How to Buzz on a Tuba Mouthpiece

Video Transcript

"Hi again, Kevin Smith back with Tuba Love doing my typical practice session. I want to talk about what's called Mouthpiece Buzzing. It's part of your practice. I like to, you want to do, you keep your omberture strong. Some days your going somewhere and can't bring your tuba and you say "Darn, I really wish I can practice". You can practice by bringing your mouthpiece with you. What this does in enable you to do what you do on the tuba anyway. This may seem a little boring, but if you can't bring your tuba with you, it's a good way to practice. What you notice when you start buzzing in the mouthpiece your going to say "My God, I'm starting to hyperventilate, this is taking a lot of air to do". This is why ironically; a flute takes probably more air than any other instrument to play. When I'm playing into my tuba, I've got the air stream going in and it's reverberating off the inside of the instrument so in other words, it's really helping to assist that total column of air that I'm using. If I'm buzzing into this mouthpiece, I don't have that bounce back system; the air is going through and out and a flute player does the same thing; it just goes over the instrument. When you start buzzing, you?re going to say Wow! so this does take a lot of air and you really might start hyperventilating. Anyway, when you start buzzing the mouthpiece, your probably not going to want to practice long for that exact reason. Make sure you get a good sound, a little tone. It's a great asset to playing and to learn how to use your air stream better. Don't overdue it because I really think you have a tendency to put too much stress on your lips if your only buzzing the mouthpiece. As a way to practice on days you otherwise couldn't and as a way to develop your air stream a little better, tuba mouthpiece buzzing is OK in my book."