Earlier this morning I took to Facebook Live to talk through my concepts for healthy brass tone production and skill development. Please give it a watch and feel free to ask any questions or give feedback. I hope to refine this over time and produce some companion videos aimed at beginner and intermediate brass education.
“Ear on the Prize”: Employing External Attentional Focus in Learning Brass Instruments
Part 2: EMBOUCHURE
Recently, I recapped the excellent text of studies related to attentional focus and its affect on motor skill learning by Gabriele Wulf. To review: where we put our attention when learning a new skill is important in the development of efficient and accurate movements and will contribute to longer-lasting results and quicker progress. Even at the very beginning level of a skill, an external focus will allow our bodies’ natural learning processes to take over and solidify our abilities.
In several installments, I’d like to tackle a few of those tricky concepts associated with learning the particular motor skills of brass playing, and offer some practical strategies for natural, effective learning. I’ll address common methods, fads, and accepted techniques and then offer ‘external’ focus solutions for each.
Last week we dove into AIR and concepts that can help us use it efficiently and effectively. Now let’s turn to EMBOUCHURE, another loaded topic in brass performance and instruction.
Is the embouchure SET or is it BLOWN?
When we’re learning how to make sound on a brass instrument, our teachers might tell us specific ways to set up our face and air column in order to produce sound. There are as many different ways to describe this process as there are teachers that teach it. The most common approach is to have a new student say the syllable “m”- and set their mouth in that position. They may also be told to tighten the corners of their mouth as though they were sucking on something sour. Those readers who’ve been following along might already know the reasons this initial approach doesn’t actually help develop long-lasting and efficient skills. It’s internally focused: we’re being told to offer functional commands to our muscles in order to enact a specific result, instead of asking for the specific result and letting our muscles develop natural processes for achieving that effect.
Additionally, we might be asked to create a buzzing sound as if we were blowing a raspberry at someone, and in order to that we’ll have to tighten our lips and really force air through them. The sound we get is not pretty, and it’s not how embouchures form.
The truth is, our embouchure is formed only through the production of an air column through our open lips. The scientific principle known as the Bernoulli effect will bring our lips together, allowing for vibration to occur with the air.
If a small volume of fluid is flowing horizontally from a region of high pressure to a region of low pressure, then there is more pressure behind than in front. This gives a net force on the volume, accelerating it along the streamline. (Wikipedia)
As we move air down a tube, our faster moving air will meet still air inside the tube, in what is called the balance point. At the balance point, there is a moment of resistance– the fast air will move everything forward and create resonance, and the backward effect will be low pressure on our lips, pulling them together to create our embouchure. (The best information out there on this subject comes from Jan Kagarice, and is outlined on pages 196-207 in Karen Marston’s excellent dissertation here: Finding The Balance: Jan Kagarice, a Case Study of a Master Trombone Teacher)
And if we’re using an external focus such as a balance point or direction for our air column, we’re utilizing the age-old natural law, “form follows function.” What we want will make the how happen. By focusing on how we do something, we’re going backward. We’re undoing the process. By focusing on the effect we want, we’re allowing our natural learning process the opportunity to try out what works, thereby developing the best technique for the command.
Now, once we have all that set up, and are moving air and allowing for relaxed, natural embouchure vibration, how do we get it to make the sound we want?
Right now, go ahead and read that above sentence out loud. Did you think about how those sounds came out of your vocal chords? Did you shape your mouth intentionally or focus on your tongue’s ability to articulate the syllables?
Nah. You didn’t do that. You just read it. You visualized the words and the words came out. And you didn’t learn to speak as a child by being instructed on the proper technique of talking. You started by making sounds and imitating your family, and gradually you developed better and better control of your functional language capacity.
And if it’s that natural to learn to speak, why shouldn’t we apply that tactic to brass playing?
