Jump Start Part 2: Helping your beginning students succeed in the first few weeks (Brass Edition)

Introduction

Here is an overview of some concepts I have found to be helpful when starting beginning brass players. During the first year of study, I start students on all five primary brass instruments--trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba--and we start on these instruments from the beginning of the year. Currently, our classes at South Forsyth Middle School are in homogeneous groups by instrument family; brass in one class, woodwinds in the other and percussion evenly divided between the two classes. NOTE:  I have used these same techniques in heterogeneously grouped classes, but the instructional pace is much slower in this grouping. 

Helping the Students Select the Correct Instrument

Helping your students select an instrument that matches both their interests and aptitudes is an essential prerequisite to their future success in music. This process may be even more important for students selecting an instrument from the brass family of instruments. 

The great tuba player and
brass pedagogue, Arnold Jacobs.

Here are some important factors to strongly consider when helping students select the best instrument for them:

• Trumpet: check for, 1) Future orthodontics or dental issues (Braces can be debilitating in the first year), 2) Can they hit more than one open note on the instrument? 3) Do they naturally seem to play higher notes? and 4) Does the buzz occur naturally? Students with thicker lip structures should be encouraged to start on a much larger mouthpiece than one might start most beginners on, i.e., 1 1/2 C versus a 5C for a typical beginner. 
• Horn: similar list as the trumpet but the students must have a strong innate sense of pitch. I highly recommend having potential horn players complete some simple pitch matching/call and response exercises during the fitting process. Students with a strong sense of pitch will be more successful on this instrument, while students who must develop this skill will, in all likelihood, struggle during the first year.
• Trombone/Euphonium: some characteristics to look for in your students: 1) Do they have a more natural open and relaxed buzz, 2) Do they gravitate toward lower notes when compared to the trumpet/horn, and 3) Do they seem to like to use a lot of air?. Trombone players should also be evaluated for pitch awareness, but the skill is not quite as vital as the horn in the first year of study. Personally, I am not concerned if a child can reach 6th/7th position because I try to get as many of my beginning students as possible to start on instruments with an F-attachment, which makes 6th position unnecessary in the first year.
• Tuba: the primary issues are 1) Do they seem to like to use a lot of air? 2) Can they perform lower pitches on the instrument? and 3) Do they have a relaxed buzz? I start all of my tuba players on 3/4 size instruments for the first year, so body size/type is not an issue I consider--some of my best tuba players were smaller in stature in their first year.

Creating the Buzz

"It’s the buzz that plays the horn, not the air."--Arnold Jacobs

I firmly believe in the KISS principle, especially when teaching younger players--concise and essential information only.

Here are my simple steps: 
1) Say "Mmmm", but with your teeth apart,
2) Blow the air out of the center of your mouth, and
3) Place the mouthpiece to the lips and firm the corners of the mouth until a buzz is created.

NOTE: Tuba players will need to use a more relaxed approach with a bigger air column with the teeth further apart. Consequently, the buzz is often much softer initially until a solid low sound is achieved by the student.

Note the ratio of top to the bottom lip.

NOTE: Mouthpiece placement is basically 50/50 top to bottom lip for all instruments, except horn, which uses 2/3 top lip in the mouthpiece to 1/3 bottom lip in the mouthpiece ratio. Some adjustments may need to be made for lip structure or mouth shape. For horns, I have them place the bottom rim of the mouthpiece on the edge of the bottom lip and then roll the mouthpiece up into place (this process may need to be adjusted for students with thicker lip structures).

Encourage any and all sounds that are created by the students--students are often surprised by the sound and will often back off the air speed and the sound will then stop. Band directors are often guilty of promoting a zero-sum mentality, where it is either right or wrong. With beginning players, this adventure is all about successive approximations and encouraging persistence to the task. The goal is progress, not perfection. Inform the students that the buzzing sensation will tickle and feel unusual to them. This sensation is normal and will go away over time.

To help develop the necessary coordination and muscle development, I use four types of buzzing sounds in the first few months. Initially, we do not focus on pitch-matching while buzzing. We do, however, focus on pitch-matching once all students are able to consistently buzz with the proper approach. Eventually, my first-year students play scales, exercises and excerpts from their music on the mouthpiece.

Four different buzzes we work on daily
1) Straight Buzz: the goal is to make a long tone type sound where the pitch does not go up or down and maintains the same volume.
2) High to Low: The students perform a buzz that they immediately pull down to a lower buzz, creating a Doppler effect. I want the buzz to move quickly from the high pitch to the low pitch to simulate an open-note pitch change. This is achieved by having firm corners/fast air for the high note and maintaining the embouchure while pulling the chin downward.
3) Low to High:  which is the opposite of "High to Low" buzz, but is more difficult for many students.
4) High-Low-High: is a combination of the 2nd and 3rd buzz, but done in rapid succession, as though the students were playing concert F-Bb-F.

Three Points of Posture

1. Feet flat! "So you can stand without moving your feet."
2. Stand from the waist up with your arms away from your body. Push off from the back of the chair, if needed.
3. Your head should be in a normal position, which means you must bring the instrument to you.

Arms are away from the body to optimize breathing.
There should be nothing at or around their feet.

For trombone, trumpet and horn players, there is a natural downward angle created 

from the shape of our jaw, which is a maximum of 10-20 degrees.

Hands are relaxed.  

Some Key Points on Each Instrument

Trumpet 

The greatest player of our generation,
Wynton Marsalis.

For my trumpet students, I encourage all of my students to start on a Bach 3C or the equivalent. I think the small benefits of starting on the common 7C are outweighed by the problem of students not wanting to change to a larger mouthpiece later. 

