[Trombone-l] Free-buzzing opinions

[Joshua Hauser]

I have been doing a lot of free buzzing over the last few months since Sam
Burtis posted his pictures of the evidence of free buzzing on his embouchure
and have found it to be very useful.  I also have been looking at other
pictures of trombone players Œin action¹ and have been trying to use those
as a model for embouchure efficiency.  It took about a month or so before I
began to see any lasting effects, but after doing 5-10 minutes of free
buzzing per day for several months, I have developed a much more efficient
embouchure and have found that my breathing is more effective as well.  I
noticed this in quintet rehearsal a few weeks ago when I realized that I was
making phrases that were several bars longer than I would have been able to
last semester.

That brings me to my question and a topic that I hope you will comment on
(especially Sam).  While surfing on youtube the other day, I came across
this video clip of Arnold Jacobs.  Not to dismiss any of his wisdom
regarding breathing, but this seems to be totally contradictory to my recent
experience both for myself and my students regarding free buzzing vs.
mouthpiece buzzing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqTUwX0OVpM

Comments?

Josh


***************************************
Joshua Hauser, Associate Professor of Trombone
Box 5045
Department of Music and Art
Tennessee Technological University
Cookeville, TN 38505
931/372-6086
jhauser at tntech.edu 
http://iweb.tntech.edu/jhauser
http://www.tntech.edu/brass/trombone
Trombones at Tech new CD Project!!
http://www.tntech.edu/publicaffairs/rel/2006/dec06/music.html