Because there is a sensation of blowing against something within the horn, activating the balance point results in sensory feedback for the player. As the amount of resistance changes, i.e. as the player alters pitch, there are corresponding shifts within the feel of the airstream itself. By focusing on this phenomenon, the player can become sensitized to the changing air pressures which control pitch. In order to make this information useful, it must then be systematically linked with musical statements so that the body can map sensory and aural information and over time learn to navigate the instrument efficiently in all registers. The player hears the target pitch and blows it into place on the instrument, eventually merging these two capacities into a feel, or sensory memory. Once this is absorbed by the player s/he no longer has to directly focus on finding the balance point. The process becomes automated. (Marston 204)
Internal focus:
“Tighten the corners of your lips and blow really hard into the instrument”
This information really does exist in the world! See the photo below, and also as much of this video as you can stand:
External focus:
“Horn comes up, air moves out”
Internal focus:
“To play a low Bb, drop your jaw as if saying “oh” and blow really slow, warm air into the horn”
External focus:
“Sing this Bb. Think about how the horn would sound playing that. Let your air move down the bell and think about the sound of Bb.”
Internal focus:
Everything in this picture.
External focus:
Providing an example of a good brass instrument sound and, without giving too much instruction, helping your student reproduce their version of that sound.
Internal focus:
Whatever these are.
[I have a long rant coming about maladjusted concept of putting ‘strength’ development first when it comes to playing.]
External focus:
[Hello! I am a broken record. Air moves out and form follows function.]
A companion to this post, a video breaking down internal and external approaches to embouchure formation, is on its way shortly. Now go move some air!
“Ear on the Prize”: Employing External Attentional Focus in Learning Brass Instruments
Part 1: AIR
Last week, I recapped the excellent text of studies related to attentional focus and its affect on motor skill learning by Gabriele Wulf. To review: where we put our attention when learning a new skill is important in the development of efficient and accurate movements and will contribute to longer-lasting results and quicker progress. Even at the very beginning level of a skill, an external focus will allow our bodies’ natural learning processes to take over and solidify our abilities.
In several installments, I’d like to tackle a few of those tricky concepts associated with learning the particular motor skills of brass playing, and offer some practical strategies for natural, effective learning. I’ll address common methods, fads, and accepted techniques and then offer ‘external’ focus solutions for each.
Let’s start with the thing that makes our brass engine go, shall we?
Is it AIR IN or AIR OUT?
Breath. It’s what makes wind instruments go (well, all instruments, but ya know). Brass players are obsessed with it, whole fads have sprung up around helping people increase efficiency and use, and all sorts of gadgets exist that supposedly measure our lung capacity and output. The first thing we’re usually told as a baby brass player? “Take a deep breath…”
Brands like The Breathing Gym sell many on the concept that breathing in is more important than breathing out; that we should be consciously thinking about the movement of our lungs, abdomen, diaphragm, etc. Breathing exercises might have us hold air in our lung in hopes of increasing our lung capacity, but there’s no evidence that our lungs can get any larger through use (They’re not muscles, after all). Our bodies can learn to get oxygen to the system more efficiently (source), but that has more to do with blood flow that the heart can take to our muscles and less to do with how well we sound on an instrument.
Telling yourself or a student how to take a breath IN is a reversal of the natural process of wind playing. It can even induce in our subconscious a subtle fear response- what’s the first thing you do when you are startled?- which makes the body rigid and tense, ready for battle or flight. I prefer to think of breathing in as a natural reaction to what I want to happen- i.e. sound coming out my bell. If I am focused on where my air needs to go, my body will take a relaxed, natural breath- just right to make the result happen.
This lines up with what Wulf calls “optimal attentional focus” (Wulf 149) and what I call “brain magic”. When we learn a complex skill, the components of the skill line up in a queue of actions, and if we want to be most effective, we will let the highest-level affect lead our focus. All other components will tick off without need for conscious intervention. Humans already know how to breathe in and out. We’ve been doing it since day one. What’s different about playing a brass instrument is where we want our external flow of air to go- and that’s the level that should get our attention.
Internal Focus:
“Breathe into your diaphragm/stomach/bottom quadrant of your lungs”
[Personal pet peeve alert! You have no control over your diaphragm (it’s an involuntary muscle, just comes along for the ride when we take in air)/there are no lungs in your stomach/air is a gas and will go wherever it wants given an empty space.]
