Buzzing

Some trombonists discourage any kind of buzzing without the horn (Christian Lindberg) stating that there's no substitute for playing with the actual horn on your face. Others advocate using a BURP system, piece of hose or simply just the mouthpiece by itself (Joseph Alessi), which is strange, because the BURP doodad fits on your horn. Why not just play the instrument? The only other option is to just buzz your lips without anything, which is something I've been experimenting with for the last several months.

I needed to be able to last through 2 hour brass band rehearsals and concerts but didn't really have time to practice for hours to build up endurance. I read a book by the Tastee Bros. who strengthen their embouchure in order to play high by setting their chops and holding it for as long as they can whenever they can. This should improve endurance too, but why not buzz the lips as well? I began buzzing in the car and during the walk to and from my parking spot and other odd times, doing scales and tunes, buzzing along with songs on the radio and whatnot, and I found that while not as good as practicing with the horn, endurance and control improved a great deal.

I would suggest starting out by buzzing with the mouthpiece to see if you can get a pretty close approximation without. I'm not sure it matters if your embouchure is exactly the same with or without the mouthpiece as long as the same muscles are engaged. Then, as with any weight training, which this kind of is only on a smaller scale, practice until muscle failure if you can to get the most benefit. Rest a few minutes and then continue.

If you're like me, then maybe you'll build some muscle and endurance along with some control. This exercise seemed to also lessen the need for specific mouthpiece placement, allowing me to experiment more with the axis of the air stream.