Mouthpiece Buzzing: Pitch Modulation

The principles of pitch modulation on mouthpieces are the same as in free buzzing, but the mouthpiece presents a new variable with which students must work. Teachers may use a similar sequence as outlined earlier in making low sounds, high sounds, and ultimately moving between low and high sounds. Teachers should continue to monitor embouchures, placements, and air stream. Sounds should be smooth with no breaks, especially as students change pitch. Any challenge during this sequence requires attention and remediation. All of this requires a lot of physical coordination, and patience is important for teachers and students.

 

Sirens. When students can make high and low sounds and move relatively smoothly between them, they should start to perform sirens on their mouthpieces. Following the teacher’s modeling, students start on comfortably low sounds, play smoothly and without break to comfortably high sounds, hold them for a couple of beats, and descend to the low sound.

 

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Students should also practice starting on higher pitches, playing to lower pitches, and returning to the high pitches. The focus remains on consistent air stream and the balance of embouchure to maintain a consistent sound throughout the range. As students become more comfortable, the teacher can ask them to expand their ranges in both directions. Some students may start to play specific pitches, but the focus remains on coordination and mechanics rather than pitch matching.

 

Roller Coasters. Similar to sirens, this exercise involves multiple ascending and descending patterns (and vice versa). They serve the same essential purpose as sirens, but they challenge students to make faster adjustments to air and embouchure.

 

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Sirens and roller coasters provide a necessary tool to start to match pitch on mouthpieces. Once students can modulate unspecified pitches up and down, the teacher can then provide a specific pitch to students to match by playing on mouthpieces.

 

1. The teacher should sing or play a V-I pattern with the intended pitch as “do.” While the goal of the exercise is to perform a single pitch, the chord pattern provides much more information to students regarding the context of that pitch.
2. Students sing “do,” the pitch to be performed. Most students who cannot sing the specified pitch will be guessing when they perform on their mouthpieces. The teacher should remediate if necessary.
3. Students set embouchures, place mouthpieces, breathe and attempt the pitch. They may or may not find success on the first attempt. The teacher must assess the attempt and make decisions on how to progress.
4. Students who are too high should siren down to the pitch, students who are too low should siren up. The entire class can perform these exercises by starting at an unspecified higher pitch and moving down to the requested pitch and vice versa. The goal in this is to connect what students hear and understand to their physical ability to reproduce the sound.
5. Repeat the exercise on various pitches until students can consistently reproduce specified sounds.
6. Students should begin to play simple melodies. As they become more adept at pitch matching, they should start to perform the songs that they have already learned through singing. The teacher can utilize echo patterns, moving half steps and whole steps, and ultimately building to simple rote songs that students have learned.