Moving Month

I'm moving the blog to a wordpress version. I'm liking some things about that software MUCH more. Go to www.bogusbrassstudio.wordpress.com and (I hope) click on the follow button.

Food for thought

http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-practice/

Good ideas and sound (get it?) advice from a number of perspectives.

Basic Tuba Mouthpiece Types

A bit of information on tuba mouthpieces. Mouthpieces are the first mechanical variable in the learning process and something I try to have the student understand as a tool in and of itself. It's the interface between the player and the instrument and a bad mouthpiece can hold back or even discourage a young musician. I'll start with the cup, move to the rim (just a little info there) and finish with an opinion or two.

For the purposes of this blog, the 'cup' is the inner contour of the mouthpiece. It's the shape  you feel as you run your finger down the inside of the mouthpiece. There are two basic types, "Bach" and Helleberg. I'll use quotes as I'm trying to identify the physical characteristics of the "Bach" style mouthpiece, and the corollary playing tendancies, and not the brand of mouthpiece.

A "Bach" style cup is shaped similarly to a trumpet cup. There is almost immidiate curvature from the rim inward progressing to the throat. If you feel down in there you might also notice that it feels like there is a bump at the bottom of the cup, near the entrance of the throat. This is commonly reffered to as the 'shoulder'. These characteristics make for a crisp front to the articulation and a more flexible feel as one sweeps through the partials. The issue can be that it's easy to bark and hard to play without cracking or missing pitches at louder volumes.

A Helleberg style cup, sometimes referred to as a funnel shaped cup, is shaped more like a french horn mouthpiece. There is a significant amount of distance toward the bottom of the cup before the mouthpiece narrows. The is very little 'shoulder' in a mouthpiece with this inner contour. Typically, these mouthpieces play with a mellower sound, due to the smooth entrance to the throat (that lack of shoulder) and tend to have a more rounded sound on the articulation. A large issue is that the student can 'get lost' in the depth of the mouthpiece and the sound can be dull and thud-y.

The rim of a 'Bach' style mouthpiece is well rounded with a gentle inner edge while the Helleberg style has a flatter rim with a sharper inner edge. These rim styles on the respective mouthpieces represent a compromise, trying to make sure that comfort and flexibility are balanced. (I know this is really brief, see the note towards the end of the blog.)

Both styles have been proven to produce a correct, characteristic tuba sound. An air column that is not well developed can bring out the less desireable sides of either one while a strong air column can make them both work in most playing contexts, so trying to buy one for marching band and one for concert band becomes less of an imperative. With younger players, the biggest factor will be comfort. My dislike for the rounded rim of the 'Bach' style mouthpiece drove me to play the Helleberg style as soon as I could get one. It didn't sound better necessarily, I just was more comfortable playing on it for longer periods. Being able to play on in for longer periods allowed me to learn to push more air which led to a better sound which helped me feel good about practicing more which ... You can see where this is going. There is an aspect of valve type that plays into this as well. The piston valved tubas tend to play better with the Helleberg cup mouthpiece and the rotary valved horn with the 'Bach' cup. There are some acoutical physics and fluid dynamics at play here.

Just go with me on this one.

My students are encouraged to try both so they can feel the difference. I've actually had several over the years prefer a combination of horn/mouthpiece that generally would be less advantageous but worked for that student at that time. Taking the time to find that out was a big plus for the students in question.

What are your thoughts?

A very brief reminder.

School is either out or ending. Time to sterilize mouthpieces and get horns cleaned and checked. Please make sure that you stay healthy and remember what Jack says. "A clean horn is a healthy horn and a healthy horn is a happy horn."

Pick a local business to support by having them clean and repair your instrument!

Expectation

When approaching my daily playing I first try and ready myself for days playing by setting an expectation. How am I going to sound, how hard will I work on the various segments of my playing day. Some days I need to focus less on solo literature and work on fundamentals, others I get more out of working on phrasing and trying to emphasize a singing approach. Each day brings it's own challenges and staying aware of that can make the practice session (or sessions) much more successful.

An example of this would be coming back from a break of several days. I recently had lessons with a number of students that had been away from their instruments for a period of roughly a week. Most just slapped the metal to embouchure and tried to resume where the left off. Ouch! As a remedy I had them try a combination of visualization (thinking about how they should sound as they play) and re-focusing on playing with the best fundamental physical approach they could muster. All made some level of improvement. One player had been away from his horn for two weeks. By paying attention to his breathing and simply expecting his best he made huge improvements in all areas. It was still evident that he'd lost some muscle tone but because he knows how to get a good sound and clean attack he was able to get on track again by understanding his own expectation of good playing.

"I'm going to play just like xxxxxxxx !!" is probably unrealistic. "I'm going to play as well as I can today!" is as good a way to start as any.

Next time you get out the instrument, set your own expectation before you play a note or even work on your breathing.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read or leave a comment.

Turning the focus.

I've mentioned what I expect from a prospective student (albeit briefly) and suspect that there might be questions as to what a student should expect from a prospective teacher.

Here are a few thoughts:

The prospective teacher should be proficient on their primary instrument and at least familiar with the other instruments that they teach. Being a great player doesn't mean being a great teacher but bad playing (outside of a few specific physical disorders) is a red flag. If the teacher is giving a recital by all means, go! I've had the opportunity to hear a number of performances by University Faculty, it is usually a treat and I've heard many fine performances. If members of the studio are playing on the recital? So much the better, it allows you to hear the spectrum of improvement that comes with working with a well qualified teacher for an extended period.

The teacher should be approachable. This can be a very individual thing, one person's approachable is another persons aloof or silly or overly familiar. Much more important that you are able to talk with the person than someone you know finds them approachable and you aren't able to speak with them in a comfortable manner. Part of this is based on that fact that you'll be spending a bunch of time with your studio instructor in a very intense setting. Part of it is that you will be setting life goals based on that interaction.

The teacher should be honest and compassionate. You will be walking in to learn, the studio teacher should be willing to see you as a person first and a set of problems to overcome never. A teacher who can diagnose playing issues is good, a teacher who can help you use the strengths and skills you already posses to grow, gain skills and overcome the issues you face through your journey is best.

Just a few thoughts.

*edit 3/15/12*

A link regarding the same basic thoughts, used by permission:

http://yeodoug.com/resources/faq/faq_text/teacherstudent.html

With thanks to Mr. Yeo. Very intuitive and quite practical.

Thanks for the link, Dr. Wilken!

Food for thought. Found this on Dr. Dave Wilken's blog: http://www.wilktone.com/ 

http://ideas.time.com/2012/01/25/the-myth-of-practice-makes-perfect/

I remember Dr. Mack (And Bob and Dave and Dave...and Dave...heck, all my private and applied teachers)  saying "I don't want to hear what you do well, I want to hear what you are having problems playing." Turns out they are right.

When you pick up the horn today, work on something that causes you difficulty. Let speed come from well executed technique.