brassguymike Posted May 13, 2002 Share Posted May 13, 2002 Not exactly correct, Mike. High volume of sound is a product of air velocity and the pressure of that air. An inefficient embochure requires more air AND pressure for a given volume of sound. An efficiently vibrating embouchure will require less air velocity (and pressure) for a given volume than a poorly vibrating, inefficient embouchure.You WOULD need a large "quantity" of air for a lengthy note or musical phrase. So in effect a large quantity of air would be required for ANY volume level, given that the note or phrase was lengthy. It's just that with higher volume the quantity of air will be used up faster due to the faster air. I think this is what you were trying to say. True. It easier (although less effective) to say a large quantity of air than to get technical and talk about the air velocity and pressure and how quickly it's used up. I don't have the Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind book in front of me right now, but somewhere in there he talks about the flow rate of his air when he's playing loud passages vs. soft passages on tuba. The amount of air he uses at his top volumes is amazing. I got light-headed just reading about it. I've only read the book about 10 times, so I think it's time to read it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlehendrix Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 air compression and tighten the corners of your mouth...............take in as much air as u can, close your throat the hold in the air and then tighten ur stomach muscles up, like when you are bracing urself for a punch...then when u play just shove all the air out and push with stomach, and for you not to overblow and blat tighten the corners of your mouthpiece as much as u can.....air is everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinSop85 Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 Anyone know some techniques or exercises that would help increase our trumpets sections volume output?I changed the original topic content to make it more easily digested and have no future confusions. It still pretty much asks the same thing as before. Thank you for your replies. Chickowitz and air flow exersizes. The key is to Maximize control of pitch and tone at different volumes...you could even make up excersizes. Work Crescendo's, Decrescendo's and Various Block Volumes(play mf, FFF, pp, mp, F). I bet the 10 trumpets that don't "put out" are on lower parts, right? Check your orchestration and parts division. Also, building confidence in these 10 players will only help you...don't attack them, encourage! Good Luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinSop85 Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 air compression and tighten the corners of your mouth...............take in as much air as u can, close your throat the hold in the air and then tighten ur stomach muscles up, like when you are bracing urself for a punch...then when u play just shove all the air out and push with stomach, and for you not to overblow and blat tighten the corners of your mouthpiece as much as u can.....air is everything Are you serious??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einstein On The Beach Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 air compression and tighten the corners of your mouth...............take in as much air as u can, close your throat the hold in the air and then tighten ur stomach muscles up, like when you are bracing urself for a punch...then when u play just shove all the air out and push with stomach, and for you not to overblow and blat tighten the corners of your mouthpiece as much as u can.....air is everything Wow, what a "drum corps" answer, haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 air compression and tighten the corners of your mouth...............take in as much air as u can, close your throat the hold in the air and then tighten ur stomach muscles up, like when you are bracing urself for a punch...then when u play just shove all the air out and push with stomach, and for you not to overblow and blat tighten the corners of your mouthpiece as much as u can.....air is everything Are you kidding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idontwan2know Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 The excercise that I find helps in both volume and tuning is pitch Bends. Have the Entire Corps/Section Count off in 2's. Everyone starts on a Unison C have the 1's drop down to the B natural (using the valves) then have the 2's lip the Note down to the b natural Matching the pitch of the 1's. this should imporve with the listen skills of the line. Then.. have the 1's play back up to the C and have the 2's Move Faster Air to Bring the B back to the C (instead of Just lipping it) this will improve quite a few different things... Pitch bends are a great exercise in general. I don't think of it specifically as a volume increasing exercise, but they do have some positive impact in that regard. The main thing they do is teach you to play exactly in the center of the horn. For any note played on a horn, there is an exact frequency that that length of tubing resonates at. The "slot" on most horns is significantly wider...frequencies other than the sweet spot can be played easily. Playing in the sweet spot allows the horn to resonate fully and leads to a "big" sound that carries forever. In the corps environment, where equipment should be more or less identical, it also helps immensely with intonation. Of course the vagaries of a large ensemble, less than perfect horns, and equal tempered vs. diatonic tunic systems makes it impossible to always play in the sweet spot, but the more you can do it, the better your overall sound will be. This is also why tuning slides and "tune any note" features are important...they allow you to adjust the length of the horn so that the center of the horn is in line with the pitch dictated by ensemble tuning concerns. As for intonation affecting volume and constructive interference....that's not factoring in the phase of the soundwaves. In order for the constructive interference to occur, the waves not only must be perfectly matched down to the single hert level, they also must be in phase(high and low points of the waves matching exactly). It's just not possible in the drum corps environment. A few feet of separation will put the waves hopelessly out of phase, and even if you could somehow get them in phase, it would only be in phase at one specific point, and out of phase everywhere else. Intonation is important enough for the sound it produces without worrying about the physics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourouttheforty Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Equal contribution in the section is probably the best thing that can help. Also, don't force anything, tension is the root of all evil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tplaya1 Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Wow, what a "drum corps" answer, haha Are you kidding? <**> :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einstein On The Beach Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Are you kidding? <**> :P Dude, when I did I&E this summer and got my sheets back from the judge all it pretty much said was, "Uhh, use more air". Wow, thanks DCI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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