Moutpiece Buzzing

Mouthpiece buzzing is a very controversial subject and many people actually oppose the practice of mouthpiece buzzing. I find that if approached the proper way that it can be a very powerful and helpful tool.

Some of the best advice that I ever received was from trumpeter Eric Bolvin who once said to me, “learn everything that you can about trumpet playing”. So I encourage everyone to try different methods and to experiment.

With that being said, I hope that I can spark up your imaginations as to the different ways to approach the horn. So here we go…..

First I want to start out with some facts:

1. Vibrations = Sound


2. Buzzing is the result of the lips vibrating

The goal of every trumpeter is to have a great sound. So with those two points in mind, wouldn’t it make sense to develop a good buzz?

Before I get into what a “good buzz” is I want to list the benefits and negatives of mouthpiece buzzing.

Benefits:

• Helps with tone development


• Strengthens corners


• Forces you to play with more air support


• Helps to develop a focused air stream


• Allows you to free yourself

Negatives:

· If overdone can hinder tone, cause double buzzing and have
weird side affects on chops.

What’s a good buzz?

Jim Thomposon says that a good buzz is one with a “ringing quality”. Robert Sullivan listens for a “tight sounding buzz”.

Here's a quote from trumpet virtuoso John Blount

"JB: Not complicated at all. Rather simple, actually. Start with mouthpiece "buzzing." Get a clean and strong buzz on just the mouthpiece. Then add the horn. At this point the player should get a strong and clear tone. This simple exercise, which is covered by most lip flexibility books, will result in virtually an immediate improvement in a player's sound and range. Moreover, his or her endurance will be improved and playing will be natural. Like walking or riding a bicycle. Second nature sort of thing. "

source: http://www.jmb-music.com/tutorials.html

I’ve heard a few great professional trumpeters buzz the mouthpiece and the one thing that they all had in common was that certain tight/solid quality in the sound of their buzz. Let me try to explain that quality.

It’s hard to explain with words so here are two clips of Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Thompson demonstrating mouthpiece buzzing. Listen to how solid their buzz is.

• Click here to watch 'Robert-Sullivan-Buzzing-Clip'
  


• Click here to watch 'Jim-Thompson-Buzzing-Clip'

These clips are from the Yamaha master class that can be found @ http://www.yamaha.com/artistmodelseries/index2.html

I encourage everyone to check this out and specifically the Jim Thompson buzzing session.

How to Practice Buzzing:

There are so many different methods and ways to approach buzzing. I will be writing about how I approach buzzing. I came up with my approach after gathering all the things I liked about the different ways my teachers and other methods approached buzzing.

So here are some of the things I do:

1. I always get the pitch that I’m about to buzz in my head


2. I always start on middle G


3. I always buzz very softly and hold it until I run out of
   breath


4. I always use breath attacks, I feel that it helps to get
   the lips focused


5. While doing step #3 I keep the air moving forward and
   steady


6. While doing step #3 I focus on keeping the sound steady
   


7. I always aim for a tight solid buzz


8. I aim to play evenly, in tune and supported


9. I try to focus the air right down the center of the
   mouthpiece


10. Sometimes I buzz with the note tone playing in the
    background


11. Sometimes when I can’t play a musical passage I’ll buzz
    it.


12. If you can buzz it, you can play it.


13. I only buzz a total of about 5 to 10 minutes (10 at the
    most!) a day.

I’m probably leaving out some of the other things I do but for the most part this is basically how I generally approach buzzing on a daily basis.

Books/Articles:

One book that focuses on buzzing which I own is the Jimmy Maxwell “First Trumpeter” book. There are many others and many articles on the internet regarding the topic of buzzing. There are so many different ways that you can approach buzzing and like I said earlier I believe in learning everything that you can about trumpet playing and then taking what works for you. It’s sort of like having a bag of tricks.

Maybe others will comment to this blog and discuss the different methods and their approach on buzzing.

How to Practice and What To Practice

When I started playing the trumpet I assumed that by practicing one would automatically improve. This is not true. If one does not practice the correct way, it’s very possible to worsen as a player. Although I had the right motivations I didn’t know how to practice or what to practice.

After years of experimentation and observing how professional musicians practice I’ve managed to put something together that works for me. I hope that with this essay you’ll be able to get some ideas. So here we go…

First a few rules:

· Stay Focused - 1 hour of focused practice is the equivalent of 3-4 hours of unfocused practice.

· Set Goals – Setting goals gives you something to aim for.

· Practice with Purpose - Know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

· Rest as much as you play – The lips are muscles too, if they don’t get proper rest they will deteriorate. Resting also helps to stay mentally fresh.

· Practice with Enthusiasm – If you don’t feel like practicing then don’t. You’ll only be wasting time.

· Accuracy First then Speed will Come

· Practice everything with a great sound


Breaking up your practice into separate sessions is really the key and it’s what’s going to make following those rules a lot easier. There are four main categories:

· Warm Up
· Maintenance Work
· Musical Studies
· Warm Down

Now let’s break down each of those categories and explain what’s going on during each of those sessions.

Warm Up:

- Purpose: to loosen the lips and get the circulation of blood flowing into your lips. It’s the equivalent to an athlete stretching.

Suggested Exercises:

1. Long Tones
2. Buzzing

Maintenance Work:

- Purpose: In simple terms, this is basically the time where you work on your skills. To simplify things even more I’ve narrowed it down to two main things:

Tone Production Practice: This is where I focus strictly on my sound.

- Suggested Exercises:

1. Flow Studies
2. Long Tones
3. Buzzing

Technique Work: This is where I focus on things such as tonguing, dexterity and flexibility.

- Suggested Exercises:

1. Practice an Etude or Song that incorporate all those things.
2. Scales and Arpeggios.
3. Lip Slurs


Musical Studies:

- Purpose: To apply all the things you’ve practiced in a musical setting. To practice rhythm and timing.

Suggested Exercises:

1. Etudes, Solos, Duets, Tunes ext…
2. Practice with a metronome. You can be musical while being on time and rhythmically precise.


Warm Down:

- Purpose: To save your chops for the next day.

Suggested Exercises:

1. Long Tones


*It’s important to know that with a routine such as this one it’s crucial to pace yourself and rest as much as you play. I’d recommend resting between each different area of focus.

You will also notice that for suggested exercises I repeated a lot of the same exercises. In the future I plan to write individual essays to explain how I approach each suggested exercise and to augment even further on what I’ve written here.