How to Improve Your Brass Instrument Technique

Playing a brass instrument is a joyful experience, however, it may also bring some challenges. Whether you’re playing the trumpet, trombone, cornet, or the French horn, producing good sound with various color tones is crucial. To do this, brass players should pay attention to how they press the mouthpiece towards the lips, how they breathe and control bursts of air, and how they manage performing in challenging conditions. In this article, we will explore the most common obstacles the brass musicians face and offer effective solutions to overcome those issues.

Problem # 1: Excessive Pressure on Lips

This is one of the most common issues for brass musicians, especially students who make their first steps in mastering brass instruments. However, this problem can also be found among advanced players. The habit of pressing the mouthpiece too hard against the lips is rooted in the misconception about the ability to hit high notes or maintain a better tone when doing so.  In addition to increasing the risk of fatigue during extended playing sessions, this approach can damage the lips, leading to calluses, bloody wounds and serious injuries. That can not only look unaesthetic, but also cause significant discomfort for musicians, forcing them to postpone their practice.

The Solution:

Using optimizers can help build a proper playing technique and break the habit of pressing the mouthpiece too hard.  Optimizers help focus on using the right balance of air support and embouchure strength, rather than relying on force. Optimizers designed by KGUmusic are based on magnet system. This means the devices don’t have any springs or complex parts. The system activates each time the musician applies force, allowing the air column to escape, which interrupts the buzz immediately and signals about excessive pressure. Our optimizers offer adjustable settings allowing each player to adjust the activation rate.  You can use them with most standard trumpet mouthpieces, such as Bach, Yamaha, Schilke, or Getzen.

You can also train yourself to use less pressure by practicing soft, long tones at various dynamics during your daily practices. Start with your comfortable range and gradually decrease mouthpiece pressure trying to maintain a solid tone.

Problem # 2: Weak or Inconsistent Embouchure

Maintaining the right embouchure strength is what many players struggle with over playing sessions. Without proper embouchure, it’s impossible to produce consistent tones and rich range with perfect endurance. Embouchure is all about how musicians use their facial muscles during playing. The less trained your embouchure, the poorer the tone quality you will produce.  

The Solution:

To avoid poor, sloppy sound and fatigue, musicians can incorporate an embouchure trainer into their practice. These devices are designed to help players build strength and consistency by exercising the muscles necessary for a correct embouchure. When used regularly, an embouchure trainer increases endurance, improves tone control, and helps musicians play with fewer efforts.  Embouchure trainer improves lip function and effectively trains the muscles responsible for producing sounds.

The lip buzzing tool designed by KGUmusic help you enhance your brass instrument technique, by targeting better air flow and strengthening muscles used for producing sound. When you use this device, you can focus on the response of the lips to air flow that results in better endurance and sound quality.

Our embouchure training device is made of aluminum so it offers better resonance and can serve you longer than plastic models.  As it maintains the natural position on the trumpet, you can switch between a buzzing tool and playing during your warm-ups or practices very quickly.  The device is easy to install and once installed it stays in the correct position during your training session.

Musicians who tried T.E.T (short for Trumpet Embouchure Trainer) admit that it can be modified in several ways for your individual purposes: players can have it with the mouthpiece sitting over the lead pipe for a less strain in hands, or they can place it on an even level with the lead pipe, and alternatively, they can slide it under the lead pipe.

Problem # 3: Issues with Airflow and Breath Support

For many brass musicians, controlling the airflow and breath support for producing a strong, steady sound can be very challenging. Without the proper breath support it’s hard to produce strong tones with consistent volume. Some players also struggle with achieving proper air efficiency, resulting in using too much air for low notes and not enough air for high notes. A lack of breath pressure control makes it impossible to play high notes at extreme dynamics. Little air leads to weak sound while too much air distorts the pitch. 

The Solution:

To train your air flow and improve the breath support, it’s crucial to do breathing exercises, such as practicing diaphragmatic breathing, breathing deeply and releasing air through the instrument slowly, buzzing into the mouthpiece alone, holding notes as long as possible and other practices aimed at increasing lung capacity and managing air more effectively. We have recently shared tips, exercises and techniques for improved breathing in our article about the importance of breath control.

Problem # 4: Challenges During Outdoor Performances

Brass players may perform perfectly in indoor settings; however, outdoor performances may present difficulties. Wind can take away the sound, affecting the performance quality as musicians don’t hear themselves well. This issue is also common with poor stage monitoring.

The Solution:

Using air deflectors (also known as sound mirrors and acoustic shields) are designed to redirect the sound towards musicians’ airs and thus reduce the impact of wind or poor monitoring on their performance. Deflectors from KGUmusic offer easy installation on the bell, compact storage and minimal mess with assembling and disassembling. They proved to be effective solution for better performance and better control over produced sounds for ensembles, small and big jazz bands and solo performances. On our website, you buy these acrylic sound mirrors for trumpets and trombones.

Problem # 5: Poor Tone

Inconsistent and poor tone can be rather frustrating for brass musicians. Mostly players struggle with unfocused or airy sound. This issue can be caused by several factors, such as incorrect mouthpiece placement, weak embouchure, or lack of air support.

The Solution:

To refine your sound and enhance the overall playing experience it’s useful to experiment with mouthpiece boosters available in several options: heavy, medium and light.  When installed between the mouthpiece and the lead pipe, they stabilize the mouthpiece, improving its weight and balance, which results in better tone projection and less instability. Mouthpiece boosters also reduce unwanted vibrations, create better resonance and make sound more stable. Using boosters, you may experience less fatigue and a more centered connection to the instrument, whether you play in a small jazz band, orchestra or ensemble.

Conclusion

Brass musicians often face a variety of challenges that affect their performance and progress. Struggling with excessive pressure on the lips, weak embouchure, poor tone and maintaining proper breath control can be very frustrating and time-consuming. However, once you overcome these common problems with mentioned above solutions, you will definitely take your performance to the next level. Helpful tools such as optimizers, embouchure trainers, deflectors, mouthpiece boosters as well as breathing exercises can help you solve the issues quickly and effectively.