expanding my range

[FOREVERlearning]

Since I wan maily a woodwinds person who learned nearly all the reeded instruments(flute Included), the euphonium is my frist venture into the land of brass. I am therfore quite new and have no one around me that I know of that really played brass. The whole aspect of playing the higher notes is new to me. Right now im stuck at the f just below the staff to the f off the staff (in B.C.) and no matter what i do i cant seem to easily get any higher. I figure that it will come with muscle build up over time, but i was wondering if you guys had any special excercises or warm ups, or techniques that help work on expandidng their range. Ive never been actually taught how to play so the problem might also be my ombiture... does any one know how to properly explain it or sosmewhere that i can find out.
Thanks so much!

[suetuba]

expanding my range

A two octave register would seem fine to me, for someone who is new to playing brass. I wouldn't try and get any higher for a few months, until you have really developed a firm embouchure, with plenty of flexibility. If you attempt to play high notes without proper development, you run the risk of developing some very bad habits, such as pressing, or shifting embouchure, that may seem to solve the problem initially, but that will cause severe hassles later on.
The special exercises that I know consist of LOTS of practice! Seriously!
If you are confident that your air supply is well-established, daily buzzing will help gradually extend the range. But be very careful not to press, or shift embouchure.
Sue

[FOREVERlearning]

expanding my range

It's not that I'm not satisfied with my range its just that I would prefer to be able to play higher. I have been playing for almost two years, which is not entirely a long time, but I just fell that I should be able to play higher (in all my books I can play anything except when it gets into the higher range) thanks for your advice Sue.
-FOREVERlearning

ps people talk a lot about buzzing. what does this actually consist of... thanks

[uieuph]

expanding my range

Try doing a lot of work in the low register. Surprisingly, it helps quite a bit with your upper.

As far as buzzing, I am personally against it unless it involves a new brass player. Buzzing notes on your mouthpiece does not translate on your horn and is thought by some to be detrimental to ones ear for tone.

[mclaugh]

expanding my range

Buzzing usually means playing/practicing with just the mouthpiece. (There's also "free buzzing," where you don't even use the mouthpiece). Take your mouthpiece and blow into it as you would when you're playing your horn.

For more information on buzzing and how it can be helpful, see Buzzing on the Mouthpiece

To play high notes, you need LOTS of air support, so do breathing exercises. Curiously enough, playing long, soft notes in the low register helps develop the upper register. Practice scales 'til your sick of them, then practice them some more. Also, lip slurs!

[GregEuphonium]

expanding my range

I've been playing for a while now... well... not for 20 years or anything, but certainly to the point where i'm not a beginning level player. I can that for me, the free buzzing exercises are great. I still use free buzzing to this day, and it really helps to develop your lip muscles. If you can free buzz a high Bb without the aid of a mouthpiece, then once you use the mouthpiece and you have the rim holding your lips in place, you will certainly be able to play significantly higher than you can free buzz. Of course, using the proper amount of air is extremely important. But all the air in the world won't help you unless you have the sheer lip muscle strength to buzz the note that you're trying to play. Thats just my humble two cents.... use free buzzing, it works!

[bearphonium]

expanding my range

Several people helped me out with this--lots of long, quiet notes to build the muscles. Add a harmonic a month. Another was to play hymns, in octaves. It has helped, even though I have switched over to tuba.

[RickF]

expanding my range

These are all good suggestions above. I just saw a post on TubeNet that addresses 'higher range'. Pay particular attention to Roger Lewis' post where he uses the analogy of a bass drum vs snare drum. Pretty informative. Roger Lewis is a professional tubist in the Midwest -- formally from WWBW.

Here's are both links:

High register embouchure puzzler

Roger Lewis' "Okay - High range....."

[keithbarton]

expanding my range

Play marches. Fillmore, Alexander, Sousa and good German marches will help a lot. Any march. Play them slow, play them fast. Some are very melodic but many have low to high ranges. Play long slow notes and don't force anything above the concert F above the scale. Practice at least two hours a day, and maybe split it up. I'll help a lot.

[keithbarton]

expanding my range

Oh, if you buzz, do it as softly as possible. Never, ever buzz loud and hard.

