A solid attack.

[TYA]

I have a very bad attack on my notes where i would say 55% of the time while hitting notes it comes out with a bad tone. What can I practice to fix this problem and be able to hit notes clearly? Thank you for your help.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Legend has it that Wynton Marsalis used to stand in a corner of the band room and practice attacks for hours at a time. Literally just one note over and over listening carefully to the start of the note and perfecting it.

Are you willing to do the same?

[Mitchell Spray]

I have found that the concept of an "attack" can create more percussive energy than one might need and can actually contribute to unwanted splats and chipped notes. When I think about "articulation", I get a more musical result than when I think "attack".
I try to think about simply starting the note with the lips vibrating at whichever frequency that you are wanting to play. Once I get that sounding pretty good, I add the tongue to release the air (like a gate) in an organized fashion. Then, once you get the note going, just play eighth notes with the air bouncing off of the airstream. I find that easier than starting the first note. The goal is then to get the same sensation and bounce on the first note as the notes in the eighth note stream. The main idea I am trying to convey is to let the lips begin to vibrate independently of the tongue and then plug in the tongue.
I hope this helps.

Mitch Spray

[Roger Lewis]

Locate and get to a good teacher in your area. There are so many small things that occur during the attack that someone really needs to be able to hear what you are doing. Then they can put you on a visualizer to see if there are any underlying problems, and they can teach you the correct method for starting the note.

I have seen students come in with some really "whacky" attack methods that they had developed on their own that were not helping them in any way.

What you are asking for is extremely hard to diagnose without an explanation of every step of your attack process.

Get a good teacher and pay attention.

I wish you all the best.

Roger

[BopEuph]

Locate and get to a good teacher in your area.

Get a good teacher and pay attention.

This should be the only bit of advice you should take from the internet. The rest *could* be good advice, but even if it's good general advice, there's no way to know how you could misconstrue it.

Get a teacher. If you need help finding one, let us know where you live, someone here knows a teacher close to you, I'm sure. If you already have one, they do not mind you calling and asking a question such as this. If you are in college majoring in music, swing by his office with your horn and get a quick five minute lesson. That's what I did all the time.

Nick

[swillafew]

I second getting the teacher, it will be the best move you make. Mouthpiece practice in the meantime should help. Long, loud, low notes are very helpful. I buzz the bass lines of music on the radio to build some strength when I'm away from the horn. If you can do it, you should get a decent tone.
Remember "Rome wasn't built in a day".

[iiipopes]

What Roger Lewis said. Period.

[Shockwave]

Bubbly attacks are caused by a pitch that wobbles enough during the attack that it causes the horn to briefly resonate on two notes at the same time. The horn doesn't create the sounds, it only locks onto and amplifies them, so if your lips buzz a pitch that stays within one partial, the note will have a clean start. An unsteady pitch can be caused by many things, such as the lips having to inflate to reach their buzzing position, by bringing the lips together only after the air has started, or by some other weird and unnecessary contortion. Even extremely loud, high, and fast playing is possible on a BBb instrument with a steady buzz, for example what this crazy guy can do: http://www.youtube.com/user/larreguin#p/u/9/Xj6Rs4sllCw.

What you need to do is practice buzzing on the mouthpiece single pitches over and over until they are completely steady. Absolutely nothing about the jaw or lips must move between notes, the lips must be pre-set to vibrate at the right pitch before the air starts, and they must be set to automatically begin to vibrate when the air starts. Cover the end of the mouthpiece with your finger until the resistance is similar to your tuba. Concentrate on what you are doing and look in a mirror to start. Look for any signs of musles tensing as the note begins, and feel around your lips as you start and stop notes. The goal is absolutely no changes when the note starts and stops. If the vibration will not restart without moving something, you need to change your embouchure a little bit so that it does. Try setting your embouchure with the jaw more open or more closed, just dont change it between notes. Once you can buzz steady pitches in the normal range of the tuba, practice it with the end of the mouthpiece completely open, and then again with it almost plugged. Once you can buzz a steady pitch against any backpressure, I guarantee you will have clean attacks. The goal is simple, but getting there could be tough.

