Sound Ideas Part II

This is a continuation of my last column, talking about sound. This time, we focus en the role of the lips in creating vibration, and tansferring that vibration to the instrument.

Lips

When the lips are limned into an embouchure and compressed on the airstreain, they vibrate (buzz). The purity of the buzz and the efficiency with which air is converted to vibration is a function of the shape of the lips and the amount of tension or compression.

The amount of lip area that vibrates is very small, particularly on the higher brass (smaller) mouthpieces. The adjustments that take place within the cup of the mouthpiece are subtle but critical small changes in the embouchure can have a dramatic effect on the sound. Watch in a mirror while you buzz on a rim visualizer (a mouthpiece rim mounted on a handle or a shank), and locus your attention on the point of vibration. Become aware of how slightly changing the setting of the lips, or the position of the mouthpiece on the lips, aflects the buzz. Each note requires tiny adjustments to produce the purest vibration.

Now watch in the mirror while buzzing the mouthpiece or playing the horn. Focus on the muscles of your face outside the mouthpiece. Try to reduce external tacial movement as much as possible; the less movement outside the mouthpiece, the liner your muscle control inside the mouthpiece, where it really counts. Your accuracy will improve as you eliminate a "moving target" at the source ot vibration.

Many players rob themselves of tone by using too much embouchure tension, effectively strangling the lip vibrations. You can hear this in beginning brass students - with their lips tightly squeezed together the sound is usually pinched and lacking in resonance. By searching for the minimum embouchure compression lor a given pitch and volume, you allow the lips to vibrate to their fullest - more sound for less effort.

Transfer The Vibrations To The Horn

Your horn is a simple length of pipe; the length is changeable by valves or slides. A given length of pipe vibrates at specific frequencies, which have a mathematic relationship to each other (the overtone series). When your lips vibrate precisely at one of the resonant frequencies of the pipe, the tone becomes robust, and the vibrations of the pipe actually feed and sustain the vibrations of the lips. This might be described as playing in the center of the pitch, or finding the "sweet spot". When you hit the sweet spot on a tennis racket or baseball bat or golf club, you efficiently transfer energy to the ball. When you find it while playing a note, you efficiently transfer energy to the horn.

Just as the ball player must "follow through" the stroke, keeping his eyes on where he wants the ball to go, you should focus on where you want your sound to go. If it leaves your bell and immediately hits the music stand - WRONG! Your sound picks up resonance and energy as it bounces off every surface in the room - use this to your advantage, treating the room as an amplifier and a resonating chamber. Point your horn in different directions and listen to the change in your tone. Watch out for a common student error: as you play higher your eyes drift towards the ceiling - WRONG! In driving school, they teach you that during a skid you should look where you want the car to go (on the road). Picture where you want the sound to go, and your body will do what it must to get it there.

[Author Affiliation]

Chase Sanborn is a jazz trumpet flayer based in Toronto, Canada. Chase is a veteran studio musician and a member of the jazz faculty at the University of Toronto. His teaching methods, Brass Tactics and Jazz Tactics, bare earned worldwide fraise for their insightful yet light-hearted and humorous look at the world of brass playing and jazz improvisation. For more information on Chase's books, DVDs, CDs and other products, www.chasesanburn.com.