How does this all work? Basic concepts of air and embouchure.

1. The way that we play our instruments can be compared to the way that a car works. You can have the most amazing Ferrari in the world, but if the engine isn’t in good shape and you don’t have any fuel, you aren’t going anywhere! For our purposes, we will call our instrument the actual car, our embouchure the engine and our air is the fuel that we need to make it all happen.

1. Embouchure is a French word and means simply the way that we form our mouths in order to play any kind of wind instrument. While brass and woodwind embouchures differ greatly, all of the brass instruments share the same basic embouchure (allowing for slight differences based on the size of the mouthpiece). While we all use the same basic setup, everyone’s chops look slightly different. There is no absolute right or wrong when it comes to your chops, but if you follow these basic concepts, you should be in pretty good shape.

1.) When playing a low brass instrument, it is important to keep your aperture fairly open. Think about when you were first handed your instrument when you were just beginning… you probably were told to buzz your lips like a bee, then to buzz the mouthpiece and then to make a sounds on the instrument. This works pretty well for the trumpet but is less successful for the tuba and euphonium. The sound is just a bit too tight and nasal if we’re thinking about a “P” sound. Instead try an “M” sound and allow for some space between your lips.

Exercise: With your left hand about six inches in front of your mouth, blow an air stream that will last about four seconds. The air should feel consistent in speed and pressure. Repeat this exercise three times. Now, take your mouthpiece in your right hand. For the first two beats, blow the air as before while bringing the mouthpiece toward your lips. By the time we hit the third beat, the mouthpiece should be hitting your face. Do not change the way that you are blowing! The resistance that your mouthpiece provides should cause your lips to vibrate within the cup. Don’t worry about a pitch at first, just concentrate on getting a good robust buzz. This will help you to develop the concept that the air (fuel) that we use really drives our embouchure (the engine) to work effectively. Now that we can make this sound, play a Bb scale on the mouthpiece in this pattern: Quarter note = 60 beats per second. Beats one and two, blow. Beats three and four, buzz.

2.) When properly formed, the embouchure is a tug of war for your lips between smiling and kissing in which neither side wins. Essentially, this ensures that you have the two basic ingredients for a successful sound-- firm corners and a soft “pad”. (Imagine which vibrates more effectively, something soft and supple or something hard and rigid) A low brass player should never have a “smiley” embouchure. You should always think of having your corners pulling downward. Too much smile will result in a thin sound and a hard time playing high (or low for that matter!) Conversely, playing with too much meat in the mouthpiece will result in a tubby sound with very little flexibility.

3.) A key word to consider is “open”. You should try to keep your oral cavity (the big hole inside of your head!) as open as possible. Imagine that you’ve got a live toad in your mouth! Generally, the tongue should be low and out of the way and there should be space between your molars. The general idea is to keep the idea of “oh” as much as you can. This will also come in handy when we walk about breathing!

Now that we’ve figured out how build our engine, let’s get some fuel!

B. How we use our air is the most important piece of the puzzle in playing a brass instrument. It is really important that we keep our breathing very simple and very active. For our purposes of learning to keep it simple, let’s talk about the inhale and then about the exhale.

The Inhale

1.) Breathing in is really quite simple. We want to take as much air in while making the “oh” shape. Do this simple check. Breath in saying the following syllables: ee, ih, eh, ay, ah, oh. Nothing comes close to the open feeling of the “oh” sound. The tongue is down, the throat is open, and the oral cavity is big.

Exercise: Inhaling through a piece of 3/8” PVC coupling will reinforce this idea nicely.

2.) How do we get the air in? There’s only one way: We Suck It In. It is impossible to fill your lungs with a passive inhale. You can’t just open your mouth and hope for the best—this would be like filling your gas tank by driving past a gas station! Imagine that you have a basketball sized mass of air in front of you. Your job is to suck that air (through the “oh” shape!) into your body.

Exercise: Put your index finger up to the center of your lips and take in a big breath. You should hear a “swoosh” similar to a gust of wind blowing through a screen. If you aren’t getting the “swoosh”, repeat the exercise, this time inhaling more actively. Once you have achieved the desired effect, take your finger away from your lips and inhale again. This is what an ideal inhale would be like every time that you breath when you play.

3.) It is really vitally important to keep our posture as erect as we can when we play. Consider the idea of “standing while sitting.” Imagine that someone is pulling on the top of your head with a string while you sit. This will allow your lungs to fully expand.

Exercise: If you don’t think that this is that big of a deal, try this: Sit on your chair and grab your ankles. Now take a huge breath. Yuck. Now, try putting your elbows on your knees and sucking in. Finally, sit up straight and take in a big breath. Ahhhh! Your lungs are like balloons that need to have space to inflate—if they are crowded, they cannot function efficiently.

4.) It is okay, even desirable, for your upper body and your tummy to have some motion as you breathe in. Think of your lungs expanding in 3-D…up and down, side to side, and front to back. Many times we are taught to “breathe through the diaphragm.” This is a confusing bit of information if you don’t know what your diaphragm is or how it functions. Your diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle that separates your chest cavity from your abdominal region. It is an involuntary muscle that cannot be felt or controlled just by thinking about it. When we inhale, the diaphragm (all by itself!) pushes downward to allow for vertical expansion of the lungs. It is important to remember not to tighten our stomach when we breathe! The result of tightening your gut is a closed throat.

Exercise: Sing a whole note, saying “oh”. Now, sing it again, but on beat three, tighten your gut. Wow! It’s hard to believe that two parts of the body that are separated by 18 inches can have that much to do with each other, but they do! Which leads us to the last point…

5.) Always try to keep your body as relaxed as possible. This is how our body functions the most efficiently. Think of world class athletes like sprinters or swimmers. What do they do before races? They shake out their limbs, trying to remove any and all tension from their bodies. The best “brass player” breathing in the world can be observed by watching newborn babies sleep: They are totally relaxed and their little chests rise and fall perfectly with each breath. “But they don’t know a thing about brass playing”, you say? That’s the point! Our body is set up to do everything that we need it to do…keep it simple!

Exercise: The yawn is the perfect inhale. Try it. Everything is relaxed, the throat is totally open and the chest expands effortlessly.

The Exhale

Low Brass playing requires a thick and steady column of air. Nothing else matters. Below are some ideas that will help you maximize your efficiency and help you to produce the best sound that you can make.

1.) Let’s go back to the car analogy that we talked about when we discussed the embouchure. Our air is our fuel that makes our chops (the engine) work, right? The same principle of how we use the accelerator while driving applies to how we blow: A steady supply of fuel will make the engine work most efficiently just as a steady supply of air will make our embouchure function the most effectively. You would never dream of pumping your foot up and down on the accelerator on the highway, nor would you tolerate an interruption in your fuel line that would cause your engine to sputter. A better musical analogy might be imagining a violinist who wants to get sound out of his or her instrument without the pesky inconvenience of moving the bow. It isn’t gonna happen! In all of the examples, steady energy produces results. If you conscientiously consider your air stream to be the power source for your instrument, your sound will improve and you’ll never look back.

Exercise: On your mouthpiece, buzz your third partial F for as long as you can sustain it, concentrating on blowing your air ten inches beyond the end of your mouthpiece. Strive for a totally consistent sound product and buzz until you are satisfied that there are very few bumps in your sound. Now plug your mouthpiece into your horn and play the same note at a forte dynamic, concentrating on playing with a totally even sound from front to back.

This idea of making your notes sound consistent from front to back is an idea that many brass teachers call “playing with bricks of sound.” Shoot for your notes to have this shape as opposed to any of these shapes

2.) Envision a beach ball sitting on top of your bell. When you play it is your job to keep the ball afloat above your instrument. This is a simple idea that will encourage you to blow more actively all the way through your instrument, not just into it. Remember that the ball is not lodged in your bell, it is just resting comfortably atop your instrument!

Exercise: On third partial F, at mezzo forte play a series of four whole notes. For the first one envision sending your air only to the end of the mouthpiece. For the second note envision that you are blowing to the valve cluster. Next, blow to the bottom bow of your instrument. Finally, blow all the way through the end of your bell. You should notice right away that your sound is more resonant and vibrant.

3.) Resonance should be the goal anytime we play a brass instrument. The best way to keep a resonant sound on your instrument is to provide a totally steady air supply that spins continuously through your instrument. I find that the best way to achieve this is to follow this one simple rule: Once you start blowing into the instrument, do not stop blowing until you need to take a breath or until the phrase ends.

Exercise: Play the following exercise with the idea of moving a continuous air stream and totally

connecting the notes together. Breathe only where indicated. Remember to blow out the end of the bell and to strive for a full resonant sound.

Learn this exercise in all twelve major keys and use it as a daily warm-up.(I have provided this exercise in my handout ) Using it will start your playing day with great habits and will train you pace your air properly and to produce your best sound possible.

4.) Try not to confuse “moving a lot of air” with blowing hard. The key to a fat resonant sound is the width of the air column, not the speed of it. Although the tuba (along with the flute) uses the greatest volume of air of the wind instruments, it does so under the least amount of pressure. The trumpet uses much less volume, but the air is under much greater pressure. The only time that you should feel as if you are blowing hard (fast might be a better choice of words here) is in the upper register of your instrument.

Exercise: A great way to illustrate the benefits of a slow even air stream is by blowing bubbles. The first trick to try is to blow the bubbles as if you are trying to blow a brick off of a table. The results are pretty poor, right? Now, blow as many medium sized bubbles as you can in one breath. The production should never stop…keep the flow as consistent as you can. This is a good place to start for your middle register air stream. To imitate your low register, blow a steady stream of larger bubbles. To work on your high register airflow, blow a steady stream of small bubbles. This exercise is a great way to get you to back off from doing too much “hard blowing” into your instrument. (And it makes people wonder what you’re up to!)

Concentrating on how you use your air will lead to dramatic improvement in your playing. Resist the temptation to be stingy with your air…it is not a precious commodity! Use more than you think you need to! Waste air… it’s free you can always get more. Remember that the finest engine in the world with no fuel is just a hunk of metal!