Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: articulation, brass playing, breath control, buzz, buzzng, how to have fun making music, learning music, music lessons vermont, practice atitude, practice strategies, rhythm, throat, tongue, tonguing, trombone, trumpet, tuba, vocal folds and brass playing
The vocal folds, or vocal cords, are the part of our larynx that vibrate creating sound in our voice. When these are made to vibrate, they make sounds such as we wish, like ah, ee, or oo, The mouth assists in this process. But, the folds are critical in the quality of sound production. Not only this, but they gauge the air flow as it leaves the lungs. Therefore, when we play brass, the vocal cords determine the shape and flow of the air stream.
A simple exercise will show this. Open your mouth and say, “Ha.” Now, take one hand and form it in a circle, with your thumb over your index finger. Bring that hand up to your lips, placing your lips on your fingers, and then blow air through the opening in your hand. You should feel a slight difference at the throat. That is, the throat will feel less restricted. This is because the air passes through the larynx with less tension. The tension that forms with many sounds we make is unnecessary, and much of it develops at the larynx, changing the air flow and the quality of sound.
So, the first effort arises from complete relaxation and goes on to complete relaxation maintaining an unrestricted air flow.
Most mistakes occur when the air flow is restricted in some way, a bump, a spasm, a pinch. You can hear and feel this in your playing.
Notice the tongue is attached to the throat and larynx, so when you tongue the larynx is effected. This causes tension, too, which can disrupt the air flow. Therefore, practice complete relaxation when you move the tongue. The goal is a relaxed control over this movement, so you tongue in concert with the unrestricted air flow.
The soft palette sits in back of the hard palette on the roof of the mouth. Take your tongue and scroll it back on the hard bone until you find a soft place and that is the soft palette. This plays a role in the shape of the air as the air comes up from the lungs. Therefore the shape of the soft palette determines somewhat the shape of the air stream. If you keep the soft palette lifted up and open, like a yawn, you can influence the relaxation and easy flow of the air stream. You also make room for the movement of the larynx and tongue.
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