DISCLAIMER: Before beginning any exercise routine, consult your personal physician. 

Some of you may know I’ve re-discovered running over the past several weeks. I was a cross country runner in junior high and have ‘dabbled’ in running over the years for various reasons. I’m hoping to stick with it for the long term because I’m making serious connections between diet, exercise, my creative fire and how well I play my instrument.

As I slowly build my endurance, stamina and speed on the treadmill I’m reminded in all the sports analogies and sports psychology I’ve used when teaching music: “Follow through these sixteenth notes like you’re swinging a golf club- You don’t stop when you make contact, you go all the way through”, “Never skip your warmup- You can seriously injure yourself”, “Imagine you are onstage and performing beautifully for a packed house”, “Anytime you play make it a performance”, “Make it look easy like Michael Jordan”, “You don’t get out of bed one day and decide to go out and run a marathon…Learning a new piece is like training for a race”, etc. There are so many parallels between playing an instrument and playing a sport it’s almost funny we think of them as two unrelated things.

Our instruments really are just extensions of our body and the better we use our bodies, the better our instruments will respond and the easier it will be to make music. For all practical purposes, no matter what you play, your body IS your instrument.

First, let’s talk about musician psychology. Artists, writers, and performers deal with rejection ALL THE TIME. To speak nothing of the scarcity of teaching and performing jobs, we must find a way to deal with constant rejection. From orchestral audition rejection letters to college job application rejection letters, not making the cut at the audition or losing your creative fire – Life as an artist is hard. It can kill your spirit. I’ve known many, many supremely talented artists and performers get out of music because the lifestyle wasn’t for them, they lost their drive, etc. and that’s ok if they are fulfilled. Most have gone on to find their fulfillment in other areas. Still others have turned to tobacco, drugs, alcohol, overeating and various other forms of self-abuse to find an escape. Most all of the people I know who have continued in this unhealthy lifestyle are: 1)Out of music or playing very poorly 2)Miserable or 3)Dead. You can’t very well play the tuba when you’re dead.

The artists I know who “stick with it” find coping skills to help them deal with the constant negativity and rejection that is all to commonplace in the arts. Some of my most successful musician friends have turned to physical activity to help them deal with the pressures of the rigors of life in the creative arts-And life in general. Many have discovered running, yoga, ultimate frisbee, soccer, softball, swimming, martial arts, biking….the list goes on an on. Exercise has made them better musicians and they have become athletes in the process. Exercise is not about being better than someone else, achieving a ‘perfect’ weight or running a four-minute mile. It’s about taking care of YOUR instrument the best YOU can.

For many of us artsy folks, it’s hysterically funny to think of ourselves as an athlete because one of the reasons many of us were drawn to music as kids was that someone told us somewhere along the line that “we weren’t good at sports.” Sometimes it only takes that one negative thought to weasel its way into our psyche and make a lie become reality. We can all be athletes in some way. Find your sport(s) and get active. Exercise is not about being better than someone else, achieving a ‘perfect’ weight or running a four-minute mile. It’s about taking care of YOUR instrument the best YOU can.

For those of you who don’t do any kind of exercise and want to start – Do it! Join a recreational league, join your local track club, go for a hike! Sitting in a practice room for hours on end sometimes makes us forget the real reason we play music. It makes life better for us and our audience. Exercise is not about being better than someone else, achieving a ‘perfect’ weight or running a four-minute mile. It’s about taking care of YOUR instrument the best YOU can.

The instrument in your hands, no matter how expensive or of fine a quality, will never be anything without you there to play it. Get active, lose weight, feel better, live longer, make great music, have fun.

The main fault being they are using muscles that have nothing to do with playing a brass instrument in order to exert this false sense of control on their playing. What ends up happening is they stop the air as it tries to leave their body. When this ‘stopping/clenching’ and airflow are not as coordinated and end up misfiring, a vocalization or gutteral ‘grunt’ occurs in the throat. I have two or three ways to help students replace this bad habit with a better one.

