by Frøydis Ree Wekre
During the pandemic shutdown, I finished an old plan—with invaluable help from Marilyn Bone Kloss: putting most of my articles and notes together into one booklet. I have always liked to express myself in writing, and I do like to share. Collected Writings has some thoughts on this and that, topics such as performing, teaching, artistic matters, and more. Here is one of the shorter pieces. I hope it may be of interest or help for somebody out there!
Buzzing – an additional way of strengthening the lips
General thoughts
All brass players can benefit from buzzing on the lips for training purposes. This can happen with or without the mouthpiece. I will describe both ways, based on my experiences as a player and as a teacher. Some of the objections that are being raised by colleagues in the field will also be included.
When I started to play the horn, buzzing was never mentioned by any of my teachers. They had never heard about it or done it themselves. Since they had become good players without any buzzing involved, they were sceptical when hearing about it in their later years.
And, in a way, I can see their point. A couple of years ago, a prominent European trumpet teacher expressed himself this way, on the subject of buzzing in relation to actual accomplishments on the instrument: I really think I have seen it all. Some students can play well in the high range but not buzz high. Some can buzz high, but not play high. And some cannot buzz at all, but they can play very well, while others buzz rather fantastically, but they sound terrible. And of course many can buzz well and also play well. It is quite confusing.
Nowadays a good teacher is expected to get a lot out of all pupils and students, not only the ones who are especially talented, the “naturals”. I, for one, was not so physically strong in and around the lips as a young horn player. When I was finally introduced to the idea of practicing strength away from the instrument by buzzing, it helped me enormously. The variations in shape that I had experienced in my earlier days were (almost) gone, as long as I took care and gave myself some daily minutes buzzing on the lips and on the mouthpiece.
Traditionally, trumpet players seem to be the most interested in buzzing. The most famous brass pedagogue to introduce buzzing in his teachings and writings was, after all, trumpet player James Stamp. Horn players are somewhat interested, and among the low brass players, quite a few teachers seem to use it and recommend it now. For example, the bass trombone player of the Berlin Philharmonic, Stefan Schultz, recommends a little buzzing on the lips alone for the beginning of the warm up, and then he himself is aiming for approximately 45 minutes total playing on the mouthpiece in the course of a normal day.
Buzzing on the lips alone, without the mouthpiece, here called “lip buzzing”
These questions concerning lip buzzing are common: Why buzz on the lips alone, without the mouthpiece? Is it not quite different from the actual playing on the instrument? My answer would be: Yes, it is different, but nevertheless, in my opinion and experience it can provide some effective warming up and training of the muscles in and around the lips.
Teachers and players who speak up against lip buzzing (Arnold Jacobs was one of them, and nowadays, some of his successors) may have experienced
a) students who overdid it, (too much time spent on this during a day compared to actual playing on the instrument), with loss of a good sound as the result, or,
b) students who had the misconception that the playing on the instrument should be done exactly the same way as on the lips alone, or,
c) students who tried to buzz with the lips in a proper brass mouthpiece setting, thus having problems with high pitches, which again could lead to frustrations and feelings of failure.
To produce tones on the lips alone can be learned by anybody, even very young children, without any knowledge of the “proper” setting of the face for the most efficient horn playing. As a matter of fact, I find it sometimes easier to show pupils how to do it if they have no previous idea of “embouchure” and such. My words would be: Roll your lips in, (but keep them outside the teeth), so that the red parts become more or less invisible from the outside. No smiling or stretching of the lips from the corners. Hold this position while blowing air through the lips with very high speed. Sooner or later a buzzing sound will occur, almost like the sound of a fly.
Little by little, one can experiment with different pitches, sliding upwards and downwards. The first goal could be to produce a specific pitch without having to produce an initial glissando, i.e. to start directly on the desired tone. This will later be transferable (but not identical!) to hitting the desired note on the mouthpiece and eventually on the horn, and not only the correct tone, without missing, but – with training - also with the exact desired intonation and sound.
The physical work involved in producing a certain pitch by lip buzzing equals approximately the work it takes to produce a pitch one fourth or even one fifth higher on the horn. This can be tested by playing a tone on the horn, and then taking the instrument away without dropping the tension in the face muscles. Usually a buzz will be coming from the lips, with a pitch being around a fourth or fifth lower.
My favourite lip buzzing exercise comes from a tuba player. It took me a couple of weeks to get it going once I had been introduced to it, but now I use it daily, to loosen up the lips and get the blood circulation going. It goes to a lower tone than what I am able to produce on the horn, one octave under our low written G (sounding C), and it feels like a great massage: (Breathe whenever.)
In addition, I do lip buzzing in a more normal range for a couple of minutes daily, using my imagination to compose my own melodies. I prefer to do this slurred for the most part, thus keeping the air stream moving continuously. Expanding the range in both directions is recommended. I have found that the sounding c’ (our written g’) is a good place to start.
And, a little tip: One can buzz almost anytime, anywhere, it be on the street, in the car, at the bus stop, while doing dishes... If you meet somebody you know it does not matter if they hear your buzzing, and if you meet somebody you do not know, it absolutely does not matter – think about that!
Producing tones on the mouthpiece alone, here called “mouthpiece buzzing”
According to James Stamp, the pioneer in this field, one should take great care to hold the mouthpiece in such a way that pressing on the upper lip would become impossible or at least quite difficult. He recommended holding the mouthpiece low on the shank, using only two fingers. Another method for holding the mouthpiece has emerged lately: Holding it very lightly with all ten fingers. This way the mouthpiece seems to almost be defying gravity. In any case the goal would be to produce tones that are clear, strong and very well in tune with each other. The inner ear needs to be ahead of the playing all the time, always deciding the next pitch. The speed of the air projected through the mouthpiece needs to be very fast.
Using a BERP
Many teachers recommend using a BERP mounted on the instrument. That way the feeling is closer to actual playing, and one can finger the passages on the instrument simultaneously with buzzing through the mouthpiece. My own experience with the BERP is not very substantial, but I have seen good result in classes when the BERP is used.
Using a practice pipe
As an alternative to playing on the mouthpiece one can add a small metal practice pipe, preferably with a hole which can be covered or left open, depending on the range, or as one prefers. Buzzing on the mouthpiece added to the pipe helps the sound production and is closer to the feel of actual playing.
Using a spirometer
This is an interesting, optical tool, visually showing the speed of the air. One can check if the air is flowing continuously through passages, whether in legato or staccato playing.
Conclusion
In my experience there are many benefits of doing buzzing regularly. Elements such as air stream stability and speed, accuracy, intonation, centring of sound, developing (especially high) range, lip strength/endurance, constructive distribution of pressure on upper versus lower lip, and not least confidence can all be improved.
