I just came across the below YouTube video, coincidentally a couple of days after bringing this research up to Paul T. and not being able to remember the name of the author. Jay Bulen, now professor of trombone at Truman State University, filmed trombonists’ embouchures using a camera and strobe light set up inside the mouthpiece to study the lip motion while buzzing. This video shows the lips of Peter Ellefson, who teaches trombone at Indiana University.
One of Bulen’s test subjects, whose name I’ve forgotten, sent me the video footage of his embouchure while I was researching for my dissertation. Because you don’t get to see the embouchure formation from the outside, it’s hard to put these videos into context to determine a player’s embouchure type, but in the case of Ellefson’s embouchure it looks like the upper lip predominates, so his embouchure must be one of the downstream types.
Bulen’s research, titled Synchronized Optical and Acoustical Measurements of Trombone Embouchure, was published in the The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Here’s the abstract:
Outward striking‐ and inward striking‐reed models have been proposed for representing brass players’ lips [Sanoyesi etal., Acustica 62, 194–210 (1987)]. The models differ in the predicted relationship between mouthpiece pressure and lip displacement. To investigate this, Yoshikawa measured the phase relationship between mouthpiece pressure and lip strain as indicated by a strain gauge taped to the upper lip [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 97, 1929–1939 (1995)]. However, the relationship between strain and displacement have not been experimentally established, and Yoshikawa’s assumed correspondence ‘‘is still a hypothesis which needs refinement’’ (p. 1931). Optical measurements are required. Synchronized optical and acoustical measurements of a trombonist’s embouchure have been made under performance conditions, using an adaptation of techniques described in Sercarz etal. [Am. J. Otolaryngol. 13, 40–44 (1992)]. Using strobed videoscopy, individual video fields are coordinated with mouthpiece pressure by means of timing signals. The phase relationship between mouthpiece pressure and lip displacement will be reported for a variety of fundamental frequencies and intensities. In addition, estimates will be presented of the aperture area and the mouthpiece volume swept out by the lips.The goal of this informal workshop, a continuation of Session 1aSC, is to bring together several researchers working on various aspects of voice perception. Historically, the study of voice has been treated as a more‐or‐less autonomous area quite distinct from other research problems in speech and hearing sciences. In this workshop, some of the traditional problems of voice classification and perception will be discussed and reviewed and then these efforts will be related to recent findings in speech perception and spoken word recognition which have shown important dependencies between traditional voice parameters and perceptual analysis of the speech signal.
The following thoughts on using sound reinforcement for a big band don’t really go into the equipment itself, but rather just summarize my personal philosophy about how to effectively use sound reinforcement with a big band. I will be speaking generally here for both a new jazz ensemble director as well as offering my thoughts to those of you running the sound from behind the board.
I don’t recall exactly where I saw this, but there is a video of Wynton Marsalis discussing how the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra uses microphones when performing along with a symphony orchestra. In this video performance Marsalis mentions that each of the players in the SJMO get their own mic – not to make their sound louder (the symphony orchestra didn’t get miced in this way for the performance), but to bring out the nuances that each musician put into their playing that would otherwise get lost in the large room.
This brings up my first point – know the room. If you’re performing in a large concert hall and have the luxury of having enough mics and channels where you can mic every individual player, then by all means go ahead and give it a shot. This is fairly impractical, however, and not usually necessary for most situations. In fact, I believe that using mics to reinforce section sound to be less desirable than using an acoustic approach to ensemble playing.
I’m reminded of a couple of concerts I played a few years ago backing up Bobby Shew with the Asheville Jazz Orchestra. Bobby was brought in to be one of the featured performers at the Western Carolina University Trumpet Festival and the AJO was invited to be his backup band. The day after that performance we had asked Bobby to stick around for one more day and repeat that performance in Asheville. While the concert at WCU was in the concert hall and had sound reinforcement for us, the performance in Asheville took place in a historic church and the only microphone we used was used strictly for announcements, everything else was run acoustically. The band was responsible for handling the dynamics accordingly to ensure that soloists didn’t need to blast to be heard. Of the two performances, the concert without sound reinforcement ended up sounding better. This was partly due to us having just performed the music the night before and feeling more comfortable on it, but having to focus intensely on the dynamics and make everything work acoustically made for a more unified band sound throughout each chart. The AJO has done a number of other performances like this without sound reinforcement and as long as everyone pays attention and does their job it can work very well.
