TromboneChat

Hello everyone! I'm in my senior year of college playing tenor trombone, and last year I picked up bass to play for my school's orchestra, and I noticed I started to get a double buzz on G3 and Gb3. I always thought it was because I was switching mouthpieces too much, but when I stopped playing bass the double buzz was still there. It comes and goes, but now I've been getting it when I play from Bb3 through Gb3. People say it's on the lower lip, but I can clearly feel it on my upper lip which is very weird. It happens when I play soft, loud, articulated, but rarely when I'm playing something melodic. This has been very hard especially on the mental side, I feel insecure with my playing and sometimes I even think that I won't be able to play the same. I don't know what to do and I've taken lessons with people and all of them say it's a slow process, but none of them understand my problem because double buzz happens usually when you're tired, but I get it even in my warm up. I love trombone and it's the biggest part of my life, but how can I keep being strong when I feel so insecure and like a failure?

What mouthpiece are you using on bass? I found that when I used too big a mouthpiece I'd get a double buzz.

You can work your way through the problem with a lot of long tones, but for a short term solution using a smaller mouthpiece; maybe a "tweener" like a Bach 3G or Yamaha 57, could get by the double buzz at the expense of the pedal range.

Keep that chin flat and stable. Usually this is because the lower lip is a little too insecure.

There are several possible reasons for a double buzz.

Injury from playing too loud, or loud too early before you're warmed up.
Mouthpiece that's too big FOR YOU. (what Bruce said above)
Bottom lip out of control from using the wrong muscles and not using the right ones (what Aidan said above)
Mouthpiece placement too close to 50/50 when that's not what you should be.

Combination of any or all of the above.

" I can clearly feel it on my upper lip which is very weird. It happens when I play soft, loud, articulated, but rarely when I'm playing something melodic."
If it happens rarely when playing something melodic it is probably a lack of "followthrough" with your air. The other articulations are choppy and the air supply might not be constantly supported. I hope it is helpful.

That's true but... an unstable situation shouldn't REQUIRE more air to make it work. Fix the problem, not the symptom.

fparradiaz wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 12:55 pm It comes and goes, but now I've been getting it when I play from Bb3 through Gb3. People say it's on the lower lip, but I can clearly feel it on my upper lip which is very weird.

Could be related, maybe not -- an intentional double buzz is known as a lip multiphonic, and when I do it I start to switch from a downstream to an upstream embouchure but not completely. Like Doug says, it's like 50/50. I can feel the upper lip collapse and that creates the double buzz.

It's basically like playing a pedal tone but in the middle register.

Looks like this:

If a higher note plays cleanly, coming down from there may get to your trouble spot cleanly.

What Doug and Aidan said. Aside from injury, I went through them all before I felt comfortable (a) NOT getting a double buzz; (b) NOT freaking out when it happened; and (c) using (b) as a reminder to focus on fundamentals (see Doug and Aidan), and not freak out.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I’ve been trying to change my mindset for the last couple of days, and with a clear mind everything is possible.

fparradiaz wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 7:06 am Thank you everyone for your comments. I’ve been trying to change my mindset for the last couple of days, and with a clear mind everything is possible.

I'll chime in with the obvious (suprised nobody has mentioned it yet.) Ask Doug Elliott for a skype lesson. He's very good at fixing these types of issues.