Does the ANGLE of your Airstream Matter on the Horn?

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[@PaulTarussov]

I can answer this one! The airstream never goes directly into the mouthpiece shank (you wouldn't get any sound). The more you play into the upper register, the closer the airstream hits to the rim of the mouthpiece (as Mars says here, more "down" as you ascend in the upper register), and the lower you play, the closer it moves to "straight" into the shank of the mouthpiece. (For an upstream player, it's reversed, which is why I say "closer to the rim of the mouthpiece" instead of "further down" - for such a player, it's more and more up.) This is pretty key for range development. However, we don't really "feel" this when playing. Most brass players (myself included) describe the sensation of playing with control and ease as "blowing straight down the mouthpiece". It's important not to confuse sensations with what is really happening (as with so many things in brass playing, our biosensory feedback isn't reliably what you'd expect it to be). (Sidenotes: First, buzzing with a rim/visualizer is not always a reliable test of what the airstream does - without the cup of the mouthpiece, it's not always the same as when playing the horn. Second, horn angle/direction does not dictate airstream direction - you can lower the horn and be blowing "up" and vice-versa. Mars, if you look at my octave slurs video, you'll see my adjustment is the opposite - I changed this to get more power in the upper register.) Nice to see people chatting about this! Cheers to you both.

[@raphaelhudson]

Can you explain what you mean about if the air went down the shank we wouldn't get sound ? Would you need an underbite to have an upstream flow? So is it just jaw position? I feel like there is a big change in angle depending on whether I totally seal the tongue to the teeth almost to the rim, or play beyond the teeth as per tge or allow my tongue to sit lower and control air speed more at the molars. If I control at molars it seems like it goes down bounces under the lower teeth and then goes up, tongue guided with tongue on lower lip also goes up, while tongue pinned to the teeth goes down. But honestly I don't know if my feeling is accurate

[@PaulTarussov]

@@raphaelhudson those are fairly involved questions! Probably best not to be sorting it out in comments here. Feel free to send me a note elsewhere if you wish.

[@marsgelfo]

wow @paultarussov5961 this is awesome!!

[@snrnsjd]

Good comment Paul! 👏🏻 In tuba players you can find some players that use both upstream and downstream playing, basically they swich, depending on the register. There is a video on yt about this.

[@PaulTarussov]

@@snrnsjd this is true! It's not a good idea, but some people do it. (In the extreme low register, you can get away with all kinds of stuff, of course, but it's still going to chip away at consistency of technique.)

[@BrassBro-Science-ys7sg]

As long as the air flows inro the cup on each pulse "direction" is irrelevant. Attempting to manipulate the "direction" changes the lip posture and therefore the frequency of pulsation.

[@marsgelfo]

i think we're saying the same thing, but you're clarifying that the angle ("direction") is mechnically changing how the lips vibrate, which supports higher or lower frequencies, yes? what i'm saying is that for most players, leadpipe angle changes throughout the range when playing at optimal efficiency.

[@BrassBro-Science-ys7sg]

@@marsgelfo yes. The state of the lips controls the frequency of the pulsation that matches the resonance of the particular insrument partial. Of course pitch also has nothing directly to do with air pressure or tonge position either. Not in a causative sense that is.

[@snrnsjd]

The air stream never goes straight into the shank. If the upper lip is more inside the mouthpiece the the air goes down. If the low lip is more in the mouthpiece ( like trumpeters ) then air hits up.