External Focus:
“Let your air move down the tube and hear it leave the bell”
“Air wants to move. Let it go!”
Internal Focus:
“Take a big, rib-snapping breath to make sure you can play this entire phrase in one breath (or at a high volume)”
[ouch]
Alternately, I have heard this described as: “Inhale with the syllable ‘WOH'”, implying that this will get more air into your lungs than a normal inhalation. Probably true. But unnecessary.
External Focus:
“Where do you want the phrase to go? Where do you want the sound to go?”
[I’ve also advocated for “take a breath wherever you need, and as long as you hear the phrase moving on it will communicate through to the audience and they won’t register your breath.”]
An observation I’ve made is that when my attention is fully outward, on the task of communicating the music, my intakes are no bigger or deeper than a normal conversational breath.
Internal Focus:
Both of these items claim to increase lung use and capacity, but really make the user focus on how much air they intake rather than what they do with it. I could argue a case for finding external foci for these implements, but…why not spend less of your money on something simpler and more effective?
External Focus:
Hold a straw in just in front of your airstream (not in your mouth), and move air out the end of it, hearing the resonance of the straw react. This is a great tool for developing range and will make a return cameo in later installments!
“Play” the phrase you are working on on your pinwheel, keeping it spinning as long as you hear the notes connecting. You can really feel the resistance of the pinwheel, which imitates the resistance of the balance point in your instrument.
I mean… it’s what you’re learning to use, right? What better tool than that? What do you want it to sound like? Think about the result you want, and activate that brain magic to help you get there.
Please feel free to share your strategies for healthy air flow in the comments, or ask questions or clarifications!
Stay tuned for the next installment of “Ear on the Prize”: Embouchure. Another laden word in the brass community, I will try to break down the myths and misconceptions of creating a healthy brass embouchure and give some of my tactics for doing it efficiently and easily.
The Science is Real: Attentional Focus and Motor Skill Learning
My students are well aware that I am not a teacher of ‘technique’ per say; I won’t tell you how to set up your embouchure or what you should do with your slide. You won’t hear me tell you how to tongue or make you do fancy high range exercises. Instead, I’ll direct your attention to the flow of your air through the horn, or the shape of the phrase and where the notes want to go. I’ll make you sing a note or spin a song on a pinwheel. You’ll have to know the words (or make up your own) to a particular tune.
No technique was ever arrived at without a musical reason for doing so. -Jan Kagarice
I’m proud to say that 100% of my students make a beautiful tone on their instrument, and can answer the question, ‘what is the phrase here?’. They can all play some level of tune by ear and are learning how to improvise and compose. A student last week, who has been with me since the spring, marveled at how easy a fast passage was. “I’ve never been able to play fast,” she said. “But I’m playing fast here and I didn’t even think about it.” (Then we both got a little teary and grinned at each other for a minute)
This probably isn’t news to many teachers- putting a student’s attention on an effect or ‘external focus’ is almost always more productive and longer-lasting than directing the focus inward, to what the movement is. The good news out of science is that we have concrete evidence to prove this.
Attention and Motor Skill Learning, Gabriele Wulf
Here’s a book I want to recommend to all my teaching colleagues, no matter what your field of education. While it’s based on studies and scientific analysis, it’s easy to read and offers practical suggestions on the implementation of her findings. I’ve highlighted the heck out of my copy. At its most basic, the evidence shows that directing learners (at all levels) to the effect of their movement (external focus), rather than the movement itself (internal focus), has both more immediate and long-term results on the efficiency and accuracy of the skill.
Here are some of the points that hit home for me:
- Learning can be divided into 3 stages: Cognitive/Verbal, Associative, and Autonomous. It’s long been assumed that we have to, at early stages in our learning process, direct attention to our movements and technical execution. As we increase in ability, our movements have more autonomy and we can focus on the results.
Internal Focus in music learning: Beginner brass players are often told to put their “lips together as though they were saying the letter ‘m'” and to “blow fast air to push the lips apart”. They are also often told to shift their instrument or lip position, or adjust their jaw or facial muscles in order to achieve different ranges. As skill increases, theoretically these instructions can be lessened, but even at my advanced level I have had teachers give me advice on how to manipulate my body to achieve a certain result.