That said, contemporary big band arrangements are written with solo reinforcement in mind and so I prefer to have some mics for soloists. Here is the stage plot I send out for AJO shows that shows the microphone positions. The actual placement of the mics isn’t so important (for example, in most situations I would position the trombone solo mic between the 2nd and 1st player since most of the trombone solos happen in those parts), but the key point is that there is at least one solo mic in each section. You’ll probably want two for the saxophones (one for lead tenor, one for lead alto), three if your bari player or 2nd tenor is going to blow solos too. Mics will either need to be moved to different places in the section for different soloists or the players will need to switch positions for the chart.
It’s important for the sound technician to understand that these mics are for solo reinforcement only. Often times the sound guy will feel that unless he has something to work with at all times that he isn’t doing his job. Frequently the tech will set up the mics like this for us and then leave them on to pick up the section sound like this. This sounds awfully strange when you get a mix of the band blending acoustically (which we work so hard to be able to do) and then have the sound of 2nd trumpet blaring through the mains. The goal is for us to be able to mix our balance as we normally play (acoustically) and then give our soloists a little extra volume so that when background figures happen the soloist doesn’t have to blast over the band and the rest of the band doesn’t have to hold back too much. This doesn’t eliminate the band’s responsibility to play sensitively with dynamics and the sound reinforcement should work in conjunction with the band’s dynamics. Savy horn players can “work the mic” a bit to help get dynamics going while soloing, provided the monitors are giving a somewhat accurate depiction of what’s coming out of the mains.
As far as rhythm section sound reinforcement goes it depends a bit more on the acoustics of the room, but in general I like to have some mics on the piano for a couple of reasons. First, the pianist won’t need to pound to be heard over the band, particularly when soloing, and second it helps the soloists when we get a little piano in the monitors. Guitar and bass (or keyboard, if you’re not using an acoustic piano) tend to work best when you simply use the amp on stage and balance accordingly, but sometimes having a direct line to the board can help if the sound of the room makes those instruments disappear in the house. When playing a new room it’s helpful to start with just the amps on stage, balance them for the band to hear them, and then step out into the house to hear the mix out there and adjust as needed. Sometimes you can fix problems by moving the position of the amp, turning it slightly in one direction or raising it up, rather than feeding a line into the sound board.
As far as micing the drum set I’m against it in almost all situations. Most sound technicians I’ve worked with are much more experienced running sound for a rock band than for a jazz band and they expect a big band to be similar. Again, my goal is to make everything seem like it’s purely acoustically balanced, even when a little micing is used. Out of all the instruments in the big band, the drum set has the widest range of dynamic possibilities and my favorite drummers to play with are very accomplished at balancing their sound with the horns. There’s usually no need to mic anything on the drum set and putting drums into the mains sounds unstylistic and just makes the horns have to work harder to get their sound balanced up to the louder drum sound. There are exceptions, depending on the room. One venue the AJO plays in fairly regularly has a stage setup where our drummer will end up being off in a corner and the acoustics end up muffling the sound of the drums to the point where we do end up micing the drumset, but this situation is pretty rare. Again, when you get into a new venue take some time during the sound check to have someone step out into the house and listen to the mix.
The “mains” are the speakers that are directed out to the audience. Usually you want to have them positioned at the front of the stage on either side of the band and raised up on stands. Once the general volume of the mains are set the sound tech will usually only adjust the individual channels as needed.
How you use monitors will also depend on the acoustics of the stage you’re performing on and the equipment you have access to. Different players will want to have different mixes in the monitors as well, and so this gets pretty quickly into a matter of personal preference. My basic request for the AJO is to have 3 monitors in front. One monitor goes by the piano and is mainly to allow the pianist to hear himself or herself clearly enough when the band is playing forte as well as help the pianist hear the soloists clearly. Position this monitor mainly for the pianist, but this monitor should also help the rest of the rhythm section. The other two monitors go on either side of the horn section and are there for the band to hear piano more clearly and so that soloists will be able to hear themselves without needing to blast.
