Differences in instrumental practice time and strategies among Chinese music majors

The purpose of this study was to explore differences in time spent practicing and the practice strategies used by Chinese music majors according to university location, instrument played, and participant gender. A total of 154 participants who played string, woodwind, brass, and keyboard instruments, including 103 participants attending Chinese universities and 51 Chinese participants pursuing degrees abroad (in the United States, Russia, and Great Britain) completed a Likert-type scale questionnaire. Findings indicated that students studying abroad spent more hours on weekly practice and had more years of instrumental study than students studying in China, but their responses also indicated they were less organized about their practice and had more difficulty concentrating while practicing than students in China. According to the analyses by instrument, woodwind and brass players were more likely to organize their practice than keyboard players; string, woodwind, and brass players were more likely to use recordings and metronomes than keyboard players; and brass players reported concentrating better than keyboard players. Regarding gender differences, the only significant difference was that female participants had spent more years studying their instruments than males. Identified differences can help instrumental instructors better understand students’ practice habits and tailor their teaching to fit the needs of students in response to individual differences.

Brass Multiphonics in Jazz

<p>Multiphonics is the production of more than one tone at a time from an instrument that would normally play a single line. The aim of this work is to identify and explore the elements of multiphonics as played by jazz brass players and to examine the production and development of multiphonics with particular reference to Albert Mangelsdorff’s mature technique. The research procedure includes a literature review, transcription and analysis of relevant music, and reflection on personal practice. The findings and discussion are used to draw conclusions in order to derive applicable testable techniques. The research points to where the accretion and extension of Mangelsdorff’s playing style may lead, and demonstrates the acquisition of discovered multiphonic techniques by the performance of transcriptions and new or extended musical applications of multiphonics in two recorded assessed recitals. The body of the paper gives brief biographical information on the main practitioners, with specific focus on how each of them acquired particular technical elements. Reference is made to prior research and specific recordings and players are mentioned in regard to their innovations and stylistic techniques. Elements were discovered and explored in the researcher’s own practice over the previous decade and specifically the duration of the masters study from February 2008 – June 2009, and the effects of various approaches and exercises are discussed. This discussion includes the areas of mental and physical preparation, limitations and parameters of the physical playing, and the method used for developing multiphonic technique. The summary identifies the main findings and makes specific reference to how they might relate to practice. It suggests areas where further research can be developed to support the acquisition and practical application of multiphonic technique and extended techniques in brass performance. The work is presented as a paper and accompanying DVD that demonstrates findings as played by the researcher in live recitals.</p>

Brass Multiphonics in Jazz

<p>Multiphonics is the production of more than one tone at a time from an instrument that would normally play a single line. The aim of this work is to identify and explore the elements of multiphonics as played by jazz brass players and to examine the production and development of multiphonics with particular reference to Albert Mangelsdorff’s mature technique. The research procedure includes a literature review, transcription and analysis of relevant music, and reflection on personal practice. The findings and discussion are used to draw conclusions in order to derive applicable testable techniques. The research points to where the accretion and extension of Mangelsdorff’s playing style may lead, and demonstrates the acquisition of discovered multiphonic techniques by the performance of transcriptions and new or extended musical applications of multiphonics in two recorded assessed recitals. The body of the paper gives brief biographical information on the main practitioners, with specific focus on how each of them acquired particular technical elements. Reference is made to prior research and specific recordings and players are mentioned in regard to their innovations and stylistic techniques. Elements were discovered and explored in the researcher’s own practice over the previous decade and specifically the duration of the masters study from February 2008 – June 2009, and the effects of various approaches and exercises are discussed. This discussion includes the areas of mental and physical preparation, limitations and parameters of the physical playing, and the method used for developing multiphonic technique. The summary identifies the main findings and makes specific reference to how they might relate to practice. It suggests areas where further research can be developed to support the acquisition and practical application of multiphonic technique and extended techniques in brass performance. The work is presented as a paper and accompanying DVD that demonstrates findings as played by the researcher in live recitals.</p>

Embouchure Muscle Activity in Student and Elite Trumpeters

AIMS: Objective information on embouchure muscle use in brass players is currently limited. This pilot study records and analyses embouchure muscle activity in trumpet players to identify typical patterns and to reveal how these can differ between playing tasks. METHODS: Activity in four embouchure muscles was recorded using surface electromyography in 7 conservatoire trumpet students and 3 elite professional trumpeters. Each played a set of simple exercises, tongued and slurred, including single notes of different pitch, upward and downward transitions between notes a fifth apart, arpeggios, and a short musical piece. RESULTS: Muscle activity was initiated 0.4–2.0 s before the beginning of a note. In some players this was at a higher level than needed to sustain the note, while in others it was not. Levels of activity in all muscles generally increased and decreased together during arpeggios, in line with changing pitch. The sound was terminated by an abrupt fall in muscle activity. In many players, transitions between notes a fifth apart required no change in muscle activity, though in others this was marked by a sharp increase or decrease. CONCLUSION: Though levels of muscle activity rose consistently over large pitch ranges, there was considerable variation in the degree to which this occurred over smaller intervals. Even among the 3 professional players, the embouchure muscle activity showed clear individual patterns, suggesting that high levels of performance can be achieved in different ways. Further investigations will be needed to clarify how embouchure activity changes with proficiency.

