Free Buzzing: Pitch Modulation

Once students can consistently produce sound, they must learn how to modulate that sound. As with their initial sounds, though, producing specific pitches is less important than experimenting with developing skills to modulate pitch up and down. Adding instruments prior to the development of this ability will lead to a host of playing problems as students try to compensate for the lack of fundamentals.

Brass players modulate pitch through a balance of air and embouchure. Higher pitches require a faster, more intense air stream. This results in the lips wanting to blow outward, and the player must firm the corners of the mouth to resist the increased air pressure. Conversely, lower pitches require a greater volume of air and less resistance. The lips are less prone to blowing outward, so the corners need to compensate with less firmness. While players make many physical adjustments at any given moment, embouchures should demonstrate stability with no significant large motions because the air and the embouchure should remain in balance, i.e. essentially remain in the same position, throughout the range. Free buzzing offers a useful tool to develop these skills as well.

One of the first differentiated steps in brass instruction includes establishing approximate ranges for each instrument. Once the teacher introduces the basic concept of low and high sound production, students can practice the following:

1. Form embouchures and blow with a steady, large volume of air at a comfortable rate of exhalation. This typically results in a low to mid-sound. Some players will have a natural tendency to produce either relatively high or low sounds. Teachers should allow students to produce the sounds that are most comfortable for them. Again, the important part of the exercise is pitch modulation rather than production of specific pitches.
2. Repeat the exercise with a faster stream of air and more embouchure resistance. This should produce a tone higher than the first step. If it does not, the teacher will need to work with students individually to assess the issue (repeating steps in air production and embouchure formation when necessary). In a class with multiple students, this should happen very quickly, perhaps with all students performing even as the teacher focuses on one individual.
3. Produce buzzes in ranges relative to each instrument. All students can participate in this step regardless of their instrument. Although the sequence doesn’t particularly matter, the teacher may demonstrate the sound of each instrument and have the students echo from lowest to highest. The use of analogy can be helpful in this step. For example, the teacher might relate each sound to another common sound as she demonstrates:
   1. Tuba: an idling semi-trailer truck.
   2. Euphonium and Trombone: a slow moving motorboat.
   3. Horn: a lawn mower.
   4. Trumpet: a buzzing fly.
4. Repeat the exercise, but transitioning from slow air and little resistance to faster air and more resistance. This is the fundamental skill that students must develop—the ability to move low to high and high to low. Students should start in appropriate ranges for their instruments. Once they can consistently demonstrate this ability, they are ready to add the mouthpiece.

Possible Troubleshooting

 

Lower lip

Compression toward the center

Corners

Air stream