I always try to remember to thank the sound technician and ask the audience to give him or her a round of applause, but I tell the tech that if I forget that this is means that they did the best job possible. When the sound is running well for a big band the effect is that there is no sound reinforcement and you can forget completely that it’s even there. The sound technicians who understand this and who actually achieve this are rare, but when you get to work with them it’s a real pleasure. Perhaps one of the best things you can do if you find yourself in a situation where you’re involved with sound reinforcement for a big band is to become familiar with the sound of a big band on excellent recordings and to imitate the mix you hear. By far the most common complaint I have with sound technicians on my big band gigs are that they tend to mix the sound like a rock band and put too much drums and the rest of the rhythm section in the mix and the horns end up having to work harder than we need to in order to get the balance correct. As the horns play louder, the sound technician pumps up the rhythm section even more and a vicious cycle begins. Listen closely to the different levels you’ll hear in a big band recording compared to a rock band with horns and you’ll learn exactly the balance you want to achieve.
I know there are some people with slightly or even wildly differing philosophies about the sound reinforcement they want for a big band, but I think my thoughts here are fairly typical and certainly stylistic regarding the overall mix. If you’ve got something to add or want to object to something I’ve written here please feel free to leave your comments below.
Since I recently posted some YouTube videos on the acoustics of the trumpet I thought I’d also share another video by trumpet player and physics teacher Nick Drozdoff shattering a wine glass with his trumpet.
Pretty cool. Not too high a pitch that I couldn’t also try that on my trombone.
As an aside, I took trumpet lessons from Nick back in *mumble* when I was in high school. He’s a terrific teacher and trumpet player.
I’ve forgotten who sent this link to me, so I apologize for not giving credit. I’ve posted lots of videos and photos of brass players using transparent mouthpieces, here’s Brian Kane playing a transparent tuba.
He’s also playing a transparent mouthpiece, but the camera doesn’t focus on it to see his air stream direction. Probably downstream, but that’s always a probable guess simply because most players are statistically more likely to be downstream.
Kane’s comments on the diameter of the tubing and how it affects the upper register of that instrument is interesting. Building a brass instrument to play well in all registers is a complicated thing.
How does the Bernoulli’s Principle apply to brass playing? I’m not a physicist (almost completely self-taught in that area), so I must acknowledge that this is an area where I just may be way off base. So rather than try explain this in detail, I’m going to simply offer my understanding at this time and ask my readers to help me fill in the gaps and correct any misinformation. I’ve heard contradictory statements about this from sources I trust, so perhaps this is another area where even experts still disagree.
First, what is the Bernoulli Principle? The relevant part for brass playing is that a fluid (or air, in our case) moving with a change in pressure will also be accompanied by a change in speed. This physical law is often cited (including by me) as the reason why brass players change the level of tongue arch according to the range being played. The higher the register, the higher in the mouth the tongue will arch, resulting in the air moving through a smaller area inside the mouth. The general reasoning here is that this results in the air striking the lips with faster speed/higher pressure, making the faster vibrations for the high register easier.
I recently got an email from Darryl who is trying to help me come to grips with why this might be wrong.
The pressure that one can create by lung pressure is the maximum pressure that will exist just before the embouchure, regardless of how one “narrows” the path before the aperture. The total pressure of the air is, at best, exactly the same as the lung pressure. Regardless of the air’s velocity of flow as it approaches the aperture.
Does the size of your oral cavity change how far you pull out your tuning slide? Does having a smaller mouth size mean that you have to pull out further? I’ve explored this and similar topics here before (Part 1, Part 2). Since I’m largely self-taught with regards to physics and acoustics, I tend to defer to the experts with questions like this. Unfortunately, the experts don’t usually agree. Recently I came across a reprinted article by Thomas Moore from the March 2002 issue of the International Trumpet Guild Journal that notes the same thing.
A search of the scientific literature produced several conflicting theories on the importance of the size of the oral cavity in the production of musical sound, but very little physical evidence to support any claim. It turned out that this well-known fact was not so well known.
So Moore and his team set out to take a closer look at the oral cavity’s influence. They started out with a computer model, which indicated that the oral cavity would have no role in determining the pitch of a trumpet. But since computer models aren’t perfect they decided to use artificial lips with an artificial oral cavity designed to change size. They were able to effectively limit all other influences this way and simply measure how the size of the oral cavity would change the pitch. The result?