The anxiety of blowing: experiences of breath and brass instruments in Benin

Within amateur musical circles in Benin, one is told that if a male blows too hard into a brass instrument his testicles might swell up, fall off, or even run away. Concerned parents warn their children against ‘blowing’ brass instruments, telling stories of inguinal hernias and infertility, and many maintain that male brass players must take preventative measures. Accompanying this unease about blowing out is a complementary concern with breathing in, and the possible inhalation of micro-organisms or poison through the mouth. Engaging with this anxiety of blowing, this article takes seriously my interlocutors’ concern with the consequences of playing brass instruments on their bodies. My main argument is that understandings of the precarious nature of breath are at the core of musicians’ experiences of anxiety. My exploration of the relation between breath, anxiety and the body supports a common phenomenology of breathing across cultures, and serves to advance breath as an important site of meaning making.

Female Brass Musicians Address Gender Parity, Gender Equity, and Sexual Harassment: A Preliminary Report on Data from the Brass Bodies Study

The Brass Bodies Study is an exploratory cross-sectional study designed to describe and understand the experience of female brass players. This report discusses selected data from close-ended and open-ended responses to questions regarding gender equity, parity, and sexual harassment within a web-based survey that launched the first phase of the study. The survey queried subjects’ physical changes to their brass playing due to various catalysts: life-cycle events; injury, illness, harassment, mental health, racism, and homophobia. The survey instrument further queried whether subjects received support about these changes and the effectiveness of support. The following report discusses survey responses to questions about gender parity and changes to brass playing due to sexual harassment. Additional qualitative data were generated from open-ended questions in the survey and were qualitatively coded and thematically presented to supplement the descriptive statistics provided. The information presented explores and defines salient items and themes of a population that is under researched with the hopes of generating hypotheses for continued research.

Effects of Focus of Attention on Performance by Second-Year Band Students

This study tested the effect of the motor learning paradigm of internal and external focus of attention (FOA) with middle school band students. A total of 56 second-year band students (woodwinds n = 28; valved brass n = 18; trombones n = 10) practiced isochronous, alternating pitch patterns (e.g., eighth notes C–A–C–A–C–A–C) in three conditions: control (no FOA), internal (“think about your fingers”), and external (“think about your sound”). At retention testing approximately 24 hr later, students played each stimulus three times with no directed FOA. Performance trials were scored for the average duration of each pitch per trial, or evenness. No significant differences were found between conditions (control, internal, external) on Day 1 or Day 2 ( p > .05). Likewise, no significant differences were found within instrument groups from Day 1 to Day 2 ( p > .05). When evenness scores were examined at the level of the individual student, more woodwind and valved brass players benefited from the internal (fingers) FOA than from control or external conditions. Individual differences among trombone players were less pronounced, slightly favoring the external (sound) condition. Music teachers should consider implementing both internal and external FOAs with their beginning wind students.

Towards Consensus on Clinical Assessment of Embouchure in Brass Players: A Delphi Study

AIMS: The objective of this study was to determine the content validity of an assessment instrument for embouchure (the “CODE of Embouchure”) which covers the main aspects of the construct of embouchure in brass players. METHODS: The study design followed the Delphi technique. A select panel of 35 international experts gave their opinion via a three-round digital Delphi survey as to whether the instrument as a whole, and its items, adequately measure the construct of embouchure. Criteria for consensus and whether items should go through to the next Delphi round were pre-determined. Data were independently analyzed by two researchers. The CREDES guidelines were used for conducting and reporting of the study. RESULTS: Consensus was reached over 64% and 73% of the closed questions in the first and third rounds, respectively. A second round was necessary to resolve intra- and inter-expert contradicting information. Finally, 5 items were added to the instrument, 3 items were removed, and 23 items were adjusted. Consensus was reached in 63 items (98%). The final multi-item assessment instrument consists of 4 domains and 64 items. CONCLUSIONS: Content validity of most aspects of the “CODE of embouchure” instrument was established.

Relationship of Preservice Music Teachers’ Primary Instrument Background and Teaching Effectiveness in Brass and Woodwind Techniques Classes

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between preservice music teachers’ primary instrument background and their teaching effectiveness in brass and woodwind techniques classes. Study participants ( N = 135) were preservice music teachers enrolled in secondary instrument techniques courses (brass and woodwinds) from fall 2011 through spring 2015 in three universities. Participants taught a 10-minute video recorded lesson to a beginning-level university student on a brass or woodwind instrument at the end of the semester. All videos were subsequently assessed by two researchers using a researcher-designed rubric. The results of analyses of variance showed that brass-teaching scores tended to be higher than woodwind-teaching scores for all groups. Brass players taught brass more effectively than woodwind players, and woodwind players taught woodwinds better than brass players. Brass and woodwind players scored higher than percussionists, vocalists, pianists, and string players in both brass and woodwind teaching. Implications for music teacher education are discussed.