External Focus in music learning: Lip-reed instruments like brass and some woodwinds operate on columns of air. Beginner students in my studio (as well as all other levels) are instructed to leave their lips open and flexible, place the instrument on their mouth where it feels comfortable, and move air through the tube and out past the bell. Then, they are given a pitch to imitate (and asked to sing it first), and are told to hear the instrument making that sound, and allow their lips to vibrate with the air column. It make take some trial and error, but most students get it within a few minutes with minimal effort.
- Learning by external focus enhances not only immediate skills, but also holds up in retention tests and under performance conditions. Anxiety can cause performers to shift to more internal foci, thus causing less fluent actions. And the body cannot learn efficiently under pressure- it must have the ability to focus on one external point related to the skill in order to gain the effects of the function.
Internal Focus in music learning: We spend our precious energy practicing out of technical etude books, looking for the newest ‘hot tip’ on increasing our range, buying expensive toys that are supposed to make things more ‘natural’, and in general obsessing over HOW we do what we do, and not WHY we do it. We think about having enough air, or if we’re moving our slide fast enough, and we practice those things. Often in performance, we’ll get anxiety about the very things we’ve been drilling ourselves on, and choke in the moment.
External Focus in music learning: By adopting external foci, we are in effect ‘practicing performance’. We’re looking for the results of our actions, and utilizing trial and error to let the body adapt its own mechanisms for implementation. Instead of trying to ‘take a big breath’, we might instead sing through a phrase and see where it wants to go, and make our air stretch to that point. Instead of ‘moving the slide faster’, we might train ourselves to react to what the tempo requires us to do through incremental practice (setting a metronome at a slow speed, hearing the phrase done cleanly on a piano or voice, and then imitating. Once efficient, raise tempo a small degree of beats, rinse, repeat). In practicing performance, we are always ready to perform and we feel relaxed and comfortable in our ability to do so.
- Feedback is only effective if it induces an external focus of attention. Feedback that highlights particular movements can be detrimental to the learning process, producing what Wulf names “maladaptive short-term corrections”, i.e. focusing on one part of the movement skill obsessively, and blocking out all other details. However, externally-focused feedback, and observational practice, can offer great insight into how to perform a skill effectively.
- The distance of the external focus can have an effect on the learning outcome. For beginners, it may still be close to the body (for a golf club swing, thinking about the movement of the club) that then increases to a more distant goal (where does the ball need to go) as the skill develops, but the focus is still outside of specifying bodily movements.
- External focus cues result in more efficient and technically accurate movements. A study using electrode analysis of the muscle movements on participants doing bicep curls had two groups of learners: those thinking about the movement of their arm (internal) and those moving the bar in a certain way (external). The analysis showed that the external group used far less muscle movement to execute the skill, wasting less energy and learning the technique more quickly and with less effort.
Internal Focus in music learning: “Tighten your corners for that high note and blow faster air”- over-utilizing muscles that already have to take on a certain amount of pressure to play a higher note, adding stress and tightness and creating disappointing results.
External Focus in music learning: “Sing the note. ‘Play’ the note on a straw or pinwheel. Focus on the sound and resonance of the bell as you go higher.” Often its easiest to help students with range by assigning them a simple tune they know that can be transposed into different ranges to help them hear higher or lower notes. Their body will adapt the correct amount of pressure and lip aperture automatically, and learn intrinsically how to maneuver the speed of their air.
- Learning by external focus is a relatively general phenomenon. Different types of learners (kinetic, visual, etc) show no variation in how effective external attention is on gaining motor skill confidence. People who suffer stroke, speech impediments, Parkinson’s Disease, and other neurological conditions have shown tremendous improvement utilizing external attentional focus. Children can benefit especially, as picking up a skill is no longer a matter of boring task-specific instructions, but instead can unlock abilities through their natural learning process.
