New Drill Of The Week #23, “Buzz Kill”

[Chris Olka]

Sorry for the long absence. Hope you find it a help:
Drill Of The Week #23, "Buzz-Kill"
https://youtu.be/yHOK_VyCOaM

[Pokornylover]

This exercise has been a huge help to me. It has helped reduce my double buzz but I fear most of it is mental. I've had it for around 4 years and have only been able to remedy it a little.

[Chris Olka]

Double buzz can absolutely be primarily mental. That’s the point of the drill, to force your focus onto what’s most important, hearing the pitches in your head. While there are things that can contribute to the double buzz (too big of a mouthpiece, extremely fatigued chops, too large of a leadpipe, etc) the main cause is a disconnect between what note you want to play, and what note your embouchure is trying to produce.

When a player encounters a persistent double buzz, they usually can’t take their attention off of the frustrating occurrence and refocus it on proper habits. It’s the unfortunate instance of “trying harder to stop it makes it worse” syndrome. Absolve yourself of any guilty feelings surrounding it, and instead find another thing to focus on. Usually the simple act of “sing, buzz, play” in quick succession helps tremendously.

Hoping some of this helps you!