Moving the Buzz Forward

[Burgerbob]

I've been experimenting with this lately... not sure how I found it but it's made a huge difference for me. I'd love to hear what the embouchure experts think.

You can skip the video if you like, it's just got some demonstrations of what I mean.

Perhaps it's obvious to some, but if I think about the actual buzz of my chops happening at the VERY end of my face- the part closest to the instrument- then everything is better. If I use my older habit of using the more meaty parts of the lips towards the teeth, everything is worse, even without tension.

[mikerspencer]

Thanks for posting. I had an embouchure collapse 12+ months ago and this totally chimes with my experience.

My thinking on it is that my lips were turned out into the mp. Meaning the buzz happened on the much softer tissue further inside my mouth. Result was a very breathy note with no core.

Things are on the mend, but it's a slow journey! To get the buzz closer to the instrument I'm almost rolling my lips in. Almost! Maybe more accurate is stopping them falling out

[VJOFan]

This is probably a thing that a well performed free buzz trains. A free buzz that is not "forward" won't sound like much at all.

[Burgerbob]

This is probably a thing that a well performed free buzz trains. A free buzz that is not "forward" won't sound like much at all.

Probably true, I've never really been able to transfer my free buzz to the instrument- but I also haven't done it for a couple years.

[VJOFan]

I don't transfer my buzz per se either. It's just the feel of free flow of air and the firmness of necessary muscles that helps.

I don't "transfer" my high skips and bounds to my running directly either, but the feeling of explosiveness and landing with the foot under my centre of balance sets me up for good form.

[baileyman]

Seems like lip curl? if so, I find that typically boosts high frequencies.

[Wilktone]

Sure, if that helps it is good advice.

It seems to be more of a description of a playing sensation, although that might be what's happening with your buzz. Different players might get the opposite result. If you're playing with your lips too curled and too much in towards the teeth, then feeling like you're moving the buzz forward on the lips would help. For a player with the lips too loose already it might work better for them to feel as if they are moving the buzz *back* instead.

[JLivi]

I'm by no means an embouchure expert, and to be honest I have no idea what you're talking about, but I definitely hear that type of sound with some of my students (I think).

Do you find that this happens throughout the range of the instrument or is it specific partials for you?

I'm definitely going to keep this in mind when discussing ways to improve sound/tone with my students. I've noticed that in this post-covid era, where most of my young high school students were beginners on zoom, I'm hearing some really weird habits that didn't get addressed in middle school. Maybe this is part of what they're doing. It's definitely worth asking them what they feel and if they can move the buzz forward.

[Burgerbob]

Seems like lip curl? if so, I find that typically boosts high frequencies.

No, that wouldn't help response much, or the low range!

Sure, if that helps it is good advice.

It seems to be more of a description of a playing sensation, although that might be what's happening with your buzz. Different players might get the opposite result. If you're playing with your lips too curled and too much in towards the teeth, then feeling like you're moving the buzz forward on the lips would help. For a player with the lips too loose already it might work better for them to feel as if they are moving the buzz *back* instead.

I'm sure it's not actually what's happening- I can only describe what it feels like. For me it feels like avoiding a "pout" or "pucker," where too much lip is in the mouthpiece trying to be involved.

Do you find that this happens throughout the range of the instrument or is it specific partials for you?

Throughout the range. I would say it helped something in particular, but it really just works in all ranges. The danger zone on each instrument (3rd partial on tuba, bass trombone, high range on tenors) got much better with this.

[Wilco]

Thanks for your thoughts Aiden! It seems to be working for me too. I had a lesson with Doug Elliott recently and this seems to fit nicely to what I learned from him.

[AndrewMeronek]

I just don't experience my buzz that way. I had an instructor many years ago (a good one) suggest that I try rolling my lips and using a "narrower" part of my lip that is more forward, but I never really got anything useful out of that idea.

That said, perhaps that effect I get anyway out of the "sliding" motion that is the mis-named "pivot" that Doug took me through several years ago. But the actual position of the buzz on my lips feels to me to be secondary to just maintaining the balance between the pitch I want to buzz, the position of my lips on my teeth, and how my tongue focuses my air.