[mclaugh]

expanding my range

RickF, thanks for the links. I tried shifting my airstream down as Roger suggested, and was able to nail the three semitones at the top of my range that I had lost in the switch to a larger mouthpiece. More importantly, I'm getting a full, well-rounded tone without straining instead of the pinched, thin tone I was getting previously.

I've found, though, that I have to shift the position of my lips in order to be able to blow down on the "weathered" part of my lips, which makes it difficult to play in the low register! In fact, I can't play anything below the second line Bb (bass clef) without physically repositioning my mouthpiece. Maybe I need to find an instructor to help me with my embrochure.

Originally posted by: keithbarton

don't force anything above the concert F above the scale.

But it's only a semitone higher and if I only strain a teensy bit more, I just KNOW I can get it ...

I'll help a lot.

Is that an offer for free lessons? Line forms behind me!!!

[RickF]

expanding my range

Originally posted by: mclaugh

RickF, thanks for the links. I tried shifting my airstream down as Roger suggested, and was able to nail the three semitones at the top of my range that I had lost in the switch to a larger mouthpiece. More importantly, I'm getting a full, well-rounded tone without straining instead of the pinched, thin tone I was getting previously.

I've found, though, that I have to shift the position of my lips in order to be able to blow down on the "weathered" part of my lips, which makes it difficult to play in the low register! In fact, I can't play anything below the second line Bb (bass clef) without physically repositioning my mouthpiece. Maybe I need to find an instructor to help me with my embrochure.

You're welcome. Glad I came across that post. I hope you read some of the follow-up posts after Roger's in that second link above. It goes to a second page and is also pretty informative.

Just a suggestion to try... rather than repositioning your lips or changing your embouchure completely to play high, try rolling your lower lip under your top lip as you go to a higher note. You can do that without taking your lips away from the mpc. This will cause the air stream to be directed down. AND use faster air in the higher register. This should help from having a thin tone.

I'm just an amateur myself, but this helps me.

[mclaugh]

expanding my range

Originally posted by: RickF

Just a suggestion to try... rather than repositioning your lips or changing your embouchure completely to play high, try rolling your lower lip under your top lip as you go to a higher note. You can do that without taking your lips away from the mpc. This will cause the air stream to be directed down. AND use faster air in the higher register. This should help from having a thin tone.

If I'm visualizing what you're describing correctly, I'm pretty sure that's what I'm doing, I just didn't describe it clearly. I can pull in the bottom lip without moving the mpc, but I can't seem to roll it back out. It's like it gets stuck under there, and I have to open my mouth slightly to free it. Maybe it'll come with practice, but I probably need to find an instructor to check out my embouchure generally.

(Another clarification: when I wrote that I can't play anything below the second line Bb without repositioning my mpc, I only need to do this after rolling the lower lip under to play in the upper register. If I don't roll the lower lip under, playing the lower register isn't a problem.)

[iMav]

Reviving this old thread, primarily, to capture info from a linked thread on the old tubenet forum (so it is not lost). I found it interesting and helpful.

Take a look at the physics. Range is simple - it's a trick, a gimmick - it isn't HARD! If you think it is you've already set yourself up for weeks of hard, probably fruitless practice. And someday you will stumble on it by accident and think that your practicing has paid off.


As an example, look at the differences between a bass drum head and a snare drum head. Which one will make the stick respond faster (high speed vibration = high range)? Right, the snare drum. What makes this work? You have a wooden stick (hard object) vibrating against a firm surface (the snare drum head). What are the properties that make this work? Look at the situation objectively and analytically. In the most common embouchure the upper lip vibrates against the lower lip in the production of the sound. The speed of the vibration of the upper lip is controlled by two factors - the firmness of the upper lip and the firmness of the lower lip - WITH THE LOWER LIP BEING THE MORE IMPORTANT.


Going back to the Snare drum/bass drum example, if you try to do a double stick roll with snare drum sticks on a bass drum, what is your result? It most likely won't work or will be ineffective at best. If you were to use bass drum mallets on a snare drum to do a double stick roll, what is he result again failure. Why? In the bass drum example the head of the drum does not have sufficient tension to ALLOW the stick to respond properly for what you are asking it to do.


In the snare drum example, the snare head has enough tension but the mallets are not firm enough to allow for a fast vibration. This demonstrates (to me anyhow) that in every register the upper and lower lip tensions must match to allow for a successful embouchure vibration.


