During your next rehearsal, while working on a chorale, ballad or lyrical passage in a piece, ask your brass players to buzz their parts on their mouthpieces while the rest of the band performs normally.  I actually prefer having only one section at a time buzz rather than all the brass at once – to provide more reference pitches as well as more of a cushion of ensemble sound for those buzzing – but any buzzing is remarkably beneficial.  Is it a magic cure for all that ails our brass players?  No.  But it’s about as close to one as I’ve ever found!

Peter Loel Boonshaft, Director of Education
KHS America

About the Author

Dr. Boonshaft is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling books Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise. Dr. Boonshaft is currently on the faculty of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where he is Professor of Music and Director of Bands. He has also been named Director of Education for KHS America. He was honored by the National Association for Music Education and Music For All as the first recipient of the “George M. Parks Award for Leadership in Music Education.”

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