Making out-of-the-ordinary sounds with brass instruments.

tmuabxa · Post by **tmuabxa** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:06 pm

The other day a trombonist demonstrated to me that he could make his horn sound like a kazoo. I tried to accomplish that sound, just for fun, by messing around with my embouchure. In the process I only managed to make my tuba sound like a didgeridoo. I am wondering if anybody knows how to make a brass instrument sound like a kazoo and if anybody knows any other out-of-the-ordinary sounds to make on a horn.

Richardrichard9 · Post by **Richardrichard9** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:08 pm

Well today marching in the St. Patty's parade I unintentionally made a Chewbacca sound come out of my instrument... I found out the Kelly 18 isn't for me

lol

k001k47 · Post by **k001k47** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:10 pm

Use double tounging for guns, whistling and explosion noises for bombs, and inhale while making some odd noise for a monster to emulate a Godzilla attack.

....

The Jackson · Post by **The Jackson** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:28 pm

Everyone loves multiphonics! They are lots of fun and people always give amusing reactions.

tubafatness · Post by **tubafatness** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:54 pm

If you want to hear some aural gymnastics with the tuba, check out the Polish tubist Zdzislaw Piernik. One of the ways he does things is by placing extra bells in the place of his valve tuning slides, and also playing a baritone saxophone mouthpiece into his leadpipe. Simply amazing stuff.

Jozsef Bazsinka also makes some cool sounds on his unaccompanied CD "Waves".

Most of the avant-garde/modernistic solos out there for tuba involve some degree of "extra" sounds made from the horn. Check out some of that type of music to hear some new sounds.
A good example of this type of piece is "Solo Tuba Music" by Cort Lippe. It has been recorded by Bazsinka on the aforementioned CD, and on a compilation cd by Mel Culbertson. I personally prefer the Culbertson version, (partly because it was written for him!)

Aaron

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:10 am

Well, there are special sounds, and then there are "special sounds". One of the Army bands I played in had a bass trombonist (Stuart Dempster, later professor of trombone at University of Washington) who could make a variety of fart sounds and sounds of staggering drunks that one might hear in cartoon sound tracks. Pretty entertaining stuff. LOL

tubafatness · Post by **tubafatness** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:24 am

Ace wrote:Well, there are special sounds, and then there are "special sounds". One of the Army bands I played in had a bass trombonist (Stuart Dempster, later professor of trombone at University of Washington) who could make a variety of fart sounds and sounds of staggering drunks that one might hear in cartoon sound tracks. Pretty entertaining stuff. LOL

If you want to hear some really weird, (but cool,) sounds, find an album that has the piece "General Speech" by Robert Erickson. That, or if you don't want to search out the album, follow this link:
http://artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/piece.pl?pid=11

eupher61 · Post by **eupher61** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:20 pm

General Speech was written for Stuart Dempster. GREAT piece!