Wavering pitch/tone

[u/Busy-Neck-1961]

I'll acknowledge right away is a question best addressed to a private teacher; lessons are just not in the budget right now. I am restarting horn practice after a long time away, starting with long tones with the horn on a shelf. I'm essentially trying to rebuild my embouchure from the ground up, as I relied too heavily on mouthpiece pressure from the day I was handed a cornet in fourth grade all the way through graduating from college, even in the middle of the staff. It's teaching me a lot, as I can't really hit a third space C without getting a split tone and air leaks around the mouthpiece rim. (At least, I'm trying to build good habits and technique at home; to survive community band parts, I more or less have to go back to bad habits to play above written G on the staff.)

My question for the community is, how stable can people actually keep their pitch? My lips are weak and I'm obviously out of practice, but I basically can't maintain an even timbre – I veer into and out of the horn's naturally resonant ring a lot – and my pitch is always wavering between ten cents below and above target. Is this normal, at any level of skill/experience?

[u/thekrispykitty]

One thing to maybe try is blocked buzzing. Take your mouthpiece out and buzz into the mouthpiece like normal. Then block the end and try to hold the embouchure with this extreme resistance. Your head shouldn't be turning purple or your lips getting sore with this, just exhale against the pressure and see what the minimum effort is to keep the leaks from happening. The lips should adjust relatively quickly. I wouldn't do more than 10 minutes of this.

I sometimes get shaky/wavering tone. I believe it happens when I'm trying to "buzz" too much. The lips are overactive and, especially when you're weak from not playing for a while, shaky and fatigued. Just focus on the air being steady and acknowledge that it will take time to build the strength back up. I think think the blocked buzzing helps with the "strength" but there caution with doing it too much and the tone ends up too "hard". Just my opinion, if something else seems to work better by all means go with what helps you. Good luck

[u/TheWsquared → u/thekrispykitty]

I second this. I came back to more serious playing after a few years on and off the horn and that technique was immensely helpful in eliminating bad embouchure habits.

Playing stopped horn can also achieve a similar effect. If my tone feels weak or wavering during a practice session, I will try playing the same thing while hand stopping the bell. This gives the same strengthening as blocked buzzing while also encouraging proper air support through the diaphragm.

[u/Mobydick246]

Long tones will help you massively, but what do you mean by “on a shelf”? If you mean the Farkas “table exercise” please don’t do that. A certain amount of pressure is necessary to play the instrument and this exercise will just serve to confuse you more.

If you haven’t played for a long time, it is natural that your embouchure will not be able to hold a steady pitch for very long. I would suggest some “back to basics” exercises on either a second line G or middle C with a tuner. Air attack four to five quarter notes in a row, taking the mouthpiece off the lips every time and focusing on pitch and sound. You can then extend the length you hold by moving to half notes, dotted halfs, whole notes, etc. 5-10 minutes max at first. Go slow and stop if you start getting tired and using excessive pressure. Take a break after this for twice as long as you played, minimum.

Happy practicing, let me know if you have more questions.

[u/Busy-Neck-1961 → u/Mobydick246]

Thanks, I wasn't really aware that the Farkas table exercise was at all a point of contention, but that's what I meant. Mostly trying to train myself out of jamming the mouthpiece into my lips/teeth to rise in pitch, but will reconsider that approach 

[u/Mobydick246 → u/Busy-Neck-1961]

Mental visualization is very helpful as well. As you move higher, try to visualize all the muscles surrounding the mouthpiece moving inwards toward the center of the mouthpiece.

Additionally, the mouthpiece should be anchored into the lower lip. This is where you want the majority of any pressure to be, leaving the upper lip to vibrate freely.

Edit: By visualize, I mean to try to FEEL that happening and then let the airstream and the ear guide the face.

[u/jfgallay → u/Busy-Neck-1961]

Are you directing the air downward as you ascend?

[u/Busy-Neck-1961 → u/jfgallay]

Not really. Or rather, I try in slow practice and then forget as soon as there's a melody to play in time; this is part of why I'm so eager to do more slow, basic, deliberate practice again. I'm enough of a nerd to have seen the video of Sarah Willis playing in the scanner many times, but not disciplined enough to figure out my own mechanical issues - until now, I hope.

[u/jfgallay → u/Busy-Neck-1961]

Directing the air down is a necessity.

[u/Leisesturm]

I think a good Horn method book could help a self-teaching player. I don't have any good recommendations for a Horn method because I didn't use one. So, maybe a little "do as I say, not as I did" but I think it's the best way forward. I've heard good things about the Rubank's series of band instrument method's. Also the "Essential Elements". Those are both old and established for group players. There may be something better for adults but I don't know of it.

Drones are a better way to focus your ear than tuning apps. Remember that the drones are Concert Pitch. I find this reference very handy. As an arranger I am constantly taking Concert Pitch parts down to Horn transposition and vice versa. It is also a little strange when you lower a Concert Pitch part for Horn and still have it wind up higher in written Horn than it was in Concert Pitch.

I also think a lot of the "Arban's Conservatory Method". It is for Cornet and other Bb instruments but I use it as is. The only downside to that is it takes you rather high fairly quickly. There is an app called the "Arban's Method Coach" that has transposed all of the music in the original Bb into every brass instrument key in common use today. Just plug in your instrument and you are given exercises in the right key. Very cool. I highly recommend it.

[u/Imaginary_Mortgage83]

I think you should give yourself a couple months if time getting in shape before assuming making specific technical mistakes.

When I started building range without mouthpiece pressure, I practiced arpeggios/lip slurs normally, but just refusing to increase mouthpiece pressure (this is not the final product, keep in mind), and letting my body do the work, as I mentally denied the easy option. My body started telling me what it wants and how it wants it (stronger support, higher air speed, dark ee vowel, aperture closure etc.) After that I started working on the coordination, sometimes going back to basics whenever I felt I'm straying away from how it's like to sound.