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| Just kidding... not these kinds of toys! |
Stand Mirrors
Practicing in front of a mirror has long been advocated by great teachers. The problem is getting your hands on them. I once shopped around for compact sized mirrors and had a tough time finding them, and what I did find often seemed really expensive. Plus, I get nervous at the idea of actual mirrors being on the stands as you just never know if a kid would break one and use it as a weapon. However, imagine if you could make it work, having every kid in your class (or at least close to it) having the ability to see their face while developing their embouchure? It's worth the effort! If you're not able to spend the money on a set for your beginner classes, a while back I wrote an article about how to make safe, relatively cheap stand mirrors for your beginner classes that might be worth your time. I took them up eventually... when I noticed the girls in the woodwind class using them to check their hair instead of their embouchure!
Mouthpiece Visualizers
These are indispensable! This year was the first time I've had a couple at my disposal (one trumpet sized, one baritone/trombone sized) and thanks to them we got our brass players off to a great start. Where as before I struggled to fix buzzing and tone problems, this time after a couple of days we broke out the visualizers and went down the line to see what each kid was doing. Often we'd find they were rolling the lips in, or the apeture was too open, or whatever. They really took the guess work out! By the end of class, and the next day, they sounded so much better! You can find mouthpiece visualizers for between $15-$30 depending on if you are getting a single purpose or double purpose visualizer, and considering you only need one per instructor, it should be easy to pull the trigger on this one.
Straws (and Paper)
These can be cheap, if not free. Various sized straws are useful for various purposes. We finally got some coffee straws to help our brass players. You put the straw between your lips (teeth apart, like you're playing) and plank the straw. Then blow fast air while keeping the straw in place using only your lip muscles... and no rolling in the lips! This gives them a feel for a focused air stream through the center of the lips while flexing the muscles properly. Next slide the mouthpiece over the straw. Start blowing air as before, then pull the straw out (don't change anything else!) and they should get a great buzz that is in about the right range! This is especially useful for students getting a fuzzy sound or who are playing too low at the start. It was one of those things that immediately took the trumpet/horn class to far better tone. We used a regular sized straw for the tubas, but the same straws would not fit through the shank of a trombone/baritone mouthpiece.
Normal sized straws or slightly smaller (but not coffee small) can be great for everyone when combined with a sheet of paper for practicing a focused air stream in a contest to see how long you can hold up the paper. You can also practice articulation with a straw a paper. The goal of that game is simply to use the articulation syllable while not letting the paper drop. It's another way to visualize and feel what's supposed to happen rather than stopping the air between notes, or worse, breathing between notes!
Balloons
Sizzling (hissing) can be a good for helping them practice blowing against resistance, but how about using a balloon instead? It's something they already know how to do and can translate to blowing into the instrument. A word of caution, though - buy a few different brands if possible and test them out. The balloons I got were thicker and more difficult to inflate, which initially resulted in a forced sound for the high brass players. But with the right resistance it's more effective. Plus for extra fun and translation you can slide the balloon over the shank of a brass mouthpiece and challenge them to inflate it while buzzing! Though you can't do this with saxophone/clarinet players, the resistance training would be the same.
I put this and the next one towards the end simply because I haven't been able to use them with students yet. BERPs are plastic tubes you attach to the lead pipe where you can place the mouthpiece while buzzing. I had the advantage of this tool while I was in high school and used it both in rehearsal and practice, and it made a difference for me. As buzzing is an important part of learning brass, this gives the added advantage of being able to finger along while buzzing. It's a hefty investment though, at about $20 per device, but what an advantage for your beginners!
The BERP of the Flute! We haven't used this with our students yet, but we've heard great things and we plan on getting at least a half-class set this year. This plastic device is shaped like a flute head joint with small fans attached so that when you blow across the tone hole area you can see which fan is spinning, which shows you exactly how focused your air stream is and in which direction it's blowing. From what I've heard, this is a fast way to build a great flute tone. Even better, it fits inside of the flute so that students can finger along while using it. The downside again is the price at $30 per device. However, you can also get a classroom set of 10 and a DVD for $250. It sounds like a hefty tag, but considering that I'm not personally a great flute teacher (despite taking lessons with a pro), it's worth the investment to me.
Do you have other toys or tools you use with beginners that I left out? Some of the technology stuff feels like toys to me (in that it's fun), but I hope to leave that for another post. Anyway, please share in the comment section! Not only would I love to hear your tips, but I'm sure other readers that happen by would be interested as well. Thanks for reading, and until next time, take care!
Musically yours,
Mr. Cooper
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