The Brass playing 'machine'

Brass instruments are not very intelligent pieces of equipment, yet we sometimes seem to blame them if something sounds bad for what are really our own faults. An instrument doesn't know when to play an A rather than a E, or to play too loud or too quiet for example. Unfortunately for us we, the players, have to do most of the work. And if you think of an instrument as a machine that makes music, then you also have to include the player as part of that machine.

As a brass player, there are several 'components' of what makes up our brass playing machine, and if we concentrate on improving each of those components then our overall ability will surely improve. Take a few minutes to think about what parts of your body are being used when you play, and write them down. Then you can think about each component separately and when you practice pick a different component each time and work on ways to improve that component. For example say you wanted to increase the dexterity of your right-hand fingers (your valve-playing fingers) then go through your favourite study books or even your favourite pieces and concentrate on any tricky fingering sections.

For tenor horn players I'd recommend the introduction to 'Journey into Freedom' which not only sounds impressive once learned, it's a great exercise for getting your fingers working properly! And for anyone who is into video games, I also recommend getting 'Guitar Hero' for a bit of fun, although it's a guitar-based game it really tests your finger dexterity!