mobile chops

[baileyman]

For some time longer than a year, perhaps two, I have been working the idea that the chop musculature tunes the buzz into a relatively broad range and that the tune of the mouth cavity drives the precise tuning. New things keep showing up as I run through my routine on this idea.

Lately I have been trying to find variations on an old familiar flexie--I cannot remember who is responsible for it but I'm sure you all know it: Bb F D Bb F D Bb F Bb. In partials that's 4 3 5 4 6 5 4 3 4. Previously I have turned it upside down: 5 6 4 5 3 4 5 6 5, a very worthwhile thing to do, especially for the upward slur with control and good time. And I have moved it around. Like 2 1 3 2 4 3 2 1 2. Or 7 6 8 7 9 8 7 6 7. Upside down too. I usually do quarters, then eighths, sixteenths, whatever until I cannot keep time with the metronome. Those are conventional variations.

Then I wondered about how the tongue was driving the slurs and whether there was some independence to gain there. So for the original exercise, the tongue may be in EE at partial 6 and AH at partial 3. That EE might be way up close to the teeth. So I began to move the whole scheme back in the mouth to see if it worked. It did. So I moved it as far as I could (feels like almost to the throat), and it worked. So I began alternating these locations on repeats, close medium and far, and they work. (The sound of the horn changes pretty dramatically on these.) And then gliding front to back to front randomly through the repeats, and that works.

All this time the musculature of the chops doesn't feel like it is doing much of anything. They seem to mostly takes a position and hold it. (Now, I cannot prove that's what's happening, but it sure feels like it.)

So I started to wonder about other independences. Like, maybe lip roll? I try with the lower pouted out, kinda vertically in line, or tucked in and under. (I'm pretty sure this points the air direction all over the place.) And it works, and gliding between these positions, too. The aperture shape I think may be pretty constant, but the spot on the lips that jiggles goes forward/out and back/in depending, certainly not all in one spot.

Horn angle? However high, however low, or right or left or diagonally, as long as there is a seal to the piece, it works. Moving from one of these to another while playing, works. For some of these the chops have to "reach" to touch the piece, but it works, full range, full flex.

I used to thing I needed a certain "anchor point" but horn angle moves that point around. In fact, the point can move in a circle and the chops work.

Rim position? High, low, left, right, they work.

Now, one thing I do notice is a preference for a certain position, where the rims sits, where the horn points, where the tongue sits in some sort of neutral position. But I am wondering if that preference is there just because that's the familiar position, that I've been dong it sorta in that location for a long time, because I can move it somewhere else, and it works fine, if strange feeling, in lots of other configurations.

As a result, I'm thinking, if you can get a buzz going, you can drive it by tuning your mouth with your tongue, then the rest may pretty much a matter of preference.

(Please notice I use words like "may", "seems", "could be", etc., because all this has very little certainty to me. All I can do is report, this is what it feels like is happening, and if anyone finds something useful, then that's a good thing. But I would never insist this is the gosh darn truth, but it useful to me thinking this way.)

[PaulTdot]

Are you an advanced player, just out of curiosity? Would you consider yourself to be "in good shape" as you're attempting this?

Some people have a lot of "flexibility" in terms of horn angle, mouthpiece placement, and so on. They can get away with all kinds of shenanigans. Others are *extremely* sensitive to small variations, and can't get a sound at all with a slightly different horn angle or mouthpiece placement or jaw position.

Some of the things you're experiencing might work in that limited range, but not through a full, extended range, as well. If you want to continue your experiments, that would be the next thing to try.

[Doug Elliott]

Yes, baileyman is an "advanced player."
I had lunch with Bruce and him a couple of years ago in Massachusetts.

Most of that stuff is pretty much what I have been teaching for years. .Experimenting is good, just be careful about going too far.

[BGuttman]

I should also point out that Baileyman is an engineer and avid tinkerer. He loves trying to figure out "where the feets grows".

[PaulTdot]

Very interesting! We can all use some more open-minded experimentation.

If you're willing to share any footage of some of these experiments, that would be quite interesting to see and hear.

From what I've seen of X-ray or fluorographic recordings, the role of the tongue in controlling range (in the players surveyed) is extremely active in the extreme upper register, but can stay pretty static in the lower/mid register. I don't know if that's optimal, but it is what some players are doing.

[imsevimse]

For some time longer than a year, perhaps two, I have been working the idea that the chop musculature tunes the buzz into a relatively broad range and that the tune of the mouth cavity drives the precise tuning. New things keep showing up as I run through my routine on this idea.

Lately I have been trying to find variations on an old familiar flexie--I cannot remember who is responsible for it but I'm sure you all know it: Bb F D Bb F D Bb F Bb. In partials that's 4 3 5 4 6 5 4 3 4. Previously I have turned it upside down: 5 6 4 5 3 4 5 6 5, a very worthwhile thing to do, especially for the upward slur with control and good time. And I have moved it around. Like 2 1 3 2 4 3 2 1 2. Or 7 6 8 7 9 8 7 6 7. Upside down too. I usually do quarters, then eighths, sixteenths, whatever until I cannot keep time with the metronome. Those are conventional variations.

Then I wondered about how the tongue was driving the slurs and whether there was some independence to gain there. So for the original exercise, the tongue may be in EE at partial 6 and AH at partial 3. That EE might be way up close to the teeth. So I began to move the whole scheme back in the mouth to see if it worked. It did. So I moved it as far as I could (feels like almost to the throat), and it worked. So I began alternating these locations on repeats, close medium and far, and they work. (The sound of the horn changes pretty dramatically on these.) And then gliding front to back to front randomly through the repeats, and that works.

All this time the musculature of the chops doesn't feel like it is doing much of anything. They seem to mostly takes a position and hold it. (Now, I cannot prove that's what's happening, but it sure feels like it.)

So I started to wonder about other independences. Like, maybe lip roll? I try with the lower pouted out, kinda vertically in line, or tucked in and under. (I'm pretty sure this points the air direction all over the place.) And it works, and gliding between these positions, too. The aperture shape I think may be pretty constant, but the spot on the lips that jiggles goes forward/out and back/in depending, certainly not all in one spot.

Horn angle? However high, however low, or right or left or diagonally, as long as there is a seal to the piece, it works. Moving from one of these to another while playing, works. For some of these the chops have to "reach" to touch the piece, but it works, full range, full flex.

I used to thing I needed a certain "anchor point" but horn angle moves that point around. In fact, the point can move in a circle and the chops work.

Rim position? High, low, left, right, they work.

Now, one thing I do notice is a preference for a certain position, where the rims sits, where the horn points, where the tongue sits in some sort of neutral position. But I am wondering if that preference is there just because that's the familiar position, that I've been dong it sorta in that location for a long time, because I can move it somewhere else, and it works fine, if strange feeling, in lots of other configurations.

As a result, I'm thinking, if you can get a buzz going, you can drive it by tuning your mouth with your tongue, then the rest may pretty much a matter of preference.

(Please notice I use words like "may", "seems", "could be", etc., because all this has very little certainty to me. All I can do is report, this is what it feels like is happening, and if anyone finds something useful, then that's a good thing. But I would never insist this is the gosh darn truth, but it useful to me thinking this way.)

I can relate to everything said in this post. Good post!

/Tom