Best way to practice on a mouthpiece?

[ibebikz]

My horn is across the campus about a mile and a half away in the music building so it's pretty hard to make the time obligation to walk 30 minutes there practice and walk 30 minutes back without getting behind on school work. What should I focus on doing with just my mouthpiece so that I can continue improving on the every once in a while that I can make it over to my horn?

[marccromme]

use a bike - then it takes only 5 min ...

[ibebikz]

Don't know how to ride a bike, nor do I own one

[happyroman]

The major benefit of buzzing the mouthpiece is that it develops a direct link from the brain to the lips. Arnold Jacobs teaching philosophy was boiled down to two words, Song and Wind. Wind is the fuel source required for the lips to vibrate. Song refers to the "mentalization" of the the notes you want to play, which send the message to the lips to vibrate the pitch you are hearing in your head. In short, brass players play by "singing" with their lips, much in the same way singers sing with their vocal chords. Now, the lips and vocal chords are structurally very different, and don't physically vibrate in exactly the same manner. But the mental process by which the messages are sent from the brain to produce the pitches is very similar in both singing and brass playing.

That said, Mr. Jacobs recommended developing the ability to sing with the lips by playing very simple melodies. Two of his favorite examples are Pop Goes the Weasel and the Theme from the Carnival of Venice. The list of these kinds of songs for buzzing is really only limited by one's imagination. Mr. Jacobs preferred this type of practice to be done primarily in the middle register. He also preferred that his students avoid buzzing drill forms, especially anything so slow that the student could start to analyze what they were doing physically. He wanted them to be issuing statements and place 80-90% of their focus on the Song aspect of playing, with only 10-20% of their focus on the feedback or listening to what they were playing.

He also wanted his students to make sure they were very precise with the pitch and play the melodies in tune. The focus is to make sure we are always playing on the center of the pitch. Then, when we put the mouthpiece back in the instrument, it will simply amplify the pitch we are putting into the mouthpiece, based on sympathetic resonance and the overtone series (assuming we have pushed down the right valve combination so that the tube is the correct length).

Finally, there are a number of method books that include materials for buzzing the mouthpiece, including Alessandro Fossi's To Buzz (which has a CD with piano accompaniments for each exercise). Here is a link to his Youtube site with him buzzing a few examples from the book.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... st5VvPprZc" target="_blank" target="_blank

The Brass Gym, by Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan includes some buzzing exercises (and is an excellent method book). The James Stamp Warm-Ups for Trumpet also have downloadable mp3 accompaniments and can be buzzed on the mouthpiece. Its a trumpet method book, but the exercises can be played on any instrument.

[happyroman]

My horn is across the campus about a mile and a half away in the music building so it's pretty hard to make the time obligation to walk 30 minutes there practice and walk 30 minutes back without getting behind on school work. What should I focus on doing with just my mouthpiece so that I can continue improving on the every once in a while that I can make it over to my horn?

I take it that you are majoring in something other than music, so your practice is an extracurricular activity?

As much benefit as one can get by mouthpiece practice, you still need to put in time on the horn to really see the kind of improvements you probably want. If that is the case, then you really need to take a hard look at how you are using your time and find ways to carve out some big chunks so that you have more than 30 minutes of practice time available. That will make the walk to and from the music building less egregious.

For example, you may need to get up earlier and practice at 7:00 in the morning before your first classes start. Also, you may be able to reduce the distance/time walked by going to the music building from one of your classes that is in a closer building (assuming the 30 min walk is from your dorm). If you really want to practice, you will need to be creative and make time to do it. If you are like most people (like me) you probably have a lot of time each day wasted by things like surfing the internet or watching TV.

[bort]

Don't know how to ride a bike, nor do I own one

With a screen name that says: "I be bikes", it seems like a reasonable question.

If there's no campus bus (which sounds odd since it's apparently a big place), then just bring your homework with you, and do it at the music building. Yes, you'll still have to get back home eventually, but maybe then you can spend the most productive hours of the day doing productive stuff and go home tired... instead of walking home during your alert hours, and getting home tired to start doing homework (which never works).

There's probably no great solution to this apart from:
-- dealing with it
-- doing what you have to do to make it work
-- sleeping less to make time for the stuff you have to/want to do

I know it's inconvenient and not the best situation. But overcoming a mild amount of inconvenience is a key part of success and determination, and frankly, is part of maturing and growing up. It's good to have creative solutions and workarounds, but sometimes you just have to plow through it and take the hard way out.

[tclements]

WARNING - SMART ALECK COMMENT FOLLOWING: Answer - put it in the tuba!!

[happyroman]

Mr. Jacobs wanted to hear a lot of buzz in the sound on the mouthpiece alone. He equated the amount of buzz to the amount of resonance when the mouthpiece was inserted back into the instrument.

More buzz = stronger lip vibration.

[Mark]

WARNING - SMART ALECK COMMENT FOLLOWING: Answer - put it in the tuba!!

Beat me to it!

[Three Valves]

There's probably no great solution to this apart from:
-- dealing with it
-- doing what you have to do to make it work
-- sleeping less to make time for the stuff you have to/want to do

I know it's inconvenient and not the best situation. But overcoming a mild amount of inconvenience is a key part of success and determination, and frankly, is part of maturing and growing up. It's good to have creative solutions and workarounds, but sometimes you just have to plow through it and take the hard way out.

I never had a problem walking 30 minutes to hook up with my girlfriend or happy hour!!