An ineffective vibration surface tension mis-match can be observed in our old nemisis, the double buzz. In this situation the upper lip is wanting to vibrate at a specific rate but the lower lip is not supplying a firm enough foundation to allow the upper lip to do the work. Hence the lower lip begins a secondary vibration (usually 1/2 the speed of the upper lip) and this creates the double buzz. All that is required to correct this is to get the lower lip firm enough to allow the upper lip to vibrate at the speed it needs to.


Now, the embouchure contains 3 kinds of tissue: the soft inner tissue for low register; what I call 'the transitional tissue' which is not the soft inner tissue or the outer "weathered" tissue but right between these two - this is mid-register tissue; the firm, weathered outer tissue (the stuff that gets chapped all Winter long). This last is the high register tissue. By blowing the air stream down toward the rim of the mouthpiece when playing, the lips are positioned to have this weathered tissue to become the vibrating embouchure. This is fast vibration tissue and will allow for a solid sound. Then all you need to do is learn to CONTROL the tissue so that all the notes speak clearly. Use lots of air at high speed for the best results. Remember, they call it playing the tuba - there's no PLAY involved - it's WORK.


Think about this for a couple of days then try it- you should see a remarkable difference.


I have had, over the years, many students who have required a great deal of time to make strides in the high register. Usually they have tried on their own and struggled and failed and through this effort they determined that 'high register is hard' and therefore it must take a great deal of time to build up.


I have had many students who wanted 'High range' lessons. One that comes to mind, a college euphonium student made a statement to me that she would never be a professional player because she had no high register. I simply stated that high register is a gimmick and I could have her playing in the high register in 2 minutes. At that point she looked at her watch and said ‘I dare you to try’.


I grabbed my handy visualizer and had her buzz a low note on it and then buzz a high note on it and, low and behold - she was using soft tissue for both ranges (won't work). I then showed her what I wanted to have her change in the embouchure and got her buzzing a high note on the visualizer. I had her keep the buzz going and handed her the horn and there was the most solid G over high C that you ever heard. It took about a minute and a half.


Another episode that was easier was a 7th grade trumpet student. I made sure that he did not try to play ANYTHING until he had his trumpet. So, he comes to his first lesson and the horn and mouthpiece are still wrapped in the plastic. We work on fundamentals and buzzing for about 20 minutes, then with me giving him the fingerings, he went from a solid low F# to high C 2 ledger lines above he staff (remember this is trumpet) within 1/2 hour of starting to play.


Why this worked was that no one was able to pollute the young man's mind with preconceptions that what he was going to attempt was 'hard' and thus he did not have the mental handicap that most of us are handed by our teachers or friends.


What it boils down to is, if you think it's going to be hard to accomplish something, you will rarely be disappointed. If you approach everything (in life, not just tuba playing) for a mental image of success or 'I won't know until I try' attitude - things become much easier. Look at life from the perceptions of success, not through the glasses of failure. Everyone should have a mentor, to help keep them on track and thinking in a way that facilitates things.


There is also an exercise I teach to get comfortable with range in general.


Extend your arm full length in front of you with the palm facing your embouchure. Now without moving your head but by focusing the lips, blow air straight ahead at the palm of your hand. You can feel the air hitting your hand. Now, again don’t move your head and buzz the air at your hand. You will get a low speed buzz ( lip formation for low register playing).


Now move your hand 8 inches down still facing the embouchure. Again without moving your head, blow air at your hand. Now buzz the air at your hand ( don’t move your head but focus the lips). You are now getting a middle note buzz.


NOW -put your hand against your sternum (lower chest) and without moving your head (still looking straight forward), curl your lower lip and your upper lip inwards and blow fast air straight down at the palm of your hand. Now, buzz fast air straight down at the palm of your hand (still looking forward). This is high range embouchure.


Next buzz sirens from low to high and back to low letting the air direction change in the manner just discussed and you will see how easy it is.


This is just a way to feel the changes in air direction inside the mouthpiece for the different ranges.


It ain’t hard.

[ghmerrill]

Pay particular attention to Roger Lewis' post

Roger Lewis' "Okay - High range....."

I have benefited more from this than from any other insight or advice regarding embouchure.