Conceive, don’t perceive. -Arnold Jacobs
Even without the scientific evidence to back it up, I would still teach this method. Learning this way of thinking changed my entire approach to the trombone, and I credit the shift with why I am still performing and teaching today. I see the results every day in my students, and I am always adapting to their current needs while keeping their ‘ear on the prize’. And I believe it’s the most egalitarian way we can educate- not stifling learning processes with too much noise and information, not creating barriers for learners who might not be engaged by or capable of long hours of technical work, not holding any biases as to ‘who can do what’ (“you have big lips! you can be a tuba player” or “you’ve got a big set of lungs for a little lady”)- but instead knowing that every individual is capable of playing an instrument, if only we allow them to learn naturally and freely.
Conceptual Desire Paths and the Modern Musician
Many of my students know that I’m big fan of podcasts, and one of my absolute favorites is the design-focused program 99% Invisible. The shows are usually about 25-30 minutes long and cover all number of topics from architecture and city planning to the everyday objects you use and broad societal concepts that have been designed into our lives. It’s a brilliant show and it’s opened my eyes to so many new ideas and patterns in our world.
One of the latest episodes, a sort of compilation story they do every now and again with shorter ideas that can’t make up a full episode, introduced me to the concept of desire paths.
A desire path (formally referred to as desire line in transportation planning, also known as a game trail, social trail, herd path, cow path, goat track, pig trail or bootleg trail) can be a path created as a consequence of erosion caused by human or animal foot-fall or traffic. The path usually represents the shortest or most easily navigated route between an origin and destination. – Wikipedia
Of course we see (and use!) these everywhere, but I had no idea they had a name. The concept sat with me a few days, percolated, occasionally surfaced in real life (I cut across grass yesterday while gleefully bubbling a little ‘desire path!’ tune), and then suddenly came crystal clear as the description I’ve needed all along for how I’ve built my career and life.
Our lives are desire paths. We shape our careers, relationships, lifestyles, homes by shortcuts (and longest) to the most efficient or desirable ways of being ourselves.
Musicians trying to make a name these days are learning this the natural way- understanding how to navigate a changing field and career market and make an impression in the best manner possible. We have an industry structure: 1. Practice hard 2. Win a gig 3. Success, but we’re realizing more and more that that serves a distinct and small part of our musical population, and the opportunities to follow this path are not available to everyone. The rest of us can either quit in frustration, stymied by a metaphorical sidewalk that doesn’t go the way we want it to, or walk around it, making our own path.
My desire paths as a musician include:
-Seeking out effective resources to help me build a teaching studio and to teach effectively and inspirationally; developing my teaching philosophy (stay tuned to see that in writing, finally!); expanding my outreach and values geographically to the people who are ready to receive it
-Building a list of skilled and competent musicians (with a strong focus on women and/or performers of color) from which to build my community; finding my audience and incorporating it into that community
-Choosing the gigs I want- and developing the skills for them- carefully; being consistent with the image I want to portray and the healthy career/life balance I strive for: changing the ways in which the embedded musical concepts of ‘industry standard’, ‘authenticity’, and ‘virtuosity’ affect my mindset and my performance and taking only what is valuable
What are the ways you’ve incorporated metaphorical desire paths in your career and life? What ways can you see yourself trying new directions in the future? How can you help someone else navigate their own desire path? Let’s redesign this business, one dirt track at a time.
Summer is upon us!
Students, friends, family, and fans,
Summer is in the air and it’s time for an updated lesson schedule as well as info on upcoming gigs and performances!
If you are a student or a potential student, make sure to check out my Summer Schedule for lesson availabilities.
I also will keep my Performance Calendar updated as the summer goes on. Upcoming gigs include a stint on bass trombone with the Swing Sisterhood and Brass Lassie’s first summer show at the Normandale Lake Bandshell in Bloomington.
Brass Lassie will be very busy this summer, performing at the State Fair, the MN Irish Fair, and the Vintage Band Festival in Northfield! I hope you can make a performance.
All the News from this End
Hey all,
Here’s a little round-up (!) of all the things I’m working on these days so you don’t think I’ve disappeared into school and will never come out.
- Life at the U: I’m settling into being a doctoral student. My routine of practice, lessons, performances, and classes is pretty exhausting, but I’m managing to keep a good handle on everything. My first of five doctoral recitals will be Dec 12 at 3:35 in Ultan Recital Hall.
- Life as a teacher: My students give me so much life. This year they’re working smarter than ever, and making enormous strides in their sound and musicality. Highlights: Julia plays in GTCYS’s Camerata Orchestra, Henry O and Owen are both in their second year with Minnesota Junior Winds, and Alex B started music studies at Century College (and got me the job teaching him through their program!).
- Life as a performer: My regular activities in groups have been pretty quiet lately, and I hope that will change soon. The Satellites are waiting for our stellar singer Rhianon to recover quickly from some minor medical procedures and Mill City Five is just looking for the next gig. The big news is that Brass Lassie is back and will be playing a feature concert at Celtic Junction on November 5!
- Life as a non-musician: I snuck out last weekend and got in a little camping. I’m enjoying this bright fall days and hope for many more weeks of bike riding weather. I’ll be visiting Chicago over the Oct 21st weekend to see my good friend Matt perform with his trio at the Constellation Club and can’t wait for the trip!
That’s life as I know it right now. Hope to see you at Brass Lassie Nov 5th!
Weekly Round-up 8/29/16
Performances:
Satellites:
Sept 24 9p-1a Glueks Downtown
Mill City Five:
Sep 23 8-11p Bistro La Roux
Rehearsals: Free of rehearsals- It’s UMn Welcome Week!
Practicing: Annie Laurie, Red Dragonfly, Bitsch No 1, Telemann Canonical Sonata No 1, Rochut No 13. AND UMN Ensemble audition repertoire. *exhausted emoji*
Listening: Brahms 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGeY14HEleY
(LENNNYYYY)
Bonus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdMwTLbboBQ
Teaching: Going to be a light week of teaching. Hoping to get everyone feeling strong for school, which starts this week.
Studying: UMN entrance exams. On repeat. TOMORROW.
Relaxing: WTF’s (my women’s comic book club) 2 YEAR anniversary picnic, waking up and immediately taking a nap, bike rides, Eloise Butler.
Husting Studio Scholarship Fund 2016: FUNDED
Campaign wrap-up time!
(I’m leaving donations open for a little while longer in hopes that last $75 might sneak in, but this is the last you’ll hear from me until students start lessons)
Here are some 2016 Statistics I found interesting:
Campaign length: 1 month
# of Donors: 63
Repeat donors from 2015: 26
Members of my studio who donated: 6
Donation range: $5-$360
# of Countries represented: 4
Farthest away Donors: Melbourne, Australia (x2!)
Distance Donor shout-outs: Gothenburg, Sweden & Bangalore, India
Mood upon completing year 2: Grateful, excited, overwhelmed, amazed, loved, and ready to get to work.
Thank you all of you for making Year 2 a runaway success. Last year when I began the campaign, it was just a hunch. This year, I took a big risk doubling the donation ask, and worried it’d be too much. But I underestimated how much y’all value music education. Thank you, eternally, thank you.
Love and Low Brass,
Lauren
Weekly Round-up 8/22/16
Performances:
Satellites:
Aug 26 10p-1230a Icehouse
Sept 24 9p-1a Glueks Downtown
Mill City Five:
Aug 26 7-830p Minnehaha Falls Pavilion
Sep 23 8-11p Bistro La Roux
Rehearsals: Satellites on Thursday to learn three new songs for our sets at Icehouse Friday!
Practicing: Annie Laurie, Red Dragonfly, Bitsch No 1, Telemann Canonical Sonata No 1, Rochut No 13. AND UMN Ensemble audition repertoire. *exhausted emoji*
Listening: Lots and lots of Clara Schumann.
Teaching: Practicing habits for all modalities and learning styles.
Studying: UMN entrance exams. On repeat. This is next week. I won’t talk about it any more after that, I promise.
Relaxing: Kayaking, biking, hanging with friends, just trying to get all the summer in I can in the next two weeks.
Lauren Husting, trombone 