The Embouchure Whisperer
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 11:09 am
I took up the instrument at 50 because I'd always played stuff with valves, but I loved (still do!) the way a great bone section sounds on a well-written soli. I'm now 64 and haven't come anywhere close to the level of proficiency I envisioned. It's frustrating. Most of my irritation comes from the fact that I didn't learn the art of how to move a slide when my brain was young and supple, and that combined with the limitations of the instrument as a result of partial crossings (and the endless places they occur) had me contemplating quitting for good.
I play third in the local big band and have to practice for hours on the parts to be able to play them when everyone else is reading. I mentioned my frustration to Paul Nelson who has the bass trombone chair at the moment (great player and arranger, has his own big band). He said I should get a lesson with Ido Meshulam (jazz faculty at CSUN, among other things). It was a great lesson, and Ido really hit the nail on the head when he cut through my own bullshit noting that my progress was really only limited by my own practice commitment, and that there were no shortcuts. He also spent some time getting me out of my own head and relaxing more. (BTW I heartily recommend Ido as a teacher.)
The brick wall I hit with Ido is that he’s a great believer in the free buzz/MP buzz/horn note sequence for getting your facial muscles to accurately and repeatably nail partials. This is of course a well-respected method, and five years ago when I was working through The Main Method for the first time, I did Roy’s MP buzz warmup every day for three months. By the end of that time, the only real virtue that I had as a trombonist—a big, clear, resonant sound—was gone, replaced by a thin, closed, dead tone. As I recall it took another three months of not buzzing for my tone to come back, and I have been wary of buzzing in any form since.
At that point I was truly at a crossroad. Do I finally admit to myself that I’m really not a trombonist, and put the horn back on the stand?
Having heard for years about Doug Elliott’s successes helping people overcome both mental and physical blocks, as a last resort I reached out to him and booked a Skype lesson.
Doug had me play a little warmup from completely cold, and had me move the camera around a bit until he was satisfied with the picture. Then he had me play a long series of tones with various placements on my chops, slowly moving from one setup to another. After what felt like around 20 minutes of this, we stopped to talk a bit. Doug is big on not fighting what nature and genetics give you, and told me that as my setup moves up and to my right my high range speaks with less effort, and as I go down and left my low range opens up. These are not large movements at all, very gentle and subtle, but I’ve incorporated them into my warmup routine and I’m already noticing improvement up top.
I then brought up the subject of buzzing, and Doug’s contention is that buzzing can definitely be a help if done right. So I buzzed. He immediately stopped me. Too much effort, way too much tightness. Make an “F” sound first, and then gently drop the upper lip down and let the buzz happen instead of forcing it. And at the same time, really concentrate on tongue placement in your mouth to control pitch. It seems so basic, but I had never worked these two skills together with any intention.
Finally we talked about the slide. Here, Doug and Ido were in agreement—both of them told me my wrist was too stiff, and I was using too much arm effort shifting positions. So that’s my next work goal: use much less arm and much more wrist.
The takeaway here for me is that Doug has that rare pedagogical gift of being able to meet you where you are as a human and talk you off the ledge while imparting actionable, practical advice and just enough technical explanation to make everything mesh mentally. This is why I have dubbed him The Embouchure Whisperer.
Things seem a bit less daunting than before, and I think I’ll stay with the horn a bit longer. I’m still nowhere near where I thought I would be, but I’m improving again. And that’s really all I can reasonably expect.
Peter
.
I play third in the local big band and have to practice for hours on the parts to be able to play them when everyone else is reading. I mentioned my frustration to Paul Nelson who has the bass trombone chair at the moment (great player and arranger, has his own big band). He said I should get a lesson with Ido Meshulam (jazz faculty at CSUN, among other things). It was a great lesson, and Ido really hit the nail on the head when he cut through my own bullshit noting that my progress was really only limited by my own practice commitment, and that there were no shortcuts. He also spent some time getting me out of my own head and relaxing more. (BTW I heartily recommend Ido as a teacher.)
The brick wall I hit with Ido is that he’s a great believer in the free buzz/MP buzz/horn note sequence for getting your facial muscles to accurately and repeatably nail partials. This is of course a well-respected method, and five years ago when I was working through The Main Method for the first time, I did Roy’s MP buzz warmup every day for three months. By the end of that time, the only real virtue that I had as a trombonist—a big, clear, resonant sound—was gone, replaced by a thin, closed, dead tone. As I recall it took another three months of not buzzing for my tone to come back, and I have been wary of buzzing in any form since.
At that point I was truly at a crossroad. Do I finally admit to myself that I’m really not a trombonist, and put the horn back on the stand?
Having heard for years about Doug Elliott’s successes helping people overcome both mental and physical blocks, as a last resort I reached out to him and booked a Skype lesson.
Doug had me play a little warmup from completely cold, and had me move the camera around a bit until he was satisfied with the picture. Then he had me play a long series of tones with various placements on my chops, slowly moving from one setup to another. After what felt like around 20 minutes of this, we stopped to talk a bit. Doug is big on not fighting what nature and genetics give you, and told me that as my setup moves up and to my right my high range speaks with less effort, and as I go down and left my low range opens up. These are not large movements at all, very gentle and subtle, but I’ve incorporated them into my warmup routine and I’m already noticing improvement up top.
I then brought up the subject of buzzing, and Doug’s contention is that buzzing can definitely be a help if done right. So I buzzed. He immediately stopped me. Too much effort, way too much tightness. Make an “F” sound first, and then gently drop the upper lip down and let the buzz happen instead of forcing it. And at the same time, really concentrate on tongue placement in your mouth to control pitch. It seems so basic, but I had never worked these two skills together with any intention.
Finally we talked about the slide. Here, Doug and Ido were in agreement—both of them told me my wrist was too stiff, and I was using too much arm effort shifting positions. So that’s my next work goal: use much less arm and much more wrist.
The takeaway here for me is that Doug has that rare pedagogical gift of being able to meet you where you are as a human and talk you off the ledge while imparting actionable, practical advice and just enough technical explanation to make everything mesh mentally. This is why I have dubbed him The Embouchure Whisperer.
Things seem a bit less daunting than before, and I think I’ll stay with the horn a bit longer. I’m still nowhere near where I thought I would be, but I’m improving again. And that’s really all I can reasonably expect.
Peter
.