First, the student must realize that when playing a brass instrument, air is either coming or going. Air does not stop – And if you try to stop the air at any time, bad things will happen. In this way it is very much like a wrecking ball. The ball swings one way to gain momentum/inertia/whatever, picks up speed, swings the opposite direction and knocks down a brick wall. Does the ball stop after its destruction? No way! It immediately swings back where it came from.  What would happen if you tried to stop the wrecking ball at one end of its arc? Nothing good, right? Same thing with your breathing. Air should be in constant motion. Breathe in tempo, turn the air right back around and start the note. Do not hold your breath!!!!

A second remedy involves a short length of PVC pipe. Go to your local home improvement store and buy a length of 1 &1/4″ white PVC tube. Cut it into approximately 6″ lengths. Clean the plastic shavings off and boil the short lengths in water for several minutes to kill any germs. Now, once this tube is prepared, sit with your horn ready and draw three deep breaths with the tube between your teeth. You’ll notice the minute your teeth separate to accommodate the tube, your tongue will go down and your throat will open up. Air will fall into your lungs. So, draw three good breaths through the tube. On the third breath, quickly bring your horn up to turn that air around and start a note WITHOUT HOLDING YOUR BREATH. Sounds great, huh?

A third approach is to increase your awareness of tension anywhere in your body while you play and just let it go. Any labored motions or tendencies can be smoothed away, but it takes a conscious effort. Tension creeps in on most of our playing without us realizing it, just due to outside stress. Let the stress and labored actions go….I like to practice passages just by blowing air through the mouthpiece, then adding a very light articulation, then adding the relaxed buzzing and then involving the instrument. Kopprasch is probably my favorite etude book for relaxation. To add velocity, you have to decrease stress and labor.

Brass players are an obsessive lot. We want so badly to play well that we think that if we work harder and exert tremendous control over every aspect of our ‘mechanics’ that it will pay off. In nearly every case, however, the opposite is true.

So, my advice for you on this glorious day:

“Don’t play safe music. Play good music. You will miss fewer notes if you stop trying to control everything.”

“Don’t hold your breath.”

“Breathe in tempo.”

“Have fun.”

Sean Greene is the tubist in the KnoX Brass WorX Co. and teaches tuba and music composition at Carson-Newman College. Sean holds degrees in tuba performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Enjoy!

1. Ain’t Misbehavin’ 

Hope you all had a great Valentines Day!

2. A Nightingale Sang Berkley Square

We’ve used this tune as an Encore several times and really have a good time playing it so, I thought I’d share a recording of our last attempt.   We got this arrange from our Friend Calvin Smith.  Calvin and his son Jeremy (percussionist at Julliard) put this arrangement together and it’s pretty good.  I’m not sure everyone could find the perfect spot to put a piece like this on but, we tend to throw it in any time a program is a little heavy on the serious side.  In fact, at our last show down at TN Tech, Sean introduced it as a piece written for King George II, I believe.

If you listen real close, you might be a ble to hear a little 17th century “beat-boxing” going on there…

At any rate, here for your Sunday listening pleasure…. SUPER MARIO BROTHERS.

Left to Right: Joshua Hauser, Jeremy Hansen, Joel Tillman, Sarah Fellenbaum, Sean Greene, Robert Owen, Chris McCormick, Charlie Decker, Winston Morris, Samuel Chen

The KnoX Brass WorX Co. is very grateful for the hospitality and kindness shown by Tennessee Tech University and their Music Department. We had a BLAST performing in Cookeville last night. Here is an mp3 of us performing some Gabrieli with the TTU Faculty Brass Quintet: Gabrieli Sonata pian e forte

Competition/Festival Location and Setting: The Calvin Smith Competition and Festival will take place July 6-7 in historic Oak Ridge, Tennessee, just a short drive from Knoxville. The Festival component for the weekend will include exhibits, clinics and concerts presented by our world-renowned guest artists.

Competition Rules and Eligibility: The competition is open to any brass quintet featuring two trumpets, one horn, one trombone or euphonium and one tuba or bass trombone. The Student Division is open to groups with members aged 23 or younger at the time of the competition. The Open Division (Graduate/Professional) is open to groups of any age or professional status.

