Beneficial exercises?

[tubagod94]

Hello,

Hey guys! I was wondering what some of y'all do for exercises when practicing? I do Cichowicz, long tones, lip slurs,buzz while using a piano as a reference pitch, and do chromatic scales going around the circle of fifths. Also, my upper octave (F at the top of the staff and up) is very unstable. Could this be the horn, and/or my mouthpiece? I do buzzing exercises regularly, so I don't think it should be my buzz.

Best Regards,

Nick Phillips.

[bort]

I like octaves. Playing familiar things up or down an octave, to promote range, facility, memory, etc. It's a little silly, but fun.

Impromptu duets with a friend are great too.

Also, 90% of problems can be helped (if not solved) by using more air. There's never such thing as a tuba player having too much air. Be healthy and get good cardiovascular exercise and you'll be a better tuba player too!

[tubagod94]

I play duets with my buddy who plays euphonium out of my Arban's book! I would like to think that I use a decent amount of air, and once I hit the F in the staff I just push as much as I can!

Best Regards,

Nick Phillips.

[fairweathertuba]

Well, it could be your embouchure is too much of a smile type. Corners need to be firm but not "tight" and point downwards a hair, bottom lip needs to be a little firm and is actually more in control of the pitch than the upper lip IMO. The lower lip is the part of the embouchure that is actually movable (move able) and is responsible for making the aperture larger or smaller. The upper lip is attached to the skull and it's not going anywhere, (unless you've got some real problems there) the lower lip is attached to mandible otherwise known as the jaw and yes it is able to move up and down to help control the pitch.

Embouchure is often overlooked and even so by big name teachers. For some reason it seems to get short changed in favor of talking about air or breath control but really you can have all of the air in the world but without something to provide the proper frequency you've got no sound, well maybe a "whooosh" sound but that's not really what most people are after when they pick up a tuba is it?

The Arban's book is good. I would recommend to buy the trumpet version and read it the way a trumpet player reads, lots of good exercises in there to help develop flexibility and range up to the range you are having trouble with. Keep at it and it will probably improve.

[imperialbari]

Chromatic scales of course should be mastered, but they are no substitute of playing scales of various modes.

Real (diatonic) scales give a much firmer and more precise perception of tonality and hence further precise intonation.

Klaus

[daytontuba]

I am sure there is pretty much a wide variety of practice/exercise routines - probably everyone has a favorite set that they use, so will just say what I use. I buzz for about 5 minutes every day, then follow that with long, slow slurs - which not only help the embouchure, but also force me to work on intervals and relative pitch. I follow that with lip slurs on each valve combination, staring slowly and increasing speed as I go. I take the major scales next, playing them in 16th notes that helps warm up the tongue, as well as keeping the scales fresh for my fingers. I do some more lip slurs after that, then do an interval exercise for the low register, followed by one for the upper register. This takes about 30 minutes or so, depending on how fast I take things, but 30 minutes would be a good average. I finish up that session with a home brew version of Greensleeves that I have set in three keys, two registers in each key, so I can play it six times. It gives me work on multiple registers on the horn, with work on legato playing, and since the tune is so well known, it really helps with working on relative pitch. Of course, no way I can play it the way Arnold Jacobs did, but my wife likes the tune and the dog does not bark at me when I play it. I do that routine before I work on band music or anything else. So just what I happen to like doing.