Don't be afraid to go back to a smaller diameter ball, if the area is not smoothed to your satisfaction. The plastic balls are close to the steel dent ball to help reduce the risk of wrenching the former sideways, which would cause major damage to the tube. Upholding the Tradition of Past Brass Masters. What is used to repair big, brass band instruments?. These vowels raise the tongue and jaw, make the oral cavity smaller, push the tongue forward and cause us to sound bright and sharp. As always, I invite a discussion; please let me know where you think I've gone wrong or am missing something that could be helpful to others. To find the best sound, students should mouthpiece buzz and play a long middle register pitch with a drone pitch and experiment with different vowels, while raising and lowering the jaw. Say "tAH" and "tEE" and breathe in and out using those vowels.
For therapy, start a note in the middle range without tongue or articulation by blowing air through the mouthpiece and horn and letting the embouchure form until sound is attained. Strengthen the lips around the mouthpiece, particularly the corners, in order to counter balance the pressure of the mouthpiece from step 1. What Is Used To Repair Big Brass Instruments. Blowing air through relaxed lips, press in gently and firm the mouth corners, slightly contracting the mouth corners inward, to counterbalance the mouthpiece pressure. Also, there are basically two kinds of mouthpiece pressure, which are useable in playing. We must have a very definite concept of a beautiful tone in order to produce a great sound. But I have to believe that there could be more demand for the service if it were more easily available. Remember daily listening to mp3s of great artists and live concerts by the best soloists, orchestras and military bands help us develop a concept and memory of a lovely tone.
That is by visualizing the horn as an unmovable object (like the wall) and leaning the embouchure against it to keep it completely still, therefore requiring only the monitoring of the air stream to hold a note perfectly steady. Choice of instrument and mouthpiece can influence sound. What is used to repair big brass band instruments de mesure. There are a variety of good quality cable systems available for controlling dent balls and typically use a 1/16" flexible cable that is partially covered with plastic balls or segments and a thick wall steel tube for holding in the hand or vice. Through the ages, copper and brass instruments have been used in an assortment of capacities, and are still popular today throughout the world.
Multiple cycles of damage and repair, along with deterioration by de-zincing or "red-rot", as it is often called, results in weak and brittle metal that easily cracks, whether expected or not. Starting out with too large a ball for the purpose of pushing out a deep dent will cause a bulge in the opposite side of the tube, damage that can never be completely removed. What is used to repair big brass band instruments images. Never hammer too many blows on a stationary ball, which will also cause a bulge. An important key to efficient, easy brass technique is to learn to move the lips only inside the mouthpiece, not at the sides of the mouth or corners. Too often, incomplete or sloppy dent work is followed by filing and/or sanding the surface smooth and heavy polishing in an effort to hide the evidence.
Using vowels to communicate with the tongue, say a repeated series of "tOOH-tOOH-tOOH" and for low register say "tAAWH-tAAWH-tAAWH. " "Even jazz is making a bigger comeback. Keep all your dent tools polished and free of oxidation. We should strive for steady, consistent pitch and a beautiful sound at all times. If the damage is deep, it is important to push a large portion of the dents up first, using the rounded end of the tapered mandrel or a ball on the end of a rod. Great players practice long tones, from ppp to fff each day.
I have found the best lubrication for burnishing to be Ivory bar soap, although there are other products that are preferred by others. As above, push the deepest part of the damage up, using only enough force that will not stretch the metal. It may be impossible to force a dent ball through these sections without stretching the metal. The position of the right hand in the bell is very important to a good horn tone and intonation. In these cases the owner of the instrument should be informed of the choices and price and time differential. For the same reason, always use dent hammers with the largest radius that is practical, which reduces sharpness of each hammer blow. While it is most often desirable to remove dents without removing the part from the instrument, keep in mind that it is often impossible to do the highest quality work without doing so. Many high brass students tongue and are often taught to articulate at the gum-line where it meets the back of the upper teeth. 0025" for the smaller sizes). The Roman Tuba, Lituus and Buccina, and other early brass instruments were made of bronze combined with animal horns, like the Scandinavian lur, and the Roman cornu. Horn players should also read the chapter on Tone Quality in The Art of French Horn Playing by Philip Farkas. Clicking on content like buttons will cause content on this page to change.
Every note we play demonstrates our sound, good or bad. Gauge your progress with your hands and fingertips. While breathing, it is crucial to keep the lips relaxed both inside and outside the mouthpiece in order to avoid tension while playing. Read the chapter on Playing Position and Use of the Right Hand in The Art of French Horn Playing by Philip Farkas and The Dale Clevenger French Horn Method. We cannot imagine or remember what we have not heard and memorized so we must frequently listen to fine players live and on recordings. I do realize that the state of the art, worldwide, is quite low and I continue to be surprised by the ability of the public to accept low quality work. Place your index finger on your lips vertically as if to "sshhh" someone and quickly inhale a huge breath using the vowel "OH" to create a loud, low, ripping sound. Three or four hands would be convenient sometimes, but there is always a way to get the work done well. They are basket cases if they try to play this way because they cannot produce a fine sound. Just as the ball needed no squeeze from the outside to release the air, the embouchure needs no push from the torso to release the air. The pressure should be enough on the lips so that the mouthpiece can be felt on the teeth. Practice mutes, designed for apartment and hotel use reduce decibels and increase resistance. A string or vibrating air column in the case of a brass instrument will tend to vibrate at certain frequencies based on the length of the string or tube. To learn phrasing, style and artistry, listen to concerts and recordings of great singers, string players and pianists, not just brass players.
I've installed magnets in the handles of my favorite dent hammers, opposite the heads, to easily locate the ball. This is a very important way of viewing the world these days, but keep in mind that every presentation has its weaknesses (including this page). A strong ultrasound cleaning may remove it, but may also make holes in tubes with extensive red rod. No matter the technique, it is very important to keep the brass securely between the steel tools with little or no airspace. The valve knuckles that attach the casings to the slide tubes begin dead soft as a result of having been silver soldered in place and so are easily stretched by unskilled dent removal. Keep the hand and wrist straight and so that the tone flows past the palm, not into it and is not muffled by excess cupping of the palm. They take a steel mandrel and plate copper onto that until it's thick enough to break away - and then you have a bell blank. As we play, we communicate the ideals of sound and style through the instrument in our hands.
Keep the ball moving back and forth through the area being planished and when smoothed to your satisfaction, move to the next larger ball. These dent balls should be a set that are barrel shaped in graduation of. Better control and finer work will be done with curved or hooked burnishing tools (freshly polished if on a good finish) with lubrication. The general goal in removing dents from brass instruments is to move the metal back, as close as possible, to where it was before the damage. There are two techniques that minimize the stretching: burnishing and planishing. Fixing copper and brass instruments is an art passed down in generations.
In many brass bands, there is a "principal" or "first" cornet or trumpet that plays the main melody while the others play harmonies. Using a Practice Mute can help improve projection and response. When working on an instrument on which the finish is in good condition, be sure to polish your burnishing tools immediately before doing the work (Tripoli works fine). Conductors rarely comment that a passage is too clean, clear and on time. This can be done by narrowing the aperture of the embouchure so that the air stream is concentrated into a smaller area causing it to move faster.
While you play, mentally hear a great artist playing the music on your stand. Even a microscopic amount of rust will cause a great amount of scratching of the surface.