Sound Hiccup between notes

[pulseczar]

I'm by no means a great player, but I've dealt with the same problems and here's my two cents, take it or leave it.

When you practice, observe the flow of air as you go through the hiccups. My personal problem was trying to use different types of "air" like a slur from Bb to C on a BB horn, I would push more air to try to compensate for the hiccup. What I learned was that that was wrong, and I need to have a big, steady, consistent 'column' of air, which means a consistent rate of flow of air, which means in my case, I had to blow more air through the horn and make it a consistent rate of flow.

What you can also try is how fast you push the piston/rotor down. Try "legato" fingerings and then "marcato" fingering

Lastly, relax your embouchure. After that, try to pull your face away from the mouthpiece as much as possible while playing. Mouthpiece pressure also hurted my slurring alot.

And of course, good slurring will come with practice. Practicing will make you a better player, refreshing this thread won't.

I hope this helps you.

[tubatooter1940]

When working bars as a trumpet player 6 nights a week, I would occasionally get the hiccups and that was a real problem. Some nights, blowing hard on the horn would start the hiccups and playing softly was the only way to cope. Holding my breath or chugging water would eventually stop them but loud playing would start them back again.
Drinking cokes or a beer to get a burp out sometimes helped.
If your tuba is doing the hiccuping, you could have a chipmonk or a squirell down there pleading for his life.

[dwaskew]

try buzzing the passage/range/area that you are having the most trouble with.

there are other ways to work on this, if you have questions, email me directly....

dwaskew@gmail.com

D. AsKew

[MaryAnn]

I agree that for this problem, working it out first on the mouthpiece could be very benficial. Once you can get it completely smooth just buzzing the mouthpiece, it should be clear at least what has to change when you use the tuba. But do remember that once you add the resistance of the instrument your air flow will have to go up, compared to just the mouthpiece.

Years ago I spent about three months just buzzing my mouthpiece on the way to work, going up and down doing "sirens" to get the breaks out of my buzz. It was a lot of time but it had a lot of benefits.

MA

[iiipopes]

btw, Moving the valves slow between the pitches is not "cheating" (as long as the air continues).

And it may even help if you've accumulated water you can't drain at that particular moment, so you don't burble.

bloke - thanks again for the tip on remembering to turn the horn sideways to drain the comp loops.

[tubatooter1940]

I like Bloke's answer. Go after it-full out. Do what you need to technically smooth things out but never back off. If you split one, splatter it off the walls, ceiling and floor. Every real musician in earshot will know you went down swinging and respect you for going for it. You can't be worried about making a mistake and play with gusto.
Don't ever forget that music is supposed to be fun for us too. If you can develop a Devil-may-care attitude with all the criticism and financial responsibility staring you in the face, that may be what turns you loose to play some really hot music.
Dennis Gray
tubatooter1940
www.johnreno.com/