Posted by sam on January 01, 2001 at 12:25:46:
In Reply to: Swollen Lips !!! posted by Tim C on January 01, 2001 at 02:24:45:
The Conn Hellebrg mouthpiece is a great mouthpiece. You know that whatever you do when you buzz is what you do when you play. It is just more pronounced when you buzz. It sound as if you are pressing too hard on your face when you buzz and are probably not using your air as freely as you should. Try using a breathing bag when you buzz so you can practice seeing your air come out into the bag in a free/relaxed manner and use a full breath in and out. Use your air to buzz not your lips.
Buzzing is supposed to be like a baseball player warming up at bat swinging two or three bats with weights on them. It is really easy to swing one bat when it counts after practicing with two.
The more you practice buzzing the easier it will be and you will sound better when you play. You will be forced to use more air and really buzz notes when you play your tuba and your sound will be awesome.
If you ever have a physical problem because of playing it is probably a symptom of something else that you need to fix.