-Eric

[Shockwave]

Well, what was lesson one from your tuba teacher? Wasn't it....buzzing on the mouthpiece???

-Eric

[swillafew]

What you need to do is practice buzzing on the mouthpiece single pitches over and over until they are completely steady. Absolutely nothing about the jaw or lips must move between notes, the lips must be pre-set to vibrate at the right pitch before the air starts, and they must be set to automatically begin to vibrate when the air starts.
-Eric[/quote]

This was my point in my post. Thanks for clarifying.

[Chen]

Have you tried starting notes with tongue between lips?

[Roger Lewis]

I had a young student (7th grade) come to me for trumpet lessons. Before even taking the horn out of the shipping box we went over the inhalation and exhalation process, whispered attack syllables, the sequence of events in the attack process. THEN we took the horn out of the box and worked with the mouthpiece on buzzing single notes, using the attack process we had already discussed and it was at least 20 minutes before he played his first note on the trumpet. In 10 more minutes I had him playing from the low F# to high C two ledger lines above the staff with a huge sound.

When the fundamentals are solid and you understand the physics of the action you are working on, everything can fall into place very easily. If you ignore the fundamentals, then you are going to think it's harder to do than it really is. Remember that babies and monkeys can buzz their lips. What we do is NOT hard.

Get a teacher.

Roger

[Chen]

Have you tried starting notes with tongue between lips?

This is actually a serious question.

[BopEuph]

Well, what was lesson one from your tuba teacher? Wasn't it....buzzing on the mouthpiece???

-Eric

Actually, I bet most of our first lessons didn't involve the horn or mouthpiece at all.

The problem is, you can't just say "buzz the mouthpiece" and expect this guy to do it properly. He may not. Anything mentioned here without a set of ears to help back it up can be misconstrued in any sort of manner. Like someone said, this person could be in grade school still, and has never learned to properly buzz.

The best ways to fix this problem:

1. Get a teacher.
2. Get a teacher.
3. There is no number three.
4. Get a teacher.

Nick

[Chen]

...When the fundamentals are solid and you understand the physics of the action you are working on, everything can fall into place very easily. If you ignore the fundamentals, then you are going to think it's harder to do than it really is. Remember that babies and monkeys can buzz their lips. What we do is NOT hard.

Get a teacher.

Roger

Post of the year!

The "understanding the physics" part was kinda intimidating though, and somewhat contradicts the babies and monkeys analogy.

Totally agree with the "get a teacher" part though: one lesson with Daniel Perantoni can totally change everything.

The most important thing is finding a good teacher. You don't need to have lessons every week. Instead, spend the money on a really, really good teacher and work on what he taught you for as long as you need to come up with the $ for the next lesson. Don't waste your money on the wanna-bes.

[Roger Lewis]

Hmmmmm..... I didn't realize that "TOE" with the air in the right place behind the tongue was that hard to get my head around.

In my little world, I use 4 "fundamentals": Inhale, Exhale, Attack (which is basically almost combined with the exhalation) and Sound. I spend time on these every day before going on to attack consistency drills, long tones, etc. It's like a pre-flight check list for a pilot - make sure everything is working correctly before trying to get it off the ground.

Of course all of this is preceded with about two minutes of the "spit valve drill" to establish which things are actually supposed to be doing the work rather than what I might "think" is doing the work.

Don't over-think it. Just use enough brain power to understand that everything is working the way it is supposed to and get on with it. Remember we're drinkers, not thinkers. According to my wonderful wife of 18 years, I have never been too encumbered by the thought process.

Just my $0.02.

Roger

[bort]

My director in college always said 2 things:

-- More air.
-- Get the "S" sound out of "TOH"

[Michael Bush]

M
-- Get the "S" sound out of "TOH"

That is a really helpful thought!

[sloan]

My director in college always said 2 things:

-- More air.
-- Get the "S" sound out of "TOH"

Stoh?

[Michael Bush]

My director in college always said 2 things:

-- More air.
-- Get the "S" sound out of "TOH"

Stoh?

I was hearing it as "Tohs", in other words, not getting your tongue back out of the airstream immediately.