I try to encourage my trumpet players to work toward hitting three open notes as quickly as possible, and my students get a heavy dose of daily lip slurs. We make a game out of it, i.e., "Who can play the slur the fastest or hit the most notes?" Middle school students love games and it is a great way to trick them into practicing these skills. 

It is important to remind trumpets to have relaxed and curved fingers, push the valves down with the fingertips/not the second joint and avoid resting the palm against the lead-pipe. Additionally, I encourage my students to not use the pinky ring. "The left-hand holds the instrument and the right-hand plays the trumpet." Make sure the head is in a normal position, chin is up, and the shoulders are relaxed.

Here is the basic lip slur I have my first-year brass players practice daily. We start these slurs within the first nine-weeks, and then we expand this by adding additional partials. I only cover the open series for the purposes of rehearsal efficiency, but additional partials are introduced when we introduce the chromatic scale.

This is taken from a set of Technique Builder exercises that I wrote and use with my classes.

Horn

For my horn students, I encourage all of my students to start on a Holton-Farkas MDC or the equivalent. In addition, I try to start all of my horns on double horns, because they will outgrow the single horn before the first year is completed. If you do not understand the double horn, you are not alone, but it is an important concept you must fully grasp in order to effectively teach beginning brass players. Basically, from F# below the staff to second-line G, the students use the single horn fingerings, outside of this one+ octave, the students should be using double horn fingerings. In addition, the Bb/thumb side of the horn allows you to easily incorporate lip slurs into a brass class and include your horn players. Make sure with their posture, the students are not blowing the sound into their body and only shorter students can really play with the bell on the knee. Taller students must lift the horn up with the right hand. 

Most beginning methods, which use the common first five notes (Bb-C-D-Eb-F concert) have the option to start horn players on either high or low notes. I want all of my horn players starting in the lower octave because it helps to develop a more open and resonant sound. Once a good foundation has been laid with the tone and embouchure in this register, I then begin to push the horn players to stretch their range, as fast as possible, by going back and relearning some older lines from the book in the upper octave. 

From, The Art of French Horn Playing
by Philip Farkas

The right-hand position is extremely important. You must check for this on a regular basis because students will forget and begin to quickly develop poor habits.

 Important items to check for: 

• thumb touching the side of the index finger,
• fingers flat against the side of the horn, 
• fingers inserted until the knuckles hit the curve of the bell, and 
• the sound should be open and resonant.
• If not, it is usually caused by a wrist that is collapsed onto the bell. I tell my students to "Blow the sound up your arm." This usually opens up the sound. 

Here are some helpful videos that demonstrate these important points.

Hand Position in Bell by A. McAfee

Horn Master Class with Gail Williams

Trombone/Euphonium

With the ease of access to technology for most students, I require a portable tuner for all trombone players. In addition, I encourage my trombone players to begin on trombones with an F-attachment. Most young students cannot correctly reach 6th and 7th position and this allows the students to learn to play with better intonation from the beginning. These instruments are also larger bore instruments, which promotes the use of more air. I realize that this is not economically possible in some schools, but, if at all possible, I highly recommend this approach. Much like the double horn, if you do not understand the F-attachment, you are not alone. I highly recommend that you learn the alternate slide positions for trombone and begin to teach your trombone players how to be efficient with their slide technique.

I recommend the Bach 6 1/2 AL or the Schilke 51 as the mouthpiece for these instruments. Students with the F-attachment trombones must also get the large shank version of the mouthpiece.

Be sure to check the hand position of your trombone players. Avoid gripping the slide as a club or having fingers hang past the slide.

Like the trumpet, I want trombone and euphonium players hitting three open notes as fast as possible, and we are constantly stretching the range up to the 5th and 6th partial on the overtone series. We also work into the lower register, down to low F, within the first semester to promote the opening of the sound and use of more air.

Be sure to the take the time to properly teach the care and maintenance of the slide. I do periodic slide checks to see how smoothly the slide is moving.  Here is a great article and some videos on this topic by Edwards trombones: http://www.edwards-instruments.com/trombone/maintenance/slide_care.php

As a general rule, I try to start 4-5 euphonium players for every 10 trombone players I start in the first year. This allows me to avoid starting treble clef euphonium players later.

Due to finances and limited inventory, I start my euphonium players on non-compensating euphoniums.

Tuba

I try to start all of my first-year students on 3/4 size tubas. Occasionally, I must have a student play on a full-size 4/4 tuba, but proper posture is a challenge, even with a tuba cradle. I recommend the Conn-Helleburg mouthpiece for my beginning students. With tuba players, the main focus is getting a full sound and stretching their range downward. My goal is to start a similar number of tuba players as euphonium players. Admittedly, this is one of the hardest instruments for me to teach, because it is the one brass instrument I struggle the most to model for my students.

I want the students to learn to hold the tuba with the left-hand by "hugging the instrument." This approach frees the right-hand to push down the valves without gripping the instrument. Additionally, I want the instrument angled to the player's right side, not straight up and down. I also try to ensure tuba players have plenty of room in the classroom, usually sitting every other chair.

Here is a great introduction to proper breathing for brass players by Sam Pilafian:

https://youtu.be/xaE_8ykM-gI

Closing 

If you are interested in receiving a copy of the Technique Builders for your first-year players, visit my website (http://www.andrewpoormusic.com/contact.html) and send me an email. Feel free to also send me emails with any questions about the blog. If you like this article, please subscribe to the blog at the top of the page. Thank you. Happy teaching!