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.

Some thoughts on equipment

Most of the students I see don't own their own mouthpieces. I find that somewhat frightening. Only one at the post-secondary level has owned mutes, which is nowhere near as surprising.

Here are the basic recommendations I tend to make. I'll touch on mouthpieces first, then mutes.

The first thing I usually suggest to a secondary student, or the occasional primary aged student, is the purchase of a mouthpiece. Two good things come of purchasing a new (better?) mouthpiece. The first is a greater sense of ownership in the process. The second is an almost immediate increase in facility. Playing on a 'stock' 12C (tenor trombone) or 24AW (tuba) can make a negative impact on the students early endeavors. Both of those tend to be too small to allow the student to play in the mid to low range of the horn with the sound that most band directors expect.

Tenor trombone; most students have success with a mouthpiece that measures an inner diameter in the 1 inch (25.4mm) range. These measurements are approximations. There are numerous brands with mouthpieces in this range. Most music retailers carry several so as to placate the local private teaching community. The most common size designations are 6 1/2 and 50. These correspond to sizing models developed by the largest mouthpiece manufacturers.

Tuba; the two basic sizes my students experience the most growth by using are around 1.24 inches (31.5mm) and around 1.28 inches (32.5mm). Again, these measurements are approximations. The numbering on tuba mouthpieces is less codified, however the designations 18, 66, 12 and 69C4 tend to relate to those sizes of tuba mouthpiece.

This is meant to be a VERY generalized list of mouthpieces. I have used and continue to use mouthpieces in these sizes to meet my playing goals. The sizes are fairly conservative in that my goal is to get the student playing a mouthpiece that allows access to most of the range of the instrument and still maintains the characteristic sound of said instrument. If the student can play most of the pitches s/he sees on a regular basis with control, half the battle is won. Also of note, I have deliberately avoided talking about shape, bore and rim profile. Mouthpiece shape, and the variations therein, deserve more space. So, COMING SOON!!! A blog on the vagaries of mouthpieces!!!!!

Owning mutes is not generally expected of tuba players in a secondary ed setting. They're bulky, expensive and much of the literature written for these settings doesn't call for muted tuba.

Trombone literature is a different kettle of fish. There are instances of parts calling for mutes as early as Jr High/Middle School. I recommend that students purchase mutes in this order; 8th to 9th grade-Plunger (new, please. No handle required.) and Straight.  As soon as the student makes the top Jazz ensemble-Cup and Bucket. There are a couple of others, pixie and Harmon most notably, that a secondary musician can see called for but aren't used with the same frequency as the four mentioned earlier (plunger, straight, bucket and cup) that I can't recommend buying these last two as a matter of course. Wait until you really need them. Also, there are a number of manufacturers of mutes. Best to try before to buy (with the exception of the plunger, just grab one from the local hardware store) and access to a playing professional after purchase can really help. The corks on the mutes will need to be filed and shaped to fit your horn. Keep in mind, if the students purchases a new instrument the mutes will fit (and play in tune) differently than before. New cork might need to be purchased and the whole fitting process will need to occur again.

By the time the student begins playing in any collegiate ensemble they should own both the mouthpiece appropriate to the instrument and a basic set of mutes for their primary instrument.


Feel free to comment and thanks for reading!

A quick caveat

As I look at the previous post it occurs to me that I've lowered the expectation regarding entrance into a post secondary setting. This was not the intent. The expectation should remain that playing at your highest level will be the most beneficial to all involved. You should learn all 12 major scales and as many forms of the minor as possible, learn to play the blues in several keys, learn three solos at an advanced level of mastery. The reality is that what I see, as the program gains speed, is more a population that exhibits more interest and less polished technique. Living with that causes little sleep loss, kids who are truly interested will always be welcome in my studio (no matter the grade or ability level).

Getting a performance based scholarship from the school will be more difficult as time passes and the culture of the music program becomes more rounded. The goal is to raise the bar so that next year's incoming freshmen are challenging the studio's current membership. Eventually this will subside, as the current crop is working at that high level of mastery, and the kids coming in will need to be patient and hone their playing skills to make the more advanced ensembles or play juries that result in outstanding marks.

For the present; show up, work your daily routines and spend time practicing. Get better, that's a tide that will lift all boats.

Basic Skill Set

What should a student looking to study low brass in a college setting be able to do as they walk in to the door? The level of student I see, both in lessons and on auditions, is not typically ready to take auditions at a professional level. That shouldn't keep them from studying music in college.

Let's take a snap-shot of a prospective student. Most know some permutation of Bb Major Scale (possibly more) and might have played a solo in a adjudicated setting. They have most likely played in a concert ensemble and a field ensemble. Maybe the instrumentalist has a range a bit over an octave and a fifth, possibly just under two octaves. There may have been few opportunities to play in ensembles that spend time with improvisation. Smaller ensembles, brass quintet or like-instrument choirs, may have been difficult to form based on number of players available. Some of the students have not yet even gained the vocabulary to decode this paragraph.

This can make for a student with a large number of gaps in their skill sets. That's not a huge hurdle.

Here is a brief list of the skills I hope to see as I meet a prospective student. The usable range should be about two octaves with some solid range both below BBb and some above Bb in the bass clef. A solid knowledge of one octave scales and appropriate arpeggios ranging from four flats to three sharps. The ability to play the one octave chromatic scale starting from the lowest note playable on the straight tenor trombone/three valved euphonium or baritone (or the octave below that on three valved BBb contrabass tuba) as well as the chromatic scales starting on each pitch (ascending by half steps) for the next octave. This should be played in both triplets and sixteenth notes or groups of three notes and groups of four notes. The beginnings of a good slur, both between partials and between adjacent pitches. Some mastery of an age appropriate solo is always a plus. Rhythmic knowledge is often overlooked. A strong ability to break down rhythms into component parts really helps later on in the course of study. Showing that the student is able to clap or vocalize some patterns that include sixteenth notes (semi- or demi-quaver) is a great place to start. The courage to sightread is huge, playing it imperfectly is much better than not playing.

The list isn't meant to be long, it's meant to show flexibility and give the audition panel (or faculty member) a clear picture of where the student is at the present moment.

Outside of the player's "on the horn skills", I'm interested in some level of curiosity. If the student doesn't ever ask 'Why?' I don't know how rich the college experience will be, and college is a huge investment in time. A bit of diversity is helpful as well. Participation in sports, an academic interest or hobby is preferable. More music, while laudable, keeps the mind focused too long on one subject. That phrase "get a hobby" applies in that the student needs a life as well as a goal. Friendships outside of ones own baileywick are too important to ignore, far too critical to emotional well being. Decent grades are important to consider. College is about more than just learning to play an instrument or in an ensemble. I teach at a university that ascribes to the "liberal arts" model. This means that the student will be collaborating regularly with other students that have very little knowledge of music. As this collaboration typically encompasses a more generalized subject, it is incumbent that the student be ready to converse on subjects such as politics, popular culture, as well as scientific discovery and philosophic themes. The idea here is that the mind gets worked and stretched. The student needs to be ready to pulled far from any comfort zone they may have built during their high school experience.

Remember that most post-secondary educators are willing to give a lesson. The concepts on the list above take about an hour to outline so that a student can start to work the various skills involved. Mastery takes longer and is why there are practice rooms at colleges and conservatories.

Just a few thoughts on what leads to the door of academia, what one find when one walks through is less certain.

As we get rolling again.

Part of my work-a-day life is teaching college aged students. The program is just starting and some of the material on this blog will be questions and musings based on starting a post-secondary low brass studio. How do I get more kids interested? How do I build the bridges that both strengthen the program where I teach and those programs I recruit from? Wheeee!