Posted by Paul R. Ogushwitz on July 27, 2000 at 03:40:28:
In Reply to: Re: Leaks in the mouth area posted by Art on July 26, 2000 at 15:19:41:
Good points.
Puffing the cheeks has several advantages. (1) It causes additional forward pressure of the lips against the mouthpiece, which creates a better seal and reduces air leakage. (2) It allows more flexibility in using the mouth cavity (along with throat, sinuses, etc) to modify tones as they are produced. (3) It makes circular breathing much easier. (4) The energy that was formerly put into controlling the puffing can be directed elsewhere, principally into making better music.
Your example of William Bell and Don Butterfield is apt. Until one has heard their recordings, one could not dream that such music could be made on the tuba, cheek-puffing or no cheek-puffing.
It's not how you look ... it's how you sound.
Some claim that it is "wrong" to puff the cheeks while playing. I'm not clear what their reasoning is, or whether it is "reasoning" at all. There are pedants in every field.
A very interesting TubaNet thread about nose-breathing started just the other day and then mysteriously disappeared just as it was focusing on these very issues. Censorship!