Re: As cheeks poke out like Dizzy Gillespie


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Posted by Gus Pratt on February 24, 2000 at 09:04:33:

In Reply to: As cheeks poke out like Dizzy Gillespie posted by Ralph on February 24, 2000 at 07:38:01:


Getting a good buzz is crutial to any brass playing. It's required for good tone, intonation (being able to center your pitch), control of dynamics (i.e. ppp to fff). On brass playing the instrument only amplifies what is occuring with the lips. The lips should buzz the pitch of the note and the instrument should repond accordingly. If you don't have control of your buzz then the instrument is controlling you. Try buzzing without the horn or mouthpiece and tell me that you can puff your cheecks and still get a good buzz, or for that matter any buzz at all. To get a good buzz, muscles at the corners of the mouth need to be kept in, but the lips kept loose allowing them to vibrate. The pitch of the note your vibrating is then controlled with the muscle at the corner of the mouth. Play a Bb (second line of bass clef) on your horn. Then take your mouthpiece alone and play that note. Then do the same thing for A, then A flat on down the chromatic scale. You'll notice that in order to buzz specific pitches you must keep your corners in.


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