Competition Entry Fees and Forms: $25/person if registration is completed before 1 May, 2012. $50/person if mailed after 1 May, 2012. (Non-competitor fees will be $35/person and will cover entry into all clinics, exhibits and concerts.)

Checks should be made payable to *Sean Greene, Coordinator*. Checks may be mailed, along with five completed entrance forms to Calvin Smith Brass Quintet Competition, C/O Dr. Sean Greene, 5126 Rockcrest Rd, Knoxville, TN 37918. Here’s a link to the Application form.

Competition Awards (***Award Amounts subject to change***):
Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will be given in each category. Specific amounts will be announced soon!

Competition Required Repertoire:
Student Division, Round 1: Ludwig Maurer/Nagel, Three Pieces (Mentor Music)
Student Division, Round 2:
Morley Calvert, Suite from the Monteregian Hills (Barendol)

Graduate/Professional Division, Round 1: Anthony O’Toole, Quintet No. 1 (Cimarron Music)
Graduate/Professional Division, Round 2: Any ONE of the following:
Paquito D’Rivera, Four Songs (International Opus)
Enrique Crespo, Suite Americana
Jim Parker, The Golden Section

Judges (list subject to change):
Horn
Bernhard Scully
Professor, University of Illinois
Former member, Canadian Brass and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

Trumpet
John Marchiando
Professor of Trumpet, University of New Mexico
Member, Summit Brass, Enchantment Brass

Dr. Catherine Leach
Professor of Trumpet, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Principal Trumpet, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Tina Erickson
Blackburn Trumpets
Freelance Musician, Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band

Trombone
Don Hough
Professor Emeritus, University of Tennessee
Knoxville Jazz Orchestra

Tuba
Sande MacMorran
Professor, University of Tennessee
Principal tuba, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Founding member, U.S. Army Brass Quintet

Exhibitors: If your business is interested in exhibiting at the festival, please contact Dr. Timothy Powers, Exhibits Coordinator at tppdochk (at) yahoo.com

Anticipated Festival Schedule:

Thursday, July 5:

8:00pm Reception for Judges and Competitors, location TBA

Friday, July 6:
9:00am Meeting with all competitors and judges
10am Exhibits open
9:30 First Round performances begin *
12:00-1:00pm Lunch Break
1:00pm First Round Continued
1:00pm Massed horn choir rehearsal
5:00 – 7:00pm Dinner Break
7:30pm Evening Concert* featuring faculty and mass horn choir
9pm Reception, location TBA

Saturday, July 7:
9am Warm up class
10am Exhibits open
10am Masterclasses/group coachings with faculty
12:00-2:00pm Lunch Break
2:00pm Second Round begins *
2:00-3:00pm Massed Brass Ensemble Rehearsal
5:00pm – 7:00pm Dinner Break
5:00pm Exhibits close
7:30pm Evening Concert*, Mass Brass Ensemble, Awards Ceremony
9pm Reception, location TBA

*All performances will be open to Festival participants

What is involved in becoming a more accurate performer? Everyone misses notes at some time or another, but there are those who seem to never miss notes when they perform. Do these players have a “super chop” gene that allows them to play without missing notes? Did they buy the “right” mouthpiece that never misses pitches? The answer to both of these questions is decidedly, “NO.” In all likelihood, those who consistently play without missing pitches have learned how to: 1) Efficiently hear what they want to play in their head before it comes out of their horn and 2) Have developed an efficient, disciplined practice routine that allows them to make excellence a normal occurrence in their playing. Pitch accuracy, therefore, comes with diligent preparation and focus and a commitment to the task at hand, making great music.

The following list is a collection of habits that can contribute to improving pitch accuracy and consistency while allowing us to better serve the musical purpose of our performance.

