Improving your sound

Sound is one of the most important aspects of playing – without a good sound it’s
unlikely people will want to listen to you!

Listen to a beginner. Why do you think they sound like they do?
Possible reasons:
• The close everything down behind the mouthpiece – throat, mouth, teeth. Think
about opening up as much as you can. Play a note starting closed and open up.

• Try and listen to recordings of top players if you can and copy them! (youtube etc).
As musicians we are actually ‘copiers’ – we hear a sound we like and try and copy
(emulate) it. Look up David Daws, Philip Cobb, Richard Marshall, Roger Webster
(cornet), Sheona White, Owen Farr (alto horn), Katrina Marzella (baritone), Brett
Baker, Joe Alessi (trombone), David Childs, David Thornton, Steven Mead, Glen
Williams, Derick Kane (euphonium), Les Neish, Patrick Sheridan, Steve Sykes, Joe
Cook (tuba).

• Imagine you’re singing when you play – this will help you think musically.

• Imagine you’ve got a golf ball in your mouth – this sounds silly but it helps keep
you mouth open which allows more air to go through and helps produce a ‘rounder’
sound.

• Try to put warm air through the instrument – you can tell if you’re doing this by
buzzing through your mouthpiece without the instrument. This means that your
throat will be more open, again allowing more air to come through.

• Vibrato – this is basically a vibration in the sound. Imagine the note as a straight
line, then add a wavy line. Most singers/cellists/violinists/oboists use it effectively so
in effect we should try to as brass players (again imagine you are singing when you
use vibrato). It is important, however, that you are able to play straight notes well
first (notes without vibrato).

There are several types of vibrato:

• Head vibrato – basically shaking the head up and down. This tends to lack control,
however.

• Hand vibrato – moving your hand up and down whilst pressing the valves down.

• Breath vibrato – changing the level of breath passing through.

• Jaw vibrato – This is generally considered the best. It doesn’t affect the airstream,
the only movement is in the jaw. It’s also versatile – you can do it at different speeds
and different depths.
Remember - it’s not the vibrato that makes the sound, it’s your tone that does.