Posted by Roger Lewis on September 05, 2003 at 06:57:30:
In Reply to: Tuba: Mouthpiece messin!!!! posted by Brandon Ostrom on September 04, 2003 at 18:09:25:
At the peak of my "insane" years for practicing (8 to 12 hours a day) I went through a period of exploration as well. I was playing a lot of football in previous years and would use ankle weights for training purposes. I got to thinking about what would happen if I did the same thing for my "chops" - meaning air, embouchure, tonguing and everything else involved in the sound production process?
I decided to settle in with a practice mute in every horn that I picked up and would do this for a period of 3 months (I declined all gigs during that Summer). So for 3 months I never heard the sound of the open horn. I would work on soft long tones, practice in completely dark rooms, work on orchestral excertps, scales, the Arban book, Kopprasch, Rochut - everything as I would in my normal practice period.
At first it was very frustrating, going form what I felt was a good sound to this stifled, tiny sound, but after about 2 months of persevering I actually started to like the sound coming out of the practice mute (note - I never cheated during this time).
When I finally removed the mute, the experience was incredible! I had developed a very efficient embochure and my sound had matured greatly. And then there was the power of the sound - awesome! I consider this crazy period one of the biggest steps in my development as a player and I have my students try this from time-to-time (in moderation) and they notice the difference immediately.
I think this might be worth trying for you if it is the sound you wish to develop.
Just my thoughts on the matter, based on my practice habits.
Roger