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Re: First of all, you don't just blow air inside the instrument: you buzz your lips, as if you were making a sort of fart sound without using your tongue. The

by tabtab 8y ago

Re: First of all, you don't just blow air inside the instrument: you buzz your lips, as if you were making a sort of fart sound without using your tongue. The dirty secret of brass instruments. I wonder if they could make a direct air-powered vibrator so that one doesn't have to torture their lips. It may also make life easier for amateurs. I imagine it may result in loss of control for subtle effects, but some amateurs will accept that.

kop316 8y ago
Assuming you play a brass instrument, I suggest to try this experiment: Blow air through your lips and purse then together, but do NOT buzz. Basically the "buzzing" without the buzz. When you do that, continue to and press your lips against the mouthpiece. You will make a note! This was something my instructor showed me because use way too much of my lips when I play (a very common mistake with amateurs), and a lot of the power you use should be through your diaphragm (large versus small muscles).
camtarn 8y ago
You'd end up with more or less a reed instrument. It's actually possible to get some notes out of a brass instrument using a woodwind reed, albeit that it's not easy and doesn't seem to be able to produce more than a very limited range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFDNY9_W0ws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFDNY9_W0ws A simpler example would be the type of vuvuzela which has a double reed embedded in the tube, so that just blowing into it causes a loud honk.
primitur 8y ago
> I wonder if they could make a direct air-powered vibrator so that one doesn't have to torture their lips. This fact is, imho, a motivating principle behind the genesis of various synthesizer designs and concepts. We synthesists wish we could do this stuff with our mouths, but the LFO's and the VCO's and the various and sundry other oscillating things represented in the electronic musical instrument world, can't blow a farts worth in comparison to a good trumpeter...

by tabtab 8y ago

kop316 8y ago

Assuming you play a brass instrument, I suggest to try this experiment: Blow air through your lips and purse then together, but do NOT buzz. Basically the "buzzing" without the buzz. When you do that, continue to and press your lips against the mouthpiece. You will make a note! This was something my instructor showed me because use way too much of my lips when I play (a very common mistake with amateurs), and a lot of the power you use should be through your diaphragm (large versus small muscles).

camtarn 8y ago

You'd end up with more or less a reed instrument. It's actually possible to get some notes out of a brass instrument using a woodwind reed, albeit that it's not easy and doesn't seem to be able to produce more than a very limited range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFDNY9_W0ws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFDNY9_W0ws A simpler example would be the type of vuvuzela which has a double reed embedded in the tube, so that just blowing into it causes a loud honk.

primitur 8y ago

> I wonder if they could make a direct air-powered vibrator so that one doesn't have to torture their lips. This fact is, imho, a motivating principle behind the genesis of various synthesizer designs and concepts. We synthesists wish we could do this stuff with our mouths, but the LFO's and the VCO's and the various and sundry other oscillating things represented in the electronic musical instrument world, can't blow a farts worth in comparison to a good trumpeter...