Brass Teacherõs Guide

Teacher’s Guide Brass ® by Robert W.Getchell, Ph. D. Foreword This manual includes only the information most pertinent to the techniques of teaching and playing the instruments of the brass family. Its principal objective is to be of practical help to the instrumental teacher whose major instrument is not brass. In addition, the contents have purposely been arranged to make the manual serve as a basic text for brass technique courses at the college level. The manual should also help the brass player to understand the technical possibilities and limitations of his instrument. But since it does not pretend to be an exhaustive study, it should be supplemented in this last purpose by additional explanation from the instructor or additional reading by the student. General Characteristics of all Brass Instruments Of the many wind instruments, those comprising the brass family are perhaps the most closely interrelated as regards principles of tone production, embouchure, and acoustical characteristics. A discussion of the characteristics common to all brass instruments should be helpful in clarifying certain points concerning the individual instruments of the brass family to be discussed later. TONE PRODUCTION. The principle of tone production in brass instruments is the lip-reed principle, peculiar to instruments of the brass family, and characterized by the vibration of the lip or lips which sets the sound waves in motion. One might describe the lip or lips as the generator, the tubing of the instrument as the resonator, and the bell of the instrument as the amplifier. EMBOUCHURE. It is imperative that prospective brass players be carefully selected, as perhaps the most important measure of success or failure in a brass player, musicianship notwithstanding, is the degree of flexibility and muscular texture in his lips. These two physical traits cannot be determined by observing the size or thickness of the lips, as is often believed, but only by testing the student on a brass instrument through the medium of sustaining various pitches, simple lip slurs, and similar devices. There are two main considerations as concerns mouthpiece placement. The question of vertical placement varies with teachers and with the player. Individual differences will dictate the vertical positioning of the mouthpiece on the lips. Usually the most natural 1 and most comfortable position is the best. However, a two-thirds upper placement is normally recommended for French horn players. As regards the horizontal placement, the mouthpiece should be centered on the lips with an equal amount of lip on either side. Off-center placement sometimes becomes necessary because of a protruding tooth which would cut into the lip if a centered placement were used. The upper lip is primarily the vibrating lip. Its tension will govern the speed of vibration and thus the pitch of the sound. When the tension is increased the upper lip muscles should focus toward the center, not toward the corners of the lips. The lower lip is responsible for adjusting the size of the opening. As the pitch ascends,the lower lip will slightly rise in the center, thus decreasing the size of the opening. The reverse is true for descending pitch. In addition, the red tissue in the lip rolls outward slightly,protruding more into the mouthpiece, when pitch descends and gradually rolls inward as the pitch goes higher. The center of the lips is the section responsible for vibration and size of opening, and thus the player must focus his attention primarily in this area. In forming the embouchure for a note of medium pitch, the player may think of forming his lips to blow a thin stream of vapor through the center of his lips on a cold day. The opening in the center of the lips is analogous to the hub of a wheel, with the lip muscles serving as the spokes, all pointing toward the hub. The corners of the mouth are back very slightly in a semi-smile position and pulled slightly downward. The corners must always be held firmly enough to “anchor” them in a stationary position, and yet must not be tense or hard. Too much tension in the corners indicates that the muscles are pulling toward the corners instead of toward the center. This takes the control from the center of the lips,where it belongs,and concentrates it in the corners of the mouth. Excess stretch in the corners will result in a “thin” tone and lack of flexibility. This so-called “smile” system encourages excess mouthpiece pressure and consequent lack of endurance and range. 2 ACOUSTICAL CHARACTERISTICS. A third way in which the instruments of the brass family are closely interrelated is the similarity of their acoustical principles. The following chart outlines the manner in which all brass instruments overblow the partials above their respective fundamental tones. The chart, for purposes of this discussion, extends the range up through the eighth harmonic only, although much brass literature requires a more extended range from the brass player. Of these w b ö w w w w ================Ó? & w w 1 2345678 harmonics, the 5th and 7th are flat. The 5th harmonic can usually be adjusted by lipping, but the 7th harmonic is too flat to be useable by all brass instruments except the trombone, which can correct this discrepancy by shortening the slide position. The intervals between the harmonics always retain the same relationship to each other for any given valve combination or slide position. The term fundamental is applied to the lowest tone possible for a given valve combination or slide position. The number of fundamentals for a given instrument will be determined by the number of valve combinations or slide positions for that instrument. The tenor trombone, for example, with its seven slide positions, has seven different fundamentals. These fundamentals are not always obtainable and are rarely employed in brass writing. All brass instruments derive their pitch names from their open fundamental or their lowest sounding open tone. Thus a brass instrument which, when it plays its lowest open tone, sounds concert F,is said to be built in the key of F. Another characteristic common to all brass instruments is that of pitch deviation as affected by temperature changes. Pitch, in brass instruments, varies directly with temperature. As the temperature in the tubing of the instrument becomes higher (warmer), the pitch becomes higher. 3 The Tenor Trombone The trombone is the only commonly used instrument in the brass family which does not employ valves or pistons to obtain various pitches. Rather, the trombone depends upon its slide to accomplish this purpose. This slide principle makes necessary a bore which is mainly cylindrical, with the conical or tapered bell section accounting for only about one-third of the overall length of the instrument. A non-transposing instrument pitched in Bb, the tenor trombone is normally written for in the bass clef, though advanced etudes and solo literature, as well as orchestral literature, also employ tenor and alto clefs. The tenor trombone is approximately nine feet long when the slide is in first position. Thus the first-position fundamental is b B ====Ó? and the harmonics are built on this b w fundamental as explained on page 3. The tenor trombone employs seven different slide positions, each successive position being one semi-tone lower. Thus, the second and third position fundamentals, b for example, are A====Ó? and A ====Ó? respectively. w b w It is important to note that the distance between successive slide positions increases as the slide is extended, even though the melodic interval between successive positions remains a semi-tone. We will have occasion to refer to this principle later when discussing intonation discrepancies in valve brass instruments. It is important that trombone players have four good, even front teeth. The more square the front teeth, the better, as the broader tooth surface provides a better base 4 for the mouthpiece. Extremely short upper or lower front teeth are not desirable. Neither should the student have an extreme overbite, as this will tend to exert too much mouthpiece pressure on the upper lip, resulting in limited endurance. A slight overbite is normal in the average person’s jaw structure,and in other cases which are not too extreme,an overbite may be remedied by slightly thrusting the jaw forward. In no case is a custom-built mouthpiece recommended unless the malformation is so extreme as to hinder a more natural adjustment. Even then such extreme measures would be recommended only for a more advanced player. Beginners with such a jaw structure would be better advised to start on an instrument other than brass. Another trait which is not only desirable but crucial for the future success of the trombone player is the ability to discriminate accurately between pitches. This requirement is fully in important as selecting the trombone player as it is in selecting a beginning string player. The trombone is the one instrument in the brass family which can be played the most perfectly in tune or the most horribly out of tune; this sense of relative pitch will determine which it shall be. It is doubtful if the average beginner is sufficiently developed, physically, to do an adequate job of handling the trombone much before the fifth grade. Such considerations as lung capacity, length of arms, and overall physical development are important in this regard. It is important that the young student be made aware, at an early stage, of the importance of a smooth, accurate slide technique. This is a separate technique in itself, and its importance becomes greater as the student advances.

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