the free buzzing and (somewhat like you) ended up waaaaay too tight, mainly because I was really distorting my embouchure to be able to free buzz much at all. My understanding of the Mr. Stamps's philosophy is that he was very much about minimizing tension, the antithesis of what I was doing with the free buzzing.

I do the mouthpiece buzzing on days when I seem to have trouble keeping the patterns connected or getting the pedals to sound without a lot of manipulation of my embouchure. This is a strategy I learned from my teacher.

I use 3, 3a, or 3b just about daily, and get a lot of benefit simply from playing it on the horn with a full, clear, centered, relaxed sound.
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mateo
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Joined: 05 Jan 2006
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Location: Albuquerque, NM

PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks for that. One more question.... what folks think of using the BERP to do the mouthpiece routines. does the trumpet feel and position defeat the purpose of the exercises? I know that he talks about how to hold the mouthpiece in the fingers to help reduce pressure and this eventually helps reduce pressure when the horn is on the face. so, in effect, I want to know if holding the mpc while doing these exercises has a special purpose or that was the best thing since BERP wasnt around yet or something. thanks
mateo
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1B
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Joined: 07 Mar 2002
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Location: oregon

PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You are correct. The BERP was developed at the end of Jimmy's life after the book was written. It was developed by Mario Guarneri, who was a student of Jimmy's. If you like the BERP, by all means use it. It goes with everything you are doing.
1B
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marty_seshul
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Joined: 14 Mar 2004
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Location: Detroit, MI

PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you're having difficulty freebuzzing, your embouchure is weak. I'm not saying your embouchure is wrong in any way, just that your facial musculature isn't built enough. Practice your long tones!! Get those corners nice and tight, while keeping the middle nice and soft. If your corners are weak, they will quickly tire. The focus of the tension leaves the corners, and starts to work its way inward towards the fleshy part of the lips, which leads to buzzing breakdown
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Norm
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Joined: 20 May 2005
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find it easy to freebuzz, but have noticed that the airstream gets directed more and more downward as I buzz higher notes. Comments appreciated.
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mdavis
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 79
Location: los angeles

PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

According to my teacher, Roy Poper, who is a huge stamp advocate. He studied with stamp for 16+ years. He feels that the direction of your airstream is usually down. When he free buzz's he feels the air almost going straight down. So I think you are fine with it going lower as you go higher, as long as it is not going up you will be fine.
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janet842
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Joined: 04 Aug 2005
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Location: Denver metro area

PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My embouchure on the free buzz is almost identical to the one for the mouthpiece buzz. I'd advise skipping the initial freebuzz for a while and go right to the mouthpiece buzz as a way to develop a free buzz.

I believe it's Roy's book that talks about buzzing the mouthpiece and pulling it off your chops in the middle of a buzz . . . the pitch then optimally sounds an octave lower (being very careful not to let your embouchure move when the mouthpiece comes off). Repeat this mouthpiece pull-off several times, holding the resultant buzz for an extended period of time. When you do this, be attentive to your lip position, muscle tension, etc. Then, without the mouthpiece, try to produce the buzz with the same lip position. Divergent embouchure settings go against the Stamp method, and just about every other method out there! You do not want to get into developing different embouchures for different things.

For me, the free buzz is just a way to see how my lips are working for my first practice session of the day. If the buzz is not clear and I cannot get as high as usual on it after a couple of minutes, I lay off for about 5 minutes and go back to it again. Then, everything just drops in place. It's like my alarm clock. I might not wake up on the first buzz so I hit the snooze alarm. When the alarm clock goes off again, I'm usually awake. My chops sometimes are like that, too. BTW, I start my freebuzz on C below the staff and usually end the drill on high C buzzing up to the E. I do this fairly rapidly, probably no more than 5 minutes.

I didn't study with Stamp as long as Roy did, but I did get in close to 4 years. It was great!
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