44. The origin of sound

NOTE: Video text transcription, you can translate it into other languages ​​with a translator.

Greetings MetalHeads.

The idea to write this post number 44 of Romera Brass ACADEMY

came about after a musician came to my workshop asking for help with a small problem he claimed to have.

He told me he was very worried because for a few weeks the sound had been cutting out, and everything was much harder for him to play.

And what's the first thing I think?

that the mouthpiece was no longer working well for him, and that's why he came to see me, for a customized mouthpiece to solve the problem.

(I'll make a brief aside.
He's a very good musician, and I have his permission to discuss this case without revealing his name, of course.)

Thank you very much, Paco, or no, not Paco.

Imagine the scene,

He started playing, and the sound coming out of the instrument was really very, very poor.
He only managed to make it sound a little more if he pushed much more air. With more force.

We tried several mouthpieces, different sizes, rim shapes... cups, we tried everything.

and the result was practically the same.

So we did a test.

We only put the rim on, without the cup, so we could see how his lip vibrated, as I began to suspect that the problem wasn't the mouthpiece.

And that's when I realized where the problem really was.

It was practically impossible for him to make his lip vibrate.

He told me that he had been playing a lot in the last few weeks, and we came to the conclusion that, without realizing it, his lip had become harder and stiffer.

And between jokes and more conversation than playing, we came to a conclusion:

More than a lip... it looked like a potato.

In Chapter No. 42, I already mentioned that when a problem arises while playing, the causes must be analyzed very carefully, as the problem is not always the mouthpiece.

There can also be technical or physical problems.

This long introduction helps me to focus on the theme of this blog.

Up to now, in Romera Brass ACADEMY, we have basically talked about mouthpieces.
But there is something much more important than the mouthpiece itself.

The origin of sound.

Because in the previous example, we saw something very clear:
the problem was not the mouthpiece.

It was the lip.
It was a physical problem.

And you can have the best mouthpiece in the world... made of gold with diamonds
but if the lip doesn't vibrate, absolutely nothing will come out of the bell of your instrument.

No sound.
No music.
Nothing.

Without further ado... let's begin!

When I started playing the trombone and could barely make any sound, my first teacher, whom I still remember,

always used to tell me:

"Blow... blow... push air with force."

And behind this expression, which we have all heard at some point, or many times, what he was actually telling us was:

"Push the air with force so that the lip starts to vibrate and sound appears."

For a sound to be produced, not only in a brass instrument but in practically anything that generates sound, we need 3 elements.

Three elements that, when one starts, activates the others and together they make the sound appear.

First, we need a mass. Like this Tibetan bowl.

A mass that has some elasticity so it can vibrate.

And then we need enough force to make that elastic mass vibrate.

 

If we transfer this to brass instruments, you'll see that producing a note on our instrument is exactly the same as with the Tibetan bowl.

The mass... is the lip.

The elasticity... is the flexibility of the lip itself.

It has the strength to stretch and contract, and finally, we have the air, which is the force that makes this mass, which is the lip, vibrate.

We now have the three necessary elements to start producing sound on the instrument.

In the previous case we saw, the cause of the lack of sound was that the lip, that is, the mass, had lost elasticity.

And that's why the sound was poor and it needed a lot more air, more force, to vibrate.

I'm sure it's happened to you too.

Some days, with very little air, a clean and easy sound comes out.

And other days you try to do exactly the same thing...
but you need a lot more force and even then the sound is not as clean.

In reality, what often happens is that the lip no longer has the same elasticity and the vibration changes completely.

That's why it's very important to take care of lip elasticity.

A singer wears a scarf to protect their voice.

And we often put cocoa butter on our lips almost without thinking.

But deep down we are doing something very similar:
trying to keep the lip more hydrated, more flexible, and able to vibrate better.

So, taking care of your lips, keeping them hydrated... and why not, pampering them with lots of kisses... can also help you achieve better vibration and, consequently, better sound.

In this chapter, we've seen how something that seems very technical and complicated... is actually something we do every day without thinking too much about it.

Applying a force, the air, onto an elastic mass, the lip, to generate a vibration and produce a sound.

And although it may seem very simple...
that's where the magic of playing a brass instrument truly begins.

"I suggest that after this chapter you review:
How are you really taking care of your lip?

Because many musicians work a lot on strength...
but very few work on elasticity.

And as we've seen today,
without elasticity, there's no good vibration.

Rest, recovery, flexibility exercises... in reality, like an athlete who takes care of their body, we take care of our lips.
Are you really working on it?
Or do you just push harder when things don't work out?

Perhaps now is a good time to review it.”

I'm Toni Romera and I await your questions and comments.

Greetings and lots of music

Additional Information:

🔗Chapter No. 40. What role do the lip and the muscles surrounding it play when we play a brass instrument?

🔗Chapter No. 42. Problems, Technical, Physical, Mouthpiece