Posted by Nathan on September 21, 2002 at 19:09:05:
In Reply to: buzzing discussion below posted by Michael Allen on September 20, 2002 at 09:30:21:
I'm a student studying tuba at Texas Tech University and I buzz everyday on the mouthpiece. I feel that it is a vital part of playing the tuba. There are some things that are hard to hear in the horn, but if you take the mouthpiece off the horn and buzz the part that you're having trouble with. You can almost instantly hear what's wrong. The slots of the harmonic series are wide enough in the low to middle registers of the tuba that I can buzz an A, but since I'm not pushing down any valves down, the B-flat (the closest the A in the harmonic series) will come out. It won't start immediately and it's going to be really flat, but the B-flat will come out because our body will adjust so that it plays a b-flat. However, if I can buzz the B-flat pitch, the B-flat will start immediately with tone and be right on pitch. Buzzing trains our lips to buzz pitches instead of playing fingering one and two on a kind of high note. Instead I can play D, because I know that I can buzz D. Also, the mouthpiece is our connection to the horn. We must be familiar with the way that it responds apart from the horn. Arnold Jacobs talked about three variables, the player, the horn, and the mouthpiece. Each of these should be examined seperately. For instance, if I can buzz a certain melody on my mouthpiece and have the fingerings for it down, there is not reason and I can't play it. Therefore, if I can't play it, we must move on to another method of finding out what's wrong. But if I never isolate the mouthpiece and the buzz, there could be something that's not working on the horn or something else that's not right. But if you can't buzz the music that you play, you might could get through it and sound good, but you could sound so much better. If you have ever been in a band and heard a director say, "Center the pitch, play the note right in the center of the pitch." The way that you do that is to train your lips to know what a D is and be able to buzz that pitch. Then you will be a lot better player. Buzzing is an invaluable tool and I encourage all serious tuba and euphonium players to do it consistently. That is my opinion. Thanks. All comments are welcome and if I'm off on something, let me know.
Trying to get better always. -Nathan