Sarah Wagner

Brass Facts Article

1. How do you teach breathing to a beginning brass player?
A beginning brass player should initially learn from demonstration, then learn details as
they advance in their playing. Inhalation and exhalation are the two phases of breathing,
which can be described as yawning and blowing out a candle.
A student should also understand points of resistance in order to feel relaxed when
breathing. Exercises such as breathe in/breathe out and Remington warm ups can build
endurance and aid in producing a consistent airstream.
2. In developing embouchure, do you consider it as an isolated aspect of brass technique or do
you teach it in conjunction with other aspects?
Embouchure should be taught at the same time with air speed and tongue position.
Common beginner embouchure problems are weak corners of the mouth, which causes
aperture problems. Embouchure strength can be measured by playing upper notes and
focusing on breathing with a firm stomach.
To work on slurring, students should sing, buzz, then play the lip slur. They should focus
on quick note changes. Using a model can aid students in hearing what a proper tone and
lip slur sounds like.
3. What are some of the misconceptions beginning brass players get about articulation?
Beginning brass players should use more than one syllable to articulate. Sometimes,
students use incorrect syllables and create tension with the tongue. Beginning students
also must learn the difference between attacking and tonguing a note. Attacking notes is
usually caused by a low tongue position, and can be fixed by saying tu.
Tone is another problem with beginning brass. Students may think that the tongue starts a
note, but air does.
4. How do you convey to students what is meant by acceptable tone quality?
Students will learn by example. Recordings and teacher examples will give a student an
auditory model to follow. A good tone is clear and not harsh. Students should be able to
identify and produce dark and bright sounds.
5. How do you achieve balance in an ensemble of students of varying abilities?
The student should be able to hear individual and ensemble sounds. The student should
also be able to identify which instruments have the melody and which have secondary
parts. Tonal characteristics can aid in creating a unified sound in an ensemble.
6. How do you get students to expand overall musicianship in addition to technical
proficiency?
Students can expand musicianship by listening to good and bad performances. Listening
to other ensembles along with your own will boost awareness. Students must gain
technique before being able to play musically. Recording individual play can aid in
awareness as well.
7. What vocal techniques are applicable to teaching brass?
Singers and brass players inhale similarly, but brass has much more resistance when
exhaling. Listening to singers help students identify proper phrasing and breathing,
 especially legato style. Tone is properly modeled by singers. Brass players can copy the
clear, resonant tone of vocalists.

8. How do you develop high range and vibrato in students?

Dynamics are produced based on velocity of air. Students can identify extremes of
dynamics by listening to orchestras. In order to expand dynamics, first limit the range to a
loud and soft mezzo forte, then grow by having the student imagine playing in a larger
place. Vibrato is personal and depends on the individual, but should listen to vocalists for
proper and controlled vibrato. Vibrato is not necessary for a beginning student.

In this article, I relearned how important listening to other musicians is. Being aurally
aware of proper tone and technique can significantly improve individual ability. Along
with listening to others, a student should record and listen to himself/herself to properly
assess progress. In the past, I have only thought about vocalists phrasing and not tone
quality or vibrato. Vocalists serve as a great model for many aspects, and I plan to use
them in my own teachings.