Canadian Brass - FEATURE STORY

Breathing and Buzzing your Mouthpiece

By Ron Romm, Trumpeter, The Canadian Brass, February 1999

As we are all aware, we play WIND instruments, and that means that we use wind to propel the music through our horns. Wind, incidentally, is air in motion ... remembering this concept will help to remind us to breathe deeply.

When we breathe deeply, our tone tends to be pure, rich, and full as well. This is what we want, because a full, rich tone is a tone that projects efficiently, and is easy for our colleagues to blend with. Producing a full tone helps us to find the pitch centers, so we can play in tune with each other (at another time we will discuss some ideas related to tuning, like chord function, balance, etc.). Jens talks about visualizing an egg being placed in the mouth vertically, opening the mouth wide, and inhaling. The sound produced on this inhalation is a whooshing "O", very dark and rich.

Then, of course, once we have inhaled, we have to exhale. A good trick to the timing of the inhale-exhale cycle is visualizing a large pendulum; when the bob of the pendulum arrives at the top of its swing, there is not much hesitation as it reverses direction. You may want to think about the breathing cycle as inhale-up, exhale-down, visualizing the motion of a big pendulum.

Buzzing the mouthpiece has been a great aid for all of us in the Canadian Brass; we have all done this since the beginning, both alone in our practice sessions, and as a group. Simply speaking, mouthpiece buzzing accomplishes several objectives:

A pure tone on the mouthpiece yields a pure tone on the instrument.
Efficiency of tone production is greatly aided by mouthpiece buzzing.
Accuracy is improved as a result of regular mouthpiece playing.
Breathing correctly on the mouthpiece is very obvious ... good breath = good tone.
Ear training is greatly enhanced as a result of playing the mouthpiece (relate this to #3).
Range extension is natural and easier; any note you can produce on the mouthpiece will be available to you on your instrument.
Endurance is increased with mouthpiece buzzing, improved breathing, and efficiency of tone production (relate this to #'s 4 and 2).

Mario Guarneri, a long time friend of ours, has invented the B.E.R.P. (Buzz Extension and Resistance Piece) to help all of us to realize the connection between breathing, buzzing the mouthpiece, and playing our instruments. Jens and I both use this device, and it is really great.

If you buzz your mouthpiece alone or when using the B.E.R.P., remember several things: Play musical phrases on the mouthpiece, not just notes and scale patterns. You probably will benefit most by playing for a short time only on the mouthpiece and then switching back to the instrument. You will notice that you will usually play quite a bit louder on the instrument at this point; this is your efficiency improving. Do this buzzing routine, switching back and forth often, to improve your phrasing and accuracy.

The B.E.R.P., because of its design, adds a bit of resistance to the buzzing procedure, more closely approximating the actual resistance of the instrument. Some people use the mouthpiece alone, switch to the B.E.R.P., go back to the mouthpiece, and then to the instrument. It is a good idea to try different things like this, to have a data base of experience in terms of "resistance feel". Whichever way you decide to practice these disciplines, remember to always play musically, whether just on the mouthpiece or on the instrument. Try the B.E.R.P., and let us know about your experiences.

That's all for now, friends; remember to breathe, buzz, andû
STRIVE FOR TONE.

Ronald Romm
Canadian Brass

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