Our results can say nothing about the effects due to changes in air flow in the mouth and throat, which I believe to be very important. The size of the player’s oral cavity, however, is almost certainly a negligible factor in determining the pitch of any trumpet.
As interesting as it is to learn more about this, Moore offered a concluding thought about his research that has broader implications to the field of brass pedagogy and acoustical research as a whole.
. . . this situation demonstrates how even the experts can fall into the trap of accepting a believable theory as fact. It is common to find statements made by musicians or instrument manufacturers that have no basis in fact. Usually these statements are actually well informed opinions stated as fact. We should never be afraid to offer an opinion, but when discussing the science of our art I think that we should all be very careful. Maybe we should begin a lot more of our statements with the phrase “I believe…”
I believe that’s excellent advice and I think I’ll try to do that more myself.
At a recent concert I played, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon was the guest artist. One of the arrangements we performed with him was his chart on Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo. In this chart there was a 4 bar solo for unaccompanied trombone to play using multiphonics. Wycliffe used a few different multiphonic effects during the concert and is really good at doing them.
Multiphonics are special effects that trombonists (and other brass players) do by playing one pitch and singing another. Several jazz trombonists have been known for using multiphonics, such as Dick Griffin, Albert Mangelsdorff, Bill Watrous, and Phil Wilson. When the intervals are in tune and balanced correctly certain overtones will ring out and you can get three or more pitches sounding at once.
It reminded me of something I had worked up years ago to play the Mood Indigo as an unaccompanied solo piece. Here is a recording of me playing it.
If you’d like to try this out for yourself, I finally also got around to notating it. Click on this link to download a PDF copy of it: Mood Indigo
About a month ago I posted a bit of info and some of my interpretations of the effect that the size and shape of the oral cavity and vocal tract have on intonation while playing a brass instrument. Today I will finally get around to expanding a little bit on this post, again with the help of Vincent Freour, a PhD candidate in acoustics at McGill University and a trombonist. Vincent has given me permission to quote his email to me, which I will do at length since he’s a much better authority in physics than me.
First, Vincent confirmed that I at least had one aspect of my discussion correct. When we play a brass instrument our lips are directly responding to the “acoustic wave” of the vibrating column of air inside the instrument. When we play a pedal B flat on the trombone, for example, the vibrations travel inside the instrument towards the bell, where some of the energy is reflected back until it reaches the lips. This helps to support the vibrating lips and makes the pitch slot. By increasing the muscular contraction of the lips we form “node points” and the vibrating column of air will split into two, three, or more sections. This is why brass instruments play along the, familiar to brass performers, harmonic series. For a little more info about this, check out this article here.
Where I started to go wrong is in eliminating the influence the oral cavity and vocal tract can have at the same time. I wrote earlier, “Traditional brass pedagogy emphasizes playing with as open a throat as possible, which greatly lowers the resonance of the oral cavity as much more of the sound gets absorbed by the porous lungs.”
I’ll quote Vincent, who explains it better than I can.
I recently saw a reference to Frank Campos’ book, Trumpet Technique. In it, Campos tells of a story by Reynold Schilke.
. . . Arnold Jacobs and a tubist from Japan were trying out a new tuba in front of an electronic tuner. After Jacobs played, the tubist from Japan found he had to pull the tuning slide considerably farther out than Jacobs to play in tune. Schilke was curious about why the same length instrument would not play in tune for both men. After some investigation, he determined that Jacob’s oral cavity was much larger than that of the Japanese tubist, and that the vibrating air column created by each player originated within the oral cavity at the back of the throat, rather than at the mouthpiece. In this case, the air column was longer for Jacobs due to his larger oral cavity and shorter for the Japanese tubist, and this required a change in the length of the instrument to match the tuner.
– Campos, page 85
I located an article here, supposedly handed out by Schilke at brass clinics. In it he writes,
A common analogy that even I often use is to compare the bow of a string instrument to the air on the brass. Just as the bow moves across the string to create vibration, the air must move past the lips on a brass instrument. Usually I hear this comparison to make a point about breathing, such as there is no sound without the air.
It’s interesting to view the vibrating bowed string and compare it with the vibrations of the lips. Here’s a video showing the vibrating string is slow motion.