1. Nervousness or stage fright is one of the most common things that can affect a performance and have the most damaging effect on how we play.  I could write an entire article on this subject alone – and I may in the future. Some of us are more affected than others by feelings of panic, self-doubt or worry when we perform, causing physical reactions which include shortness of breath, dry mouth, shakes, etc. These physical manifestations of our nervousness cause us to miss notes and keep us from playing our best.
   There are many who take beta-blockers or use other techniques to treat these symptoms of  “bad nerves”.  One technique that has worked well for me and I recommend to my students is to focus more on the music. Once we start worrying about things we cannot control – like what people will think of us if we play badly, how we sound out in the room, the focus is shifted from the music to ourselves; and it’s not about us, it’s about the music. Your mind is the most powerful tool you have as a performer. It’s stronger than your ears and it’s much stronger than your chops. I have often heard the phrase, “You become what you tell yourself most often.” I believe this to be a fact. If you tell yourself that you are the greatest performer in the world over and over again, you will start believing it and it will affect your playing for the better. Of course, the opposite is true as well – So get rid of those negative thoughts and start focusing on the music!
2. Come up with a daily routine that covers every kind of playing you are likely to encounter. Hold yourself to a very high standard of performance and don’t let yourself get by with playing your fundamental exercises and etudes the wrong way with sloppy technique. Practice breathing and playing every tempo. Play in every key and every tessitura. Practice every dynamic and articulation. Work to maintain sameness in your playing in all registers. Do it the same way, sit in the same chair in the same place and hold your horn in the same way every time you practice. If you create a routine of excellence, you are setting yourself up to perform from a position of strength instead of a position of weakness. A routine will train our chops and our brain to realize that performance is nothing out of the ordinary. The venue may change, but the playing position, range, dynamics, etc. we perform are the same thing we do every day. This will help keep your nerves in check so you may better focus on the task of making great music.
3. Some players have formed habits of moving their eyebrows, puffing their cheeks and making weird faces while they play. I think extraneous movements are harmful because the only thing that affects changing notes, truly, is what’s going on inside the mouthpiece. That’s all. If you are moving your face around, it’s taking energy away from the music and is probably creating tension somewhere else, which has the potential to damage your tone quality. Also, making exaggerated facial movements may cause an “overcompensating” phenomenon where a player uses too much movement to achieve an interval than is necessary. Keep a small locker-sized mirror on your music stand to observe and try to relax any extraneous facial movement from your buzzing.
4. Breath support and breathing are crucial to pitch accuracy. You must play with enough air in your lungs to control your sound. If you take shallow breaths and try to play with a minimal amount of air you will not be able to control your playing as well as if you take a big breath. This phenomenon shows up when we become nervous and get short of breath. What happens? We miss notes. Make breathing a part of your daily routine so that you may make “Big Breathing” normal and easier to combat stage fright. Also, it is really important to plan and write in your breaths when you practice so you are used to breathing in the same places in the same way every time you play that music.
5. Slow fingers can make you miss notes. If your fingers aren’t getting the valves aligned before you want the note to happen, the proper length of tubing won’t be available for that note and you will either miss the attack or a “fluddutt” sound will result. Think of the trombonist. From very early on in their development, the trombone student realizes that if the slide is not in the correct, stationary position when they want to play a note, a glissando will occur. Mechanically, it’s the same for us. Our tubing must be lined up a split-second BEFORE we want the note to sound. “Popping” your fingers down or making sure they are down before you want the note to come out will cut down on split attacks, make your legato smoother and your marcato cleaner. Another technique you can use to better coordinate your fingers with your chops is to buzz your mouthpiece in your left hand while practicing the fingerings at the same time in the right hand. This technique will better coordinate your fingers with your ears and help improve your pitch accuracy.
6. Know exactly how your part fits into the whole musical texture. If you are unsure of the balance or function of your part, if you suddenly feel like you’re playing by yourself because of a sudden change in the texture you may not play as well. Great musicians will familiarize themselves with the musical score to make sure they are “fitting in” in just the right way. Always make it a goal to be a great musician who just happens to play the tuba.
7. Learn to connect your ears directly to your chops. Your ears are stronger than your face will ever be. If you can hear an interval in your head and know how it’s supposed to sound, you will be able to play it on your horn. If you see a major sixth printed on the page and you have no idea how it should sound, you’re going to have a hard time recreating that interval on your instrument. Singing a passage along with a pitch reference such as a piano or keyboard will help get the pitches in your head. Then buzz the same passage on your mouthpiece. The instrument only amplifies what happens in your mouthpiece, so if you have an efficient buzz guided by a strong ear, you will improve your accuracy immensely. Practice playing simple melodies by ear every day. Once you get more comfortable with this, try playing those melodies in all the keys.
8. This goes along with the first point, but the more often you can perform for an audience, the easier it will be to establish a routine of performing well. Many of us, when preparing for a recital in school would work for months and months to prepare an hour of music, perform it once and then never play it again. Consistency comes from repetition of positive behaviors. When you prepare a recital, set up as many performances of it as you can. If you are preparing a degree recital, try to perform your recital at least three times before your scheduled recital at school. Look for venues that will appreciate good music: Churches, Retirement Communities, and Elementary Schools all come to mind.
9. If you are having trouble with pitch accuracy on a short passage of music, take it out of context. A tricky lick can be broken down, transposed into an easier key, an easier tessitura, etc. Always work from a position of strength. Find out how to make the hard parts easier, master them completely and then put them back into context.

10. Lastly – If you’re having trouble “nailing” pitches, is there something wrong with your instrument? I have played a few tubas that have pitches that just aren’t there, no matter how hard I tried to find them. I can think of a particular tuba where the Ab at the top of the staff just doesn’t come out – Or another horn where the low G three ledger lines below the staff doesn’t want to come out. Sometimes there are ways to overcome the limitations of instruments, but sometimes there just aren’t. Have a trusted colleague or teacher try the same thing on your instrument. Can they do it? If not, it may be the horn.
We are lucky to have a wide array of professional quality instruments that are continually improved upon with help from great performers. Also, there is probably a psychological confidence boost when you play a horn with a very even response that is easy to slot and play in tune. When you feel like you are playing an instrument that fits you well and “won’t let you down” in a performance, it is easier to concentrate on the task at hand: making great music.

Dr. Sean Greene is Assistant Professor of Music at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN and Adjunct Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, TN. Sean holds the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music Degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He has studied tuba with John Stevens, Sande MacMorran, Dan Perantoni and Winston Morris. Sean lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with his wife and their two daughters.

Some Tips for Improved Low Range Sound Production on the Tuba

by Sean Greene

Many students, amateurs and professionals occasionally have difficulty producing a great, consistent tone quality in the extreme low register. Some players produce sounds that are too weak and thin at one extreme or can be too forceful and unfocused at the other extreme, resulting in either a “yoinky” or “blatty” sound quality. In this article I will share a few pointers I have picked up over the years that may help you find greater ease in negotiating the low register on your instrument.

Like any other aspect of tuba playing, the low register requires good, methodical practice to develop and maintain technique. As the saying goes, in order to play (insert type of playing here), you must practice (insert same type of playing here). Come up with a methodical plan and follow through and be honest with yourself. Break things down into small sections, use a recording device to hear what you’re doing and learn to love the process by which we improve as technicians and musicians.

First, the low register can and should sound as full and rich with a singing quality as the middle and high registers. I hesitate to define the term “low range”, since problem notes will vary from one player to the next and from one instrument to another. In very general terms, this starts somewhere below the G three ledger lines below the bass clef staff for contrabass tuba or below C or Bb two ledger lines below the staff on a bass tuba, down to the fundamental pitch. Problem notes may start much higher for younger players. It’s important to realize that everyone is different and we all have different things to work on. Our main goal should be to make the music sound better.

The first thing I would like to mention to promote a better sound in the low register is for notes that are exactly an octave apart, the lower note will require roughly twice as much air to produce the same intensity of sound. Players sometime neglect the increased air volume (amount of air) required to support a great sound in the low register and wonder why their sound isn’t as good as they would like it to be.

Second, in addition to a huge amount of air, the air speed makes a difference in low register tone production. Players should strive to produce slow, warm air in the low range. One could imagine using their breath to fog a mirror with hot air to get the proper air speed for the low register.  When a player moves warm, slow air, the throat relaxes, the jaw and tongue drop, the oral cavity opens up and air moves at a much slower speed with less restriction. Many players try to “force” the low register out of an instrument by using air that is too fast or “cold”, accompanied by lots of upper body tension, and as a result, a less than optimal sound. Learn to erase all tension from your body when you play and you will likely improve your tone quality.

Another way to describe this forced air phenomenon is to equate the forced air with the “gun” attachment on a typical garden hose. When using this kind of hose attachment, the water sprays at a very high rate from the hose. When the gun attachment is removed, the water falls out of the end of the hose. This “falling out” is the kind of air we want to use to play the tuba in the low register. The low range will respond better to a huge quantity of warm air falling out of your lungs than a small amount of air forced from your body at a high rate of speed.

From the discussion of air quantity and speed we move next to the embouchure. An efficient embouchure is relaxed and ready to vibrate. The corners of the mouth are set, the mouthpiece creates a seal around the mouth firm enough so that no air is escaping around the rim. You should have no more pressure on the face beyond that which is required to make the seal. As the player descends into the lower register, the bottom lip will predominate inside the mouthpiece and the corners of the mouth pull down. Some players practice pivoting their body backwards in the chair to play lower notes. Other players direct the air up in the mouthpiece as they play lower. Use whatever works for you, but remember to use plenty of slow, warm air and listen for proper pitch and tone. Using a recording device will make improving your tone quality in the low range much more efficient.

To make sure your embouchure is functioning as efficiently as possible, try buzzing scales and arpeggios in the low register with and without the mouthpiece, using a keyboard or other pitch source as a reference. You will soon be aware of the amount of air required to produce a solid ‘buzz tone’ in this register is approximately double that of the middle register. An efficient buzz will allow you to create a full, loud “buzzsaw” sound with resonance and control. Remember to take frequent breaks when buzzing because the stress on the facial muscles is much greater when only buzzing the mouthpiece rather than playing it in your tuba. Resting one minute for ever thirty seconds you play your mouthpiece should give your chops enough time to bounce back from heavy duty low register buzzing.

Whenever we discuss embouchure and buzzing, it is important to point out that the tuba only amplifies the sound we create with our ‘chops’ in the mouthpiece. If your embouchure isn’t performing at optimum efficiency, you probably won’t sound as good as you might, regardless of the quality of instrument you play. If your embouchure is tired, rest. Take a break- Go for a walk and come back to the tuba later. Your face muscles need time to heal and rest just like any other muscles in your body.

The mouthpiece is another variable that contributes to your sound production. If you are unhappy with the sound you are making on your mouthpiece, you may be able to improve it with some of the suggestions listed above. If you have tried them and you would like to try a different mouthpiece, go to a conference that will have exhibits with many different models of mouthpieces to try. Try something different, if nothing else, you may find it easier to do certain things on a different mouthpiece. Every player’s face is different and every mouthpiece works differently. Again, a recording device will allow you to hear yourself as others hear you and give you a better idea of where your deficiencies lie and probably let you hear things that sound better than you thought. Like a tuba, your mouthpiece is just a hunk of metal. It cannot hear beautiful music and cannot create a beautiful sound. That creation is the sole responsibility of the musician sitting behind it.

One technique I have found very useful when working on a piece of music is to find a very low passage I have trouble with and play it an octave higher, using the same fingerings I would for the low octave. Practicing in this way, the high octave “teaches” the lower octave how to sound. This technique strengthens my aural perception of pitch and tone in the “easy” range and allows me to practice moving the valves for combinations I will use in the low octave. However you may choose to practice, always work from a position of strength. Find a way to take difficult passages out of context, make them easier, practice them to perfection and then put them back into their original context. Don’t accept things as being impossible and too hard to do. There is always a way to improve and figure things out. Practice and prepare smarter and pay attention to small details.

This article deals mainly with being a tuba technician, but I encourage you to never lose sight of the fact that every note we make on our horns should be great music. Play beautiful melodies, etudes, arias and vocalises every day and strive to make the low register of your horn imitate the most musical singing voice of a great russian basso profondo. Listen to great singers and other instrumentalists and strive to imitate them when you play. We are all musicians and developing artists, no matter how long we have been studying the tuba. I hope this article was helpful to you and will help you to enjoy playing the tuba even more. Music is made for sharing, so get out there and perform! Good luck and have fun!