dizforprez

from "Practical Physics for Trumpeters and Teachers" by Renold O. Schilke April 1977 The Instrumentalist

"It is not necessary for the the air to move thought the instrument. I have demonstrated this at clinics by having a tuba player blow smoke into his instrument. He can play for over a minute before any smoke begins to trickle out of the bell. The pattern set up by the player in the air is more like what happens when you drop a rock in the lake---energy impluse travels along lifting and depressing the water ( making slight waves), but does not move the water to another area."

what do you guys think? I was thinking that goes along well with the Jacobs quote of " I do not fill the horn with air, I fill the horn with vibration".

Manny Laureano

Another bit of proof, Diz...

Grab your horn and mouthpiece.

Stuff your lips into the mouthpiece and suck in and create a buzz in the inner part of the lip. You will definitely hear a sound. It ain't much but you can get a sound. If you practiced this for a year maybe you might even get a sound that isn't half bad!

So, you've created a "sound" without blowing outward.

ML

Heavens2kadonka

That all reinforces the idea that to play high or loud, you dont have to blow hard, hot, diffused wind...

Van

dbacon

Back pressure's a big clue you are trying to jam air through the horn.

Back off the back pressure, as Mr. Jacobs told me once....or twice..

Heavens2kadonka

For a looong time, I had such an aggravating time. Sometimes I could put the horn to my face, and create BEAUTIFUL upper octave notes. Other times, I could hardly play any lick out of Clarke's book without cacking every note, and absolutely missing the register past tune C. Its just figuring out that it isn't so ****ed hard as you think.

Though getting the embochure/aperture/wind collumn to effortlessly switch from low register to upper is difficult to grasp at times.

So is breaking the habit of using hard, diffused wind for the higher range...

Van

BflatAnklan

The air does move through the horn (one way or the other) where else would it go?

Heavens2kadonka

Yes, but it isnt the air that creates the sound. Its the vibrations of your lips being vibrated through the tubing, then transformed into the sound we love out of the bell.

When you play loud, dont think harder, faster air. Think more vibrations. I still suck at that.

Van

BflatAnklan

Of course, sound is vibration. I don't believe that our sound is an amplification of out lips vibrating. To prove this, tap the mouthpiece gently with your palm, and try different fingerings. You should hear distinct tones. So, sound is produced by vibrations of the air-column within the instrument.

So, one can infer that the more air you have vibrating in the horn, the louder you will be, and vise-versa. Your air is not the tone, it's what sets the instrument into motion to create our beautiful sounds!

Heavens2kadonka

THATS AN AWESOME WAY TO SHOW A STUDENT WHY ITS VIBRATIONS!!!

I'm going to show that tomorrow for my student. Thanks!

Van

BflatAnklan

LOL, no problem.