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mhealy wrote:Dear List:

I'm looking for recommendations as to how to increase projection and volume range in euphonium playing. Consistency, tone, and endurance are what I'm looking for - not blasting.

Please share your methods (books, exercises, etc.) for building dynamic range.

Thanks!

Meredith

Long tones. Slow interval studies. An in tune, smooth, easy sound will carry better than one which is forced out. Efficiency will come with putting in time on the horn. Fundementals.

Meredith,

I don't know if you remember me or not, but I was there for the Euphonium Day a couple of years ago with Steve Mead there. I was the short guy from Kentucky who tried to play in the masterclass but was nervous as hell! Anyway...about your topic. How much "loud" practice do you do? Sean is exactly right as to what to do. Make sure you play long tones and exercises as if you're standing in front of a band. Never put a limit on your sound mentally...your horn will do that for you eventually! Good luck with your studies, and tell everyone at UNT I said hello, especially Derek! Tell him to email me!

If you want to expand your dynamic range, it is important to include some very loud playing in your practice. Spend a little time each day going beyond what sounds good, pushing the envelope, and soon you will find that the range of dynamics of your best sound will increase.

What??? A serious post from UNT??? What a shock. Hhahahahahaha.

Meredith.....Meixner is one of the loudest euphonium players I have ever met...hang with him, he will make you loud by association.

all the best,

tony

Part of it will have to include playing really really loud, way beyond "pretty", and well into u-g-l-y. When you learn how to control that amount of noise, and make it a "stable ugliness" -- that is, no wavering, wobbling, fracking, or whatnot, but just really loud & brassy -- it'll be much easier to control the loud end of your pretty, good sound.

You could go as far as sticking a mute in there while you do this. Not only will it make the output less painful in terms of volume, but it's like how baseball batters warm up with donut weights on their bats. It's an extra helping of stuffiness and instability that will make you work harder to sound consistent.

Location can make a real difference, too. Any brass instrument played at "performance volume" can really hurt one's ears when in a tiny practice room. Get in the performance hall, recital hall, gymnasium, or go outside. Being outdoors can actually be very helpful in that there is no reverberation to mask things like note lengths. Wherever you go, always remember that no audience fits in a practice room -- you have to practice as if you were in your usual venue.

If you can play stupidly loud with good control, range, and endurance, you'll have a much easier time controlling & enduring a good, clean loud sound. The performance itself should be easier than anything you practice.

I have an excercize that I got from Allen Lawless, formerly of the Berlin Brigade Band (among others). I call it "the uglies." It is difficult to describe without notating it, but I'll try.

Start on F (in staff for euphonium). Play as loud and crass as possible until out of air. Please note, end of note needs to be as big as beginning.

next play F sofltly and slur down to E, making E as crass as possible. Next F and E soft and land on a crass Eb. Keep going down chromatically, one note at a time, make each last note nasty. When you get to the low E start coming back up chromatically.

This exercise develops power not because of the crass notes, but rather because of the air support you develop by blowing your air through to the end and by gradually extending the time it takes to get to that last note.

It is never acceptable to play nasty in an ensemble or around the faint of heart. However, by knowing where your sound breaks up, hopefully you will be learning how much is too much.

I do this exercise to jumpstart my chops after a long break. Also I use it occasionally with students who have a wimpy sound, but only for a week or two. It is a quick fix that should not take the place of long tones or other daily routines.

You just have to realise, that the two last letters of "relax" are AX.

Another political posting from

Klaus

Fast air !! but isn't that the key to everything?

It helps me to "think" flat/dark when im playing loud. Seems to help keep me in tune and project even more. Also, ever notiice by increasing your overal stability in the lower rangers your mid ranges come out better louder? maybe its the requirement of more air, or something but i noticed once i got my lower range down, i also got louder.. more efficently w/o worrying about cracking and other nasty things that my tuba likes to cough up at those all too important moments.

From a guy in corps I have been told something I won't repeat...

but I will try to rephrase it...
Try to get a really open throat and blow hot air through your horn... and listen to what everyone before has said. Some of those guys are pros. I am just a stupid contra amateur, but I relax and work through exercises at a Mf on contra, than hit forte with control, then Æ’Æ’, then Æ’Æ’Æ’ (without forcing it, It's an easy habit), then I try to hold a solid Æ’Æ’Æ’Æ’ without forcing. I can't tell you exactly what to do to be honest. Go hang out around the most obnoxiously loud sousaphone player (that has an awesome concert horn on his or her horn during season) and ask them to work with you. They all have a twist on how they understand loud. Hope I helped, If not... forget what I said and listen to the people who are better than me

Jacob Morgan wrote:...but i noticed once i got my lower range down, i also got louder..

Ever seen the trumpet book, "Double High C in 30 Days" (or whatever the title is)? It's all about building range and endurance, and at least half of it is pedal & false tones.

Definitely, building the bottom register will help quite a lot. It's a large volume of air, but very fine muscle control in the embouchure is needed to keep a good sound.