How to achieve better projection on your instrument

[Francisl]

Any one have some good advice on improving sound projection. Advice from the old pro's suggest - have someone hold a lit match at centre of the bell. If the match flickers you are not projecting correctly. If the match is not flickering and is steady all the time you have achieved the desired result for projection. The reason for the flicker of the match is - you are directing the air instead of expanding the air. Interesting...

Your comments...

[SteveMcGovern]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

I would be very surprised if, after all those twists and turns, the distribution of the airflow out the bell could be affected by a player. Air speed, maybe, but not relative speeds at different points around the bell.

[Francisl]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

Very true. I should probably have added that this advice was given from a trumpeters perspective - Given to John Clough when he was still playing 3rd cornet for the Black Dyke Mills.

[SteveMcGovern]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

I should think that one 90-degree turn should be more than sufficient to spread the "focus" throughout the whole pipe.

[Francisl]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

OK. I agree with the lead pipe design suggestion. Please correct me if I am wrong. So if I understand you correctly you are saying that there is not much you can do about projection, other than being conscious of the fact and the resonnance of the area in which you are performing. So projection is greatly controlled by the design of your instrument rather than the instrumentalist?

Regards

[SteveMcGovern]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

I didn't mean to say anything about projection. Just that I think it's silly to draw any conclusions from measuring airflow at the bell.

[davewerden]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

Certainly faster air flow is not the best answer to improve your projection. It's like my dad taught me about batting (in baseball) - don't try to kill the ball, just take a strong swing. The was true in bowling. If I try to throw the ball harder it doesn't necessarily knock down more pins. It's better to have a controlled ball with good "action."

The idea is partly to get the horn to resonate everywhere. Blowing air faster won't accomplish that. Your tone has to be well-supported by air, but you also need to make sure your chops are vibrating effectively.

When I was about 30 years younger I heard my first couple British euphonium players in live performance. I was amazed at how their sound filled the hall but sounded relaxed at the same time. You don't get that just by blowing harder. It helps them to use fairly large, deep mouthpieces, and they usually play with a very open jaw, which also helps.

My favorite exercise for this is to find a solo that is written at mp. Practice in a large hall and try to make the solo carry to the back of the hall without making it seem louder than mp. You will probably wind up playing "literally" louder than the mp, but you still want to keep the mp character.

[suetuba]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

Faster air will narrow the sound into a tighter beam, which, at its source, i.e. the player, will seem very strong, and one would expect it to project well; however it makes the sound thin and tight, and who wants that! Tubas are conical instruments and require a steadily expanding airstream and vibration.
Rich, slow, humid air will fill the tuba with full sound, vibrating to the full width of the tube, and create a warm projecting sound right to the back of the hall. And as Dave says, jaw open- especially for power in the low register. Jaw open like a snake slowly devouring a possum!
By the time air has passed through all the convolutions and valves of a tuba, I can't imagine it would have strength left to make a match flicker or not.
Sue

[whall1946]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

Do you consider resonance and projection the same thing? I practice in a large room and try to achieve resonance in my tone. This is accomplished through an efficient embouchure with the optimum size aperture and a large volume of air blown at moderate speed. Increasing air speed beyond that point the tone lessens the resonance and produces a more trombone-like tone. I would consider the optimal tuba tone to be more tightly focused than euphonium tone. Do you agree?

[suetuba]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

I wonder if geographical differences could be a problem here in terms of understanding what is/was meant; I don't live in a society with a substantial wind band tradition, which may ( or may not!) mean a rather different concept of tone, focus, resonance etc.
I can't begin to associate the words "more tightly focused" with anything in my concepts of tuba tone, although they may be perfectly apposite for William's performance and teaching. For myself as a performer and teacher, I don't quantify the difference between tuba and euphonium tone in that manner. Even as a tubist, I would use different concepts of tone in different pieces. A French overture would require a much lighter and daintier sound than say Meistersinger Overture, yet I could easily use the same horn for both. And the orchestral tone for Jupiter /Planets would be quite different to that for The Ride, and both different to that for say, a Strauss tone-poem. And yet I would probably play those three on the same horn.
I think tone/resonance/focus can all change with every piece. Of course, there are certain basics of sound that I expect of my students, and try and lead them towards, but I find that can often be better achieved by the use of imagery, offering ideas until one strikes a chord, as it were, with the student, than by mechanics; this assumes that the student has the basic physiology happening correctly, of course.
I totally agree on practising in a large room. So many problems come from practising in little bedrooms with lots of sound-absorbing surfaces. One of my students made a substantial improvement in sound this year, over a space of just a few weeks, and when I queried it, she had changed to practising in a local band hall. The difference was very noticeable.
Sue

[whall1946]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

Re: practicing in a large room--yes, I recommend that my students practice in one of our rehearsal rooms or classrooms and try to hear their sound as it's reflected off the far wall. That has helped students achieve a more mature tone.

Re: "more tightly focused" tone--I agree that tonal concepts need to be adjusted to fit the literature being performed. However, on a larger scale, tone concepts between different instruments should exist. For example, a tuba is a more focused sound than a sousaphone, a baritone is more focused and less resonant than a euphonium. Trombone resonance ala "Tannhauser" (sp?) would produce an edgy tone on euphonium. My comparison was between euphonium and tuba.

[SteveMcGovern]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

Originally posted by: whall1946

Do you consider resonance and projection the same thing? I practice in a large room and try to achieve resonance in my tone.

I don't know what you mean by resonance. To me, resonance on a brass instrument is a characteristic of the standing wave created in the horn, not of the tone. Maybe you mean "Big, booming sound"?

"Acoustic resonance is the tendency of an acoustic system to absorb more energy when the frequency of its oscillations matches the system's natural frequency of vibration (its resonant frequency) than it does at other frequencies."

This is anlagous to playing on the center of a pitch, rather than lipping up or down. Is that what you mean?

[whall1946]

How to achieve better projection on your instrument

Maybe. Trumpet players talk about the "ring" of a tone in the room. That's what I mean by resonance. It takes a combination of air and embouchure to produce that ring. That cold also be what people call projection. This ring does not just depend on a few frequencies that respond to the tones being produced (acoustical resonance--sympathetic vibration--standing waves), but an overall sound through the entire range (or most of it).