Posted by Dave Kutz on September 23, 2003 at 03:51:50:
In Reply to: Re: Re: "The Buzzing Book" posted by John on September 22, 2003 at 22:54:34:
The Buzzing Book (published by BIM) is quite a good (although not entirely new) idea by Thompson. The students at Eastman could have something to say about this better than I but I can give you my opinion. I have it and try to use some of it every day. The basic pretense is to learn to play (whatever instrument) with the least amount of movement (embouchure changes) as freely as possible. The system is set up as a progressive etude book, working from basic slurs of a 5th, to more complicated (and initially difficult) slurs over the entite range of the instrument. Thomson encourages the student to breathe well and to maintain all of the healthy fundamentals of playing, paying particular attention to the detail of moving ones embouchure (etc) when breathing and playing. After some time, the players ability to move around the instrument is really increased...
Much of these drills have been used for years (many of the same "drills" Jacobs used from the Schlossberg, Arbans, and Clarke methods for many reasons including tone transferring and flexibility), so many of you will not find anything "New" in the book as far as examples. What is great is the CD that plays along with you when you both buzz and play (a key to the success) the exercises. This piano (electro-enhanced) track moved through the key areas with you and also helps in stabilizing one's intonation in the process.
Thompson gave a masterclass in Switzerland some time back and did mention that he was developing the same method for the tuba...when does it come out, not too sure. In the meantime, using the trumpet method is a nice tool (in Bb or C version.
Maybe Brian can be the sole distributor in the US when it comes out!? All the best, DK