Record Yourself
Something you don't realize until the first time you record yourself is how different your sound is in front of the bell than it is to you when you are playing. Though this is true for virtually all aspects of your sound, I find it to be especially true with your clarity of articulation. For your articulation to show up with the clarity and crispness that you would like on the recording
(which is how the audience will hear you) you will probably have to greatly exaggerate how clearly you tongue, and it may border on what you would consider tasteless from behind the bell. Just experiment and see. Try to match the articulations of great players, like those in my Listening Room (especially the Brass Ensemble recordings). Recording can be done for very cheaply. If you are eading this you probably already have a computer. All you need now is Audacity, a free recording progam that you can download here, and a cheap computer microphone
(though if you can, it is worth it to get a nice one). If you have any questions just let me know.
(which is how the audience will hear you) you will probably have to greatly exaggerate how clearly you tongue, and it may border on what you would consider tasteless from behind the bell. Just experiment and see. Try to match the articulations of great players, like those in my Listening Room (especially the Brass Ensemble recordings). Recording can be done for very cheaply. If you are eading this you probably already have a computer. All you need now is Audacity, a free recording progam that you can download here, and a cheap computer microphone
(though if you can, it is worth it to get a nice one). If you have any questions just let me know.
posted by Jason at 2:49 AM
6 Comments:
What do you recommed for someone who plays on the side of their mouth...like how to move it over? All at once, or a little at a time?
I have only had to take one student through the process of moving the mouthpiece horizontally (I think that it is only necessary in extreme cases. I actually play a little bit to the side). I think that it is probably best to do it all at once, though it will take some experimenting to find exactly where it should go. If you are way off center now you probably won't be comortable completely centered. There are a few things that should help. First, you will probably not have much success if you continue applying your normal amount of pressure. The excess pressure will just slide the mouthpiece back and prevent the correct muscles from developing. Start off by playing a lot of long tones in the low to mid range and feel like you are pulling the horn away from your lips so that your lips have to go out to the mouthpiece. The exercises that I have posted about (here and here) are great for this, the first one (expanding arpeggios) gradually taking the embouchure into the upper register, and the second one for the same thing, plus, if you articulate the way I describe in the "Helpful Exercises-continued" post you will develop good muscles in both your corners. A lot of the problem with playing way off-centered is an imbalance of muscle. Tonguing like that will also help you get your lips out.
I read on your blog that you think that this could take a year. While I realize that it will take longer without me actually giving you a lesson, I would guess that you will start to see significant progress within a few weeks. Let me know how it goes.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and respond.
Do you know if there is a chord that you can use to hook up a silent brass system to the computer and record onto that program? I downloaded the program and if not I will buy a microphone, but I am thinking that there has to be some way. I recorded myself on a tape recorder(I have to take a tape or CD back to Carolina Crown auditions with me.) Not very good quality but it will suffice unless I can you use that program to burn a CD. I haven't played with it yet. Thanks
You should be able to use an 1/8" chord to go from the headphone jack to the mic input on your computer. This will work, but you will get a much better sound going through a microphone. The recording using the silent brass will sound exactly how it sounds when you use the silent brass. If that is good enough for your purposes than you don't need to worry about a mic. Since you will be making a cd I thought you should know that to make the recording into a format that can be burned you need to Export as Wav (in the "file" drop down menu). Before you start it is important to set the input level, which is shown on the meter with the microphone. You adjust the level with the microphone slider. You want your level to be as high as possible without ever redlining the meter. Hopefully this makes sense after you mess around with it.
I was wondering if you could help me with this. Embrace Atonality By the way thanks for all the help you have already given me.
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