Lip buzzing and MCFB

[lckeese1]

Greetings!

I am new to Mr. Caruso's method (2nd day of the six notes), and have a brief (and hopefully not terribly repetitive) question concerning free lip buzzing.

I've been using free lip buzzing as an isometric strengthening exercise for about a year now, and have continued to do so for the last couple of days. However, I have made one alteration in that I have been breathing through the nose (as in the MCFB exercises) and keeping the balance the same. Could this potentially be problematic in any way? I certainly want to execute the concepts laid forth by Mr. Caruso as efficiently as possible, so as to get the most out of it.

Thanks for reading! Hope this question hasn't already been asked elsewhere.

Logan

[Jerry Freedman]

Caruso used free buzzing and mouthpiece buzzing mainly for remedial work ie bringing back basket cases. If you are to do such things and wish to remain in the "spirit" of Caruso, always follow free buzzing and mouthpiece buzzing with actual playing. I don't know any more advice to give, Maybe Pat knows more.

Any Frink students have anything to add?

[lckeese1]

Thanks for replying, Jerry

Interesting -- perhaps for now, I'll stick to my regular routine concerning lip buzzing (which already involves breathing through the mouth and breath attacks ).

Should anyone else have anything to add, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Thanks again

[PH]

I personally find free lip buzzing to cause more trouble than it does good for most people. As Jerry said, it seems like it was something that Carmine only used as a remedial measure with "basket cases".

One thing he did say was that anything you buzz on the lips or mouthpiece should immediately be played on the trumpet so that we always relate buzzing to trumpet playing. Buzzing alone (without the trumpet) sets up a different set of muscular responses and requires a different balance.

[pepperdean]

From the non-basket case perspective, Carmine did something quite different with me. Long after I'd been through all of the intervals, extensive pedals, and work in the clarinet books, Carmine had me do a buzzing drill in Schlossberg - maybe #13. It went something like this:

The exercise involved lip slurs in the staff. I would free buzz, starting on the top note and starting on the bottom note - making a smooth, extended gliss between notes. I would then repeat this with a mouthpiece buzz, and then on the trumpet. The idea was to hit each chromatic scale step in between notes without moving the valves. After doing this open, the process would be repeated with each valve combination.

I don't know if I got this because it was advanced or if Carmine was trying to address some specific need in my playing.

To echo what others have said, always follow buzzing